Birdopolis: Go bird-watching and make friends on Facebook

While many mobile and social gamers may think that a group of annoyed birds are the only ones that count in the world of gaming, 6waves has partnered with Nuukster to bring a bird-themed simulation game to Facebook that sees you becoming friends with all sorts of birds through bird-spotting and garden building. Birdopolis is now available to play on Facebook, and it's actually a fairly unique experience from beginning to end.

The game begins with an interesting twist, as you'll choose to play in either the western portion of the US and Canada or the eastern portion. The birds you'll interact with throughout the game will differ depending on your choice, with this carrying into your interactions with your friends, since they very well could have chosen the opposite side. As you begin to build you're garden, you'll be introduced to a group of birds that can talk, have families and carry out lives of their own.

In this way, the game is given a cute and clever storyline about a young bird named Carver that had an unsuccessful audition on Bird Idol and wants your help to restore his pride. Most items that you place in your garden will have a connection to a particular species of bird, and you'll only be able to spot them after you've placed those in your garden. As you gather more birds in your garden, Carver will earn more friends and his story will unfold through an in-game storybook that also serves as your catalog of spotted birds.

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Spotting birds comes in the form of a short mini-game that sees you controlling binoculars to watch birds at a distance until they've decided to call your backyard a permanent home. Each time you spot a particular bird, you'll earn "mastery" points of sorts for the specific, with higher mastery scores unlocking different abilities, like being able to take pictures of birds for more coins and experience points.

While an in-game quest system will help you attract many different kinds of birds by simply telling you what to build and when, you can also spend real money on premium items that attract specific birds that you may not be able to attract on your own. There's one final element that determines which birds will frequent your yard, with that being your overall garden beauty. At first, a slew of debris and weeds will cover the ground, so you'll need to spend energy to remove it. This increases the beauty and thereby unlocks additional birds in your game's "rotation."

All told, the technical aspects of Birdopolis are quite lovely, with graphics that appear hand-drawn and tons of bird chirping / singing sound effects. It's unfortunate that there's such a large focus placed on the bird-spotting mini-game, as this gets repetitive and even boring quickly. Still, these elements all combine into a unique Facebook gaming experience that still feels familiar enough to be easily accessible.

Click here to play Birdopolis on Facebook ---->

What do you think of Birdopolis? Will you play the game regularly on Facebook, or is it still not unique and different enough to pull you away from other games? Sound off in the comments!