Play Birdies, full review, download free demo, screenshots

Reviewed by

   Diner Dash game. Welcome to Birdies, a new micromanagement game that lets you play as a babysitting stork, who must look after birds dropped off by their parents. So, you are a stork who's opened some kind of daycare facility. You hear a doorbell chime and up walks a bird with a baby bird or two. You must drag and drop them into a nest, whereby they'll need some food after a few seconds. You have some bird helpers prepare some snacks and when the meals are completed, they rest on tree trunks, waiting to be picked up by you and served to the hungry birds. You'll receive bonus points for chaining moves together, such as carrying two or three trays of food for multiple birds instead of serving each separately. Then your birds will grow tired - as indicated by a little crescent moon above their heads - so you must sing them to sleep by whistling a lullaby. Other birds may ask for some water, which you can get for them by clicking on a leaf on the ground and then putting it under a dripping pool of water, which is then brought to them to sip. In later levels, you'll also have to entertain the birds to keep them happy and other responsibilities. Another challenge is dragging and dropping the birds into the correct nest bed, based on their gender, which you can see by their color and with the little male/female sex sign by the nest. Eventually, their parents come to pick them up and you must return them satisfied to earn more money. At the end of each "day" you'll be given your score, and must reach the minimum dollar goal to continue or you must try again. If you can, try to get the maximum dollars for a job well done. Eventually you'll move onto other nurseries. Also, at the start of each day you can purchase upgrades to your swamp nursery such as additional food or water stations, more nest spots, and so forth. Every few levels introduce new goodies, ranging from items that help to aesthetic upgrades such as flowers and stones. You can also try to win prizes by performing extra jobs for your boss, such as planting reeds by the water.

   Birdies is a lovely game that features colorful graphics, diverse sound effects and appropriate music. Despite of unoriginal concept, the game is mildly fun, especially for younger players and newcomers to the genre. It's cute, and worth the download to play the free trial, but don't expect to be blown away.

Offline gameplay: 1 player Multiplayer: No

Publisher: IWin ESRB Ratio: Everyone

Extras and features: Colorful Graphics Variety of Unique Nurseries Tons of Daycare Tasks Take Care for Lovely Birdies

Drawbacks: Unoriginal game concept

Requirements: OS: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Me Memory: 64 MB DirectX: 8.0 or later CPU: P2 400 Video: 16MB Video Card

Alternative names: Bidries, Birdyes