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Wildlings Review
By Chris Nitz on September 15th, 2011Our Rating:
:: FURIOUS TAPPING FUNiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Wildlings places players in a frantic battle to protect baby birds from becoming dinner at the hands of evil enemies. A lot of tapping and strategy will be required to master this game.
Price: $0.99
Version: 1.0.5
App Reviewed on: iPhone
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Castle defense style games usually involve some castle, a bunch of knights, and a few cannons for defense. This is all about to change in the wacky world of Wildlings. The game takes a mixture of birds, spices it up with some fun creatures on the hunt, and blends it all together in a Shepard’s Pie of tapping goodness. Is this the next great addictive game?
Wildlings, at its heart, is a simple castle defense style game, in that the player must protect a nest with baby birds from waves of creatures looking to turn said chicks into dinner. It is a good thing the adult birds have a different idea and are there to fight off the baby robbers. The idea is simple, entertaining, and fairly comical.
Gameplay is straightforward. A nest full of baby birds sits on the screen and some adult birds stand guard. The player will tap somewhere on the screen to send the adult to that direction to protect it. When the baddies arrive, it becomes an exercise in quickly tapping to destroy the monsters, all while controlling traffic. If a monster makes it to the nest, it will snag a baby bird, but that baby may be recovered by simply kicking the snot out of the kidnapper before it exits the screen. This setup becomes ever more complicated with monsters that can take a beating before being felled or with smaller monsters that can blaze across the screen. Those that love tapping the screen with fury will get a good amount of enjoyment here.
Of course the adult birds are not without their aids. Birds become stronger and faster as the game moves on. There are also powers to use that will help with crowd control, such as freezing enemies in place for a few seconds or raining cherry bombs from the sky. All of these powers are fueled by suns that appear after enemies are destroyed, and over time from the baby birds, thus adding into the tapping frenzy. Getting three stars on every stage becomes an exercise in resource management, lane control, and masterful bird controlling skills.
Wildlings keeps the madness lighthearted when it comes to the presentation front. Visuals are full of bright vibrant colors, with birds and enemies displaying a wide range of looks and characteristics. Strong birds are big and bulky while speedy birds are lean. The stages look like they were painted with a rich palette of oil colors. Rounding this all off is a whimsical musical score that is not too harsh on the ears. The audio provides a sense of urgency in the task at hand, but never gets overbearing. The birds will caw and screech as they do their job. This is a game that does a great job of proving a welcoming atmosphere, even if some of the stages are not as inviting due to their difficulty.
If there is anything to complain about, it is just the mass amount of chaos that happens during big waves of enemies. Tapping can sometimes lead to incorrect placing of the defender birds, and when tight groups of enemies are the case, it can make or break a perfect score. It is a minor gripe that players will easily learn how to deal with, but it can be extremely infuriating.
Wildlings is a nice change of pace. The game can easily suck up copious amounts time, and it becomes addictive to get three stars on every stage. Those that are looking for something a bit whimsical, challenging and pleasing on the eyes and to the ears should definitely give this game a look.
Wildlings
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $0.99
:: FURIOUS TAPPING FUNRead Our Full Review >>
Apps mentioned in this post: Wildlings
About: Wildlings Review is a post from 148Apps
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Muffin Knight from 
This multiplayer mode, which is currently only officially supported over local wifi, pits two players in one arena, trying to collect more muffins than the other player. It is possible for players to die in this mode, and if the person who is trailing in muffin count dies, then the leader automatically wins. If the leader dies, then the other player can try to stay alive until they collect more muffins, lest they die trying. What’s most remarkable about this multiplayer, beyond that it allows players to collect experience toward their characters with a 20% bonus, is that it works between iOS and Android devices. There’s no special hassle or setup, just one device with a copy of the game creating a server, and another joining the discovered server, no matter which version is playing which version, even if it’s an iPod touch versus an Android tablet.
The concept behind augmented reality games is interesting, but while they may have surpassed the horrifically cheesy Virtual Reality attempts from the 80s and 90s they’re still fairly gimmicky. Being able to use my phone’s camera to hunt monsters, shoot down UFOs or even play golf in a manner that’s actually affected by where I’m physically located or looking at is certainly a neat trick. It’s just that at the moment, that’s all it is; a trick. Par-Tee – Augmented Reality Golf makes a decent effort at creating a kind of real world/video game hybrid, but it’s ultimately held back by technological limitations.
There are the expected issues with slow-loading images and some lag with the GPS, but the biggest issue I’ve come across is the sensitivity. Turning causes the screen to swirl about dramatically, which admittedly doesn’t have a huge affect on gameplay because once the swing button is pressed it won’t reorient, but it’s somewhat discombobulating. Another oddity is that the GPS locations seem a bit exaggerated. I don’t presume to think I’m any good at golf, but a half-hearted swing sent my ball sailing for over a block. Then I walked all of about fifteen feet and found my blue GPS dot resting comfortably next to the digi-ball. I’d like to think the proportions have been fiddled with so that people don’t have to, say, wander miles through the wilderness in order to hit a ball that doesn’t exist with their phone, but it’s still pretty excessive.
As an easy explanation of how addictive it is, I ran out of battery on my iPhone numerous times. I don’t generally do this with games unless they’re a bit special (I’m looking at you Final Fantasy III). Stand O’Food 3 might seem like a pretty typical time management game but it’s the game’s ability to get everything just right without messing up that makes it a cut above the rest. 
As is often the way with such games, a series of upgrades can be purchased. These can be something as simple as a speed boost for the main character or a box that means customers can takeaway their meal and, more importantly, there’s no need to pick up the items in the correct order thus shaving valuable time off the clock and increasing the odds of an expert ranking. 