My Bird is yet another construction kit template copy+paste from serial shovelware pushers, Gamesforgames. These guys do nothing but copy premade game templates and game tutorials, fill out a few things/stamp out basic levels using the construction kit templates, slap on an asset flipped set of sprites/assets, and dump them on Steam and into cheap nasty shovelware game bundles as cash grabs. Trying to get paid for someone else's game templates, assets... at best, this is shovelware, at worst, it's a scam/cash grab.
This time they stole assets to make a basic "Flappy Bird" ripoff, but they do get some bonus points for creating their marketing stuff out of AI Slop and not declaring it on their store page like they're supposed to... but what should we expect from Russian scammers?
Gamesforgames have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts. Here's some examples so you can see for yourself:
[list]
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2862050]Spaceship Driver License[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/x-racer-35344]X-Racer[/url] developed by Deer Cat
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805640]Desert Special Forces[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/frontline-army-commando-war-battle-games/]Frontline Army Commando War[/url] developed by Deeko Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2862040]One Chance[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/i-hate-fingers/]I Hate Fingers[/url] developed by Fox Game Studio
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2833820]Fox Golf[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/golf-royale-104938]Golf Royale[/url] developed by Code Master Studio
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805630]Botmobile[/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/car-stunts-48972]Car Stunts [/url] developed by Ace
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2805660]Fight Till The End[/url]" = [url=https://www.sellmyapp.com/downloads/squid-7-challenge-top-trending-game/]Squid 7 Challenge[/url] developed by Flexy Gam
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2833830]Gas Gas Rocket![/url]" = [url=https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/hovershift-107789]Hovershift[/url] developed by SgLib Games
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2477000]Next Station: Zombies[/url]" = [url=https://getunitycode.com/product/merge-train-zombie-defense-unity-source-code/]Merge Train Zombie Defense[/url] developed by Virgil Source
[*] "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2864300]Zombodesert[/url]" = [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cXnw-32BjA]Macho Dash[/url] developed by TAPP Games
[/list]
Taking this shovelware seriously as if it was a genuine attempt to make a game, it doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result.
There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
My Bird didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the game, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is "Walk 1000 meters!", for actually playing the game, trivial to get, but less than 17 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, even the people who own this game weren't interested in it.
The poor quality of this game is also reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 110,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.
It's also important to note the "developer" here has connections to a number of shady Russian asset flippers and review manipulators who show an organised pattern to scam and defraud gamers with fake reviews and asset flipping the work of others for profit. While reviews are about the games, gamers should be informed when developers act unethically. Whether these connections are the same developer using multiple accounts, or just working closely with other unethical developers, gamers should be warned about the harm to gamers by this developer and their associates. Buying games from unethical developers puts your money at risk.
[quote][b][url=https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/16-cfr-part-465-trade-regulation-rule-use-consumer-reviews-testimonials-final-rule]Warning: Review Manipulation![/url][/b]
This game features a number of fake positive reviews from accounts known to be in the business of review manipulation/paid reviews. They're all written in either Russian, broken English or ChatGPT AI slop, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, all have a direct Steam purchase of the game, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams. The "Positive" review score on this game should be disregarded due to this blatant, unethical review manipulation. This is done to deceive and scam gamers into paying for a bad product.
Due to the 2024 FTC ruling (16 CFR Part 465), these fake reviews are a violation of US Federal Law.[/quote]
So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 110,000+ games on Steam?
My Bird has the cash grab price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, and the questionable ethical nature of the developer and/or their associates (as outlined above), this is impossible to recommend.
For comparison, the $10 asking price for this game could get you games like "Final Fantasy XIV Online", "7 Days to Die" or "Cities: Skylines". No pixelcrap is worth $10. If developers want to get paid the same kind of money as real game developers who know how to do graphics properly, they need to learn how to do graphics properly.
[quote][b][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/b]
Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.[/quote]
