Let’s just say this: no Flappy Bird is not a good game. We’re sorry if you’re actually a fan rather than in on the joke. There are upsides to Flappy Bird. Not many but we should outline them: it is surprisingly addictive; instant death games are quick to play and a typical game for us lasts around 10 seconds. So it’s ideal for those brief moments on the tube, or between classes or meetings. It is free to download and it isn’t trying to constantly shake you down via in-app purchases. It does have banner ads but they’re not especially intrusive. In this respect Flappy Bird is vastly more likeable than all of EA’s recent offerings, especially Dungeon Keeper which is currently being held up as the poster boy of everything that is wrong with the video games industry. (See: Developers given until 1 April to comply with new in-app purchase rules: How to stop kids buying iPad, iPhone apps & extras)

There are numerous downsides to Flappy Bird. I guess the main one would be that it’s technically and graphically poor. Actually calling it “poor” is being kind, it’s impoverished to the level of the North Korean tech scene. The visuals are low-resolution and of low quality, the Flappy Bird itself is a yellow ball with giant red lips and a single cyclops eye. The Flappy Bird has three frames of animation to complete the retro-gaming effect. The Start and Score buttons look like Flash-era web graphics. The ground is a rolling two-tone green barbershop pole; thepipes are from Super Mario Bros., the background is a static city made of, what looks like, clip art. It’s hard to imagine a designer choosing a worse font for the Flappy Bird logo: officially it is known as 04B_19 and is like Comic Sans without the self referential irony. The game is repetitive, bland and mediocre.

Make no mistake Flappy Bird is a terrible, terrible piece of software. If it weren’t so popular this wouldn't be an issue. Flappy Bird could be a fine example of a developer still honing their craft and still better than anything most critics could develop in Objective-C. But it’s not: Flappy Bird is sitting at number one in the charts. Flappy Bird is more popular than games with huge intellectual property behind them, like Despicable Me: Minion Rush or games by long-standing expert publishers like Sonic Dash. Flappy Bird has almost 10,000 reviews and is rated by the App Store at 4 stars. Dungeon Keeper, in contrast, has 108 reviews and is rated at 3 Stars. The public has very much spoken and it likes this game. Flappy Bird is not alone either: the rest of the Free App chart is now overpowered with clones like Ironpants and Flappy Plane. A similar game calledCopter Classic from 2012 has re-entered the Top 10.