Pony Wings

                 

Pony Wings(by NutcaseNightmare)

     Wow, a Scootaloo game!  She's one of my favorite characters and rarely gets recognized by fans outside of comparisons to flightless birds, so it's really nice to see a game based around her!  This one in particular is based on a fairly popular iOS game called Tiny Wings, which is about...a bird who has trouble flying.  Oh.  I see what you did there, NutcaseNightmare.  But I'm going to reserve my judgment on the rest of the game until after the break.


This game is very simple.  It's a Runner/Score-Attack style game in which you guide Scootaloo as she rollerblades(?) through the hills of Equestria.  She has a perfectly good scooter for catching air, why does she need rollerblades?  Anyway, your goal is to go as far as possible before night falls, a time which can be counted by looking at the meter on the left or just the color of the sky.  The tools at your disposal to go the distance include the ability to speed up, launch yourself into the air by using a hill as a ramp, and collect different colored Parasprites for a speed boost.  While I do appreciate the Parasprites all being different colors rather than just one, I would have liked it more if each color had a different effect, like temporary air dash or jumping abilities.
 The challenge comes in the form of timing your launches and landings so that you keep up the best speed possible in the air and on the ground.  If you land on top of a hill, you'll lose all of your attained velocity, so be sure to watch where you land.  If you keep it up, you can catch some pretty crazy air, with Scootaloo almost reaching the top of the screen.  This is great, but it would have been cooler if you could do tricks in the air like she does in the show.  But the over-the-top altitude is still entertaining.

EXTREEEME!!!!!!

There's one track of music that plays, and it's a Winter Wrap-Up instrumental cover.  It's slow and relaxing, which I'm kind of on the fence about.  On one hand, I don't really want to be serenaded when I'm trying to rack up a good score.  On the other hand, Robot Unicorn Attack(my personal all-time favorite flash game) has proven that a song doesn't have to be conventional to succeed in identifying with the game.  And considering you're not being attacked by any foes or racing against other players(just rollerblading across some hills), the calm melody does make a bit of sense.  

The one major complaint I have is the lack of an online leaderboard system.  With these kinds of games, it's great not only to compare your score against your previous ones, but also to those of other players.  Add that and a few other minor things(a greater variety of powerups, making Scootaloo actually ride a SCOOTER), and this game would have won me over completely.

Considering the game's brevity, there's not much more I can say.  It does its job well as an addictive, iPhone style game, and there's a good chance I'll return to it sometime when I have time to kill.

Rating: 8/10