Does everybody remember the infuriating Flappy Bird? The mobile game took off as a viral sensation for being a seemingly simple game that turned out to be extremely difficult, possibly leading to broken screens all over the world.
The creator of Flappy Bird, who famously took down the app at the peak of its popularity, returns with another game for smartphones, and of course, it retains the insane difficulty.
The new game by Dong Nguyen, entitled Swing Copters 2, is a follow-up to Swing Copters, which was released last year. While Swing Copters was not able to reach the same level of popularity as Flappy Bird, the game likewise featured simple mechanics for gameplay and cute graphics that masked its high difficulty level.
Gamers that played Flappy Bird will immediately understand the mechanics for Swing Copters 2, as it is basically the vertical version of the side-scrolling design of Flappy Bird. Players lead 8-bit characters wearing hats equipped with helicopter blades through a variety of obstacles by tapping on the screen. As simple as that sounds, it is of course nowhere near as easy to play.
It is not unusual for gamers that first try out the app to not even be able to pass the first obstacle, and it could take many attempts before players are even able to get 1 point. Nguyen, maybe to prove that the game is playable at the very least, boasted a high score of 74.
In a press release posted on his game studio's website dotGears, Nguyen said that the difficulty of Swing Copters 2 is higher compared to the original. In addition to the harder difficulty, the sequel features improved graphics and a system to unlock characters with unique abilities.
Swing Copters 2, similar to its predecessor and Flappy Bird, is free-to-play but comes with ads. Users can choose to make a $0.99 purchase to permanently remove the ads, with an additional $0.99 payment to unlock more characters. Gamers can also choose to unlock the characters without making a payment by progressing through the game.
As for advice on how to reach higher scores, Nguyen said that each player has their own style, and he himself is not sure on which one works the best. Trung Vu, one of the programmers of the game, advised players to keep relaxed and only make taps when necessary.
The game is now available on the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store and the Amazon Appstore.
