Just like Minecraft, Flappy Bird had inspired many clones. Flap Flap is almost a Flappy Bird DX, an improvement upon the original with the addition of enemies and items. However, do these additions weigh down the entire experience?

For those unfamiliar with Flappy Bird, you control a bird who has horrible flapping physics, and has to avoid crashing into pipes, otherwise, Game Over. In Flap Flap you can use any of the face buttons, or tap the touch screen to flap. Not unlike Flappy Bird, you have to avoid pipes, but now there are spiders who will descend from their webs as enemies. In addition to the added insects, power ups and coin collecting have been added. There are four power ups you can obtain, two of which can be saved for later use, a fireball which grants invincibility just like Star in Super Mario Bros for a limited time. The other three power ups are a para-glider, timer and shield. The para-glider allows the bird to glide instead of flap, the timer can freeze time and move the bird in a vertical direction only, and the shield will save your from one hit.


The timer power-up however is almost useless. Yes, it can allow you to move and collect coins that are above or below you, but you are trapped in a vertical line, not allowed to move to the left or right to truly take advantage of this ability. Making this power up worse is the fact you take damage if you hit something in this state too.

There are two ways to play Flap Flap, an infinite mode and a stage selection mode. Infinite, the closest mode to the original Flappy Bird, surviving as long as you can, uses items unlike the original. For those looking for a short burst of gameplay, the stage selection mode isn't limitless and has each level has an end. Level progression however is locked until you beat the previous stage.

The levels are a different beast than the original Flappy Bird. Instead of having to avoid vertical pipes, the pipes take on many different paths and sizes. In the last two levels, the design, in addition to enemies galore, and power ups that would save you being just out of reach, are rather maddening. At least the levels are nice to look at and the soundtrack isn't too annoying. The lack of an online scoreboard significantly kills the life of this game if you aren't a Flappy Bird fanatic. Most however won't play this in the first place, because of the $7.99 price tag when other Flappy Bird clones are available on smartphones for free.


Flap Flap is a good clone of Flappy Bird, but suffers from problems. The level design could be better, and the timer has wasted potential. The lack of online leaderboards also limits replay value for a large portion of gamers, along with the price tag setting the majority of gamers off to begin with.Ultimately, Flap Flap is a clone that could be played elsewhere for free, making it hard to recommendation.


Review Copy provided by: BigBen Interactive