You might think Pigeon Wings would be a documentary about avian life cycles, or an app that lets you examine feathers in detailed 3D. Nope. Prepare for a game where pigeons hop into tiny aircraft and race away at eye-watering speeds.
This game is tough, but not tough to understand. You fly through 2D stages and try to not smash into stuff. There are no fuel gauges or equipment-degradation states to manage. You just glide forward and pay very close attention to the arrows onscreen that show you where to steer.
The game’s primary control method is tilt-based. The system is intuitive and uses just the right degree of sensitivity so you can reliably react to threats, whether you’re zipping around barriers or dodging bullet blasts during boss fights.
During combat, tilt your device to dodge projectiles fired by enemy aircraft, then return fire when you’re in the clear. There’s a story that connects the stages too, adding more momentum to an already high-velocity journey.
As the challenge gets tougher and you have to react to increasingly treacherous threats, you’ll benefit from drafting off other racers, tilting your flight path just behind theirs to gain boost energy to surge ahead.
The window of opportunity for drafting successfully is tiny, as is the window of opportunity for doing anything in Pigeon Wings. And that’s exactly why this game is so much fun. You only have a brief moment to make that shot, to swoop below that obstacle, to earn a boost. With enough practice, the exemplary tilt controls mean you can conquer what at first felt impossible.