Flappy Bird updates with night level, better frame rate, and new birds. Still absolutely impossible.
UPDATE 2/9/14: True to his word Dong Nguyen took Flappy Bird off the App Store today. We hope you were able to download the game before it was taken "to a nice farm in the country side." Our condolences to anyone who was denied the infuriating joy of Flappy Bird.
Flappy Bird, the most hated/beloved game currently tearing up the iTunes charts, has been updated with a number of improvements while keeping its absolutely impossible game play. If you're part of the current wave of masochistic gamers dead set on getting that stupid bird through those stupid pipes, this update brings a few wonderful additions to your current addiction. And that's coming from another fellow addict.
The most important addition is a staggeringly better frame rate. The graphics are smoother and judging where Flappy Bird is about to go has never been easier. At first, the improved frame rate may seem jarring, but once you get used to it you'll probably find yourself beating your original high score. Thankfully, the crushing difficulty is still in place, so even when you grow as a player your hate will burn like a thousand suns.
In addition to the improved frame rate, players can look forward to a handful of new skins for Flappy Bird, including "orange" and "blue" colored birds, and a new night time level. In keeping with Flappy Bird's history of not giving a crap about your desires, be it to win or have new levels, you don't get to choose which level or bird you play as. You are Flappy Bird's property. Just be happy it gifted you new levels.
Sadly, progress also comes with regression. The update ditches the ability to share your high score, meaning you'll have to take a screen shot like the rest of us to tell people how far you've gotten. There is a trade off -- the game's tendency to have an ad pop up at the top of the screen at the worst possible moment has been fixed. In fact, the ads have stopped popping up during play entirely since the update. Now your friends won't know how much you've been playing Flappy Bird, but the game is better than ever. So update the game, count your blessings, take a screen shot and make your own bragging rights.
Flappy Bird is still a mean SOB of a game. And it's still addictive as hell. Grab it while you can, though, as the developer has threatened to pull the game down soon -- as soon as today.
