If you have "played" the game "To the Moon" and thought that had too little playing mechanics - this has even less. It is mostly cinematic with occassional walking with no texts - all small communications are shown as little pictures.
Still, this is nice story that lasts around 1 hour. Not anywhere as emotional and captivating as "To the Moon", it feels more like side project, which it probably is in the end. Though person you control in this game is client in "Finding paradise".
For what it is and with beautiful soundtrack, i have no regrets.
A Bird Story is an enjoyable little interactive story experience which will particularly appeal to existing fans of To The Moon and not so much to newcomers. I highlysing recommend playing through To The Moon, it's a must experience game. Once you've done that, you'll find the appeal of the graphics, the story mechanics, the game engine quirks, the symbols that fans will recognize, the gorgeous music and amusing sounds, and all the that makes up a Free Bird Games experience. Must buy for big fans, buy on sale for casual fans, and play To The Moon before you buy for not yet fans.
I found To the Moon a sweet and moving story with minor problems due to its format, for example its "gameplay mechanics" were not enough useful to the story or the recreational experience.
This one is shorter and simpler but more polished. The plot does not touch too many themes as in the first game and the protagonist is a sketch but it worked very well, at least for me.
Moreover, I liked how the characters express themself through simple symbols in a befitting way for a videogame with this style.
I am not sure how to talk about the plot without saying too much. I am a sort of countryman. When I was a child I tried to rescue a lot of little birds found in my garden, sometimes with a happy ending, sometimes without it. It is a very relatable situation for me.
To sum up, this is a Good Old(-Looking) Game. Short and simple but incisive for that.
Also good for those who haven't played To the Moon.
From the title alone you can already guess what this game is about. It's pretty decent in all ways. Just the length of the game is very short, you could take your time and take a little longer, but on average you are done in an hour.
I played To the Moon back in the Summer of 2012, and LOVED it, but I had a good idea beforehand of what I was getting into.
A Bird Story is essentially To the Moon LITE; no puzzles, no dialogue, less dramatic, shorter length...the sentimentality is still there, there's just not as much as there was in To the Moon.
Honestly, I wish the game would've saved me the trouble of moving the character by just doing that itself, and just let me sit back and watch it without having to finagle with the keyboard or controller.
I'd say this game's purely for FANS of To the Moon, and Kan Gao/Freebird Games.
If you're not familiar with that game or Kan Gao's style, or Narrative-Adventure (Story-Driven) games in general, you're probably NOT gonna enjoy this.
Still glad I played it, maybe I'll even REPLAY it, but I don't see myself revisiting this one a whole lot after that...
Apparently, this game received quite a few negative reviews, and that was actually ALLUDED to in the next game, Finding Paradise, in a conversation between Colin and Faye.
Six years elapsed between the releases of To the Moon (2011) and Finding Paradise (2017); Gao was probably concerned about keeping his audience's attention, so that's probably why this game was made; also served as a teaser for Finding Paradise, and the main character of this game is the patient in that game; an intermission/interlude, basically.
Bought this for $1, and the OST for another $1; kinda wish they'd just packaged them together without having to buy them separately...
The soundtrack, at least, is another worthy and welcome addition to my collection; probably end up listening to it either while reading, around the house, or while taking a walk.
If you're still the least bit curious, I'd check out To the Moon first, if you haven't already.
Just know what you're getting into beforehand; maybe actually READ the description for the game, and WATCH the trailers for it, because there's NO false advertising going on.
