FlappyBird Developer to take down his game from the Play Store

By now, this should have been public knowledge: FlappyBird will be taken down by its creator. For those that are not in the know, Flappy Bird is a game that was developed by a game developer named Nguyen Ha Dong and it involves one simple mechanic, to keep your bird alive while it maneuvers through a series of obstacles. Since uploaded, the game has been downloaded up to 50 million times and is generating tons of revenue from advertising.

The title screen showing the start button and an online leaderboard.

Unfortunately, the developer decided the success of the game was too much and he "cannot take this anymore." 

Tapping the screen propels your bird upwards.

The natural question to ask is why was the game taken down when it was generating tons of revenue. Call me ignorant, but from what I played, the game does not take much programming or even development to speak of. It has a pixel art graphic style, a basic set of sound effects, and no BGM. As such, it should have given him a huge source of income. 

Also, this abrupt exit is similar to the exit of Phil Fish, the creator of FEZ, albeit with much less drama and hate. 

What I hope did not happen is that the media publicizes his success so much to the point that he broke down. If that is indeed the case, the media has caused two perfectly fine game to never be played by anyone ever again.  

In any case, Nguyen did allow some time for downloads to be made and as the time of writing, the app is still available. However, it won't be for long so get your copy fast.

The LEGO Movie Review: A Great, Funny Movie

The LEGO Movie Review

So, I saw the trailer a months ago and I was excited to the max! However, the excitement quickly died down because I thought it was going to be disappointing. Oh, I couldn't be more wrong.

The LEGO Movie with its myriad of cameos

Well, to be honest, I cheated a little bit before watching the movie. I watched a video review made by IGN. So, I did have a certain expectation going in the theater. However, the movie blew my expectation away. 

Story

If there are any weak points to the LEGO movie, it's the overall story. It's as generic as it can get. So, don't go in expecting an Oscar-winning clever plot writing here. It's not lame and not overly stupid, but just not brilliant. There's no drastic plot-twists or anything like that, it's just a plain and straight story that gives the whole movie coherence. Also, the story gets a tad draggy at times and there are a few jarring plot holes, but overall, it's still alright

However, oh boy wasn't it a fun ride. Where the LEGO Movie shines is the script writing and the execution of said plot. In short, LEGO movie is funny. The jokes are well placed and are delivered in very short bursts such that they don't get old. There are some pretty touching moments, although even some of those (spoiler: the falling from the bridge scene) are still genuinely funny. This jokes helps very well with the drag that occurs at several points during the movie. 

This movie is also jack full of references, as you should have noticed if you have seen the trailer. On top of the various casts that LEGO have franchises with (DC heroes, Harry Potter, LotR, etc.), LEGO included several lines of its most popular lines of figures such as the Space, Knight, and Wild Wild West series among others. They are great to see and for everyone who have played with the original bricks, you will certainly enjoy this one. If there are any downsides to this is that they don't use their characters to their maximum potential. Outside of the original characters, the only one with significant screen time is Batman. I am tempted to say this is due to the popularity of the Batman trilogy, but I HOPE that is not the case.

Superman in The LEGO Movie

Picture Quality

CG is top notch as expected from WB. Also, some of the sets present in the movie are made form actual LEGO bricks. The kicker is, from watching it in the Cinema once, I cannot tell which are is which. The bricks are actually painstakingly detailed with chips and smudges to give them a feeling that they have been played with. Some interviews with the artists even mentioned that they even added details such as dandruff and dust to make the scene even more realistic. I didn't notice this personally, but if so, the details are absolutely amazing.

A scene from the trailer showed Emmet's house.

Animations are very good, especially the "builder-vision" that the character "activated" when they want to build stuff from random bricks. Another point that I like is that unlike in LEGO games, the LEGO characters in this movie has no elbow and knee joints. This makes their movement seem clunky and choppy. However, this actually makes the movie even more nostalgic in my opinion. Combined with the animation style which mimics a stop-motion movie, this lack of joints actually suits the movie much better.

The lack of joints is evident here with the stiffness of the forearm especially.
Also note the detail present in this shot, especially on Emmet's hair.

As I've mentioned, the animation style actually looks very much like stop motion. Reading some interviews and wikipedia article, the animators referred to stop-motion videos of lego figures that are available in Youtube for research during the early development phases. In my opinion, I am glad that they went down this route, rather than the route taken by the LEGO games. Although I understand why the games took that path, the use of such a stop motion-like movement allows them to differentiate themselves from other animation movies.

Sound

Music in my opinion is not the strong aspect of this movie. There are no obviously boring BGM, but they are not mind-blowingly good. To their credit, the music in this movie fits the movie and served its purpose, to help build the atmosphere. That being said, "Everything is Awesome" is a very catchy song and is easily the best piece throughout the whole movie.

Voice acting on the other hand, is top notch. Morgan Freeman (as Vitruvius) nailed again his trademark holy man role and I love Allison Brie's (as Uni-Kitty) performance giving life to this otherwise easily forgettable character. Will Arnett made Batman into an a**hole, but it does give an interesting contrast to Nolan's Batman. The main character, Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) is... plain. Now, before you start flaming me, I didn't mean that in a bad way. Chris Pratt as Emmet was solid, but he is... bland, Emmet has no aspect that makes him special in any way. To their credit however, Emmet is SUPPOSED to be a very generic character and if that is their intent, they nailed it perfectly. The rest of the cast is alright and I won't list it here as it's available in Wikipedia. Overall, the movie has a solid choice of casts and there are no jarring mismatch between voice and the look and feel of the character.

Conclusion

Well, it might have been my nostalgic feeling that I have for LEGO toys, but I really enjoyed the movie. It has a well written script combined with excellent CGI work. New York Times wrote, "'The Lego Movie' could easily have become an extended ad for the Danish toy company" and I think this aptly sums my feeling about this movie. This movie is certainly no where near the level of Frozen or Toy Story 3 in terms of music, story, and character design. However, this movie could have been a cash in from LEGO and I think we should be grateful that it is as good as it is. The story is generic and the music is just above average. What nailed it for me is definitely the strength of the LEGO brand and the script writing.

In conclusion, the LEGO Movie is definitely not the epic masterpiece that Frozen and Toy Story 3 was. However, it was a nice and nostalgic ride. It won't blow your mind, but it will certainly entertain the child in you (Spoiler: I think that is what they are intending to do, to entice the child in you). If you are a LEGO fan, definitely go out and watch it right now. For the rest of us that are not so much into LEGO, I'll say it's a good watch and I encourage you to watch it if you have the extra cash to burn; if not, then you are not missing much. 

I don't do scores as I think it's ridiculous, but if I must, 6.5/10 if you're not a LEGO fan and a 11/10 if you are.