Bird of Light Review

At first I didn't think Bird of Light wouldn’t really amount to anything. To be honest I was a bit reluctant to give it a chance. But I sucked it up, sat down, and played it for awhile. It's deceptively difficult if you treat it as a speedrun challenge. And there are quite a few speedrun challenges built into the game. It has a very light-hearted look and feel, but don't let that fool you! There is some fun and a lot of obstacles to overcome should you aim to top the leaderboards.

Bird of Light is an endless-runner styled game with light puzzle, platformer, and speedrun elements. There is a story, but it's pretty lackluster and frankly, uninteresting. But for those who still want to know, it's about a young girl named Tara who moved from the city to a farm. She befriends the animals there and lives happily, until one day the animals start disappearing. It's up to Tara, along with her new friend, the Bird of Light, to track down her friends and rescue them.

At first glance, the game seems a bit short...only sporting 21 levels. As you get further along however, the difficulty ramps up considerably. You also have to collect a certain number of coins every few levels before the next batch of levels is accessible. Each level sports a few eggs, coins, and a key. The coins are used to reveal the locations of the eggs and the key before each level, so you can plan a route through the level. The key is to open the door to exit each level. The eggs are collectibles to grab as you run through each level.

Each level has a few badges to earn, often for collecting all the eggs or simply reaching the door at the end of the level before a certain time. This is where the speedrun aspects mentioned earlier come into play. The speedrun badges are easily where you'll sink the most time into the game. You'll have to very carefully plan your route through each level and not make any mistakes to achieve the time you need to earn the badge. To assist in this, the game allows you to pause the game to view a map of the level you are currently on. When you unpause, the game gives you three seconds to get ready to roll out again. I found that this was a very helpful and considerate feature to have, and I'm sure speedrunners will appreciate it.

Honestly this game isn't much to look at, but it looks just fine for what it is. Everything is very colorful and bright, adding to the game's overall tone. Some of the animals look like they've seen better days though. The environments look a little repetitive at times, but most runner games suffer from this. The interface is very simple, but that's a good thing in this case. Too much clutter or too many distractions would only cause your time to suffer.

Bird of Light is very, well....light in the sound department. The soundtrack is very carefree and relaxing, while the sound effects are very quick and cutesy. Plain and basic, really. And that's perfectly fine for this game. You won't be focused on the music or the sound very much, due to the time constraints of the speedrun challenges!

Seeing as Bird of Light is rather easy in the graphics department, it shouldn't have any issues running on most systems. It ran at a constant 60FPS, with no drops or lag. Getting a controller to work is a different story. It seems to be one of those games that locks down to whatever control method it senses first. Meaning, if it detects a mouse click, it prioritizes mouse and keyboard controls. Not that the controls are hard to pick up and play, it's just a minor annoyance that most people might have to deal with for a few minutes before they can actually play.

For what it is, Bird of Light is an enjoyable adventure into a colorful, bright world with many challenges to be completed. Despite it's extremely light tone, it's quite difficult if you are keen to collect all the available badges. Be prepared to sit down and really think about every move you make in each level! Speedrun enthusiasts will have a great time with Bird of Light, while other casual players will still find some enjoyment despite the challenge.