Developer releases Angry BirdZ iPhone game, charges $10, puts shill review on iTunes

Oh dear.

Developer Tamas Novak has released a game called Angry BirdZ on the App Store. An uncharitable interpretation of this turn of events might be that Novak is hoping some hapless customer mistakenly finds his iTunes page in the hunt for uber-popular iPhone game Angry Birds.

Novak's game isn't the first to pay homage to a more popular title. Earlier this year Doodle Jumper hit the App Store (it's now gone) and developer Teng Teng Chen published Flight Control - AirCraft Carrier (which is still available.)

What distinguishes Novak's effort is the price he's charging. At $9.99, Angry BirdZ costs more then ten times as much as Angry Birds.

And it doesn't seem that the gameplay - which, to be fair, doesn't clone Angry Birds - warrants this high price. The amateurish-looking app is apparently all about finding, “the hidden bird in the spinning golden eggs”, and seems to involve randomly picking one of three eggs and hoping that there’s a piece of clip-art of a red bird behind it.

The icon is, as you might expect, also a rip off. It’s the logo of Illinois State University’s home team, the Red Birds. It’s also one of the first Google Image results for 'Red Bird'. No expenses spared here, obviously.

Finally, to add insult to injury, Novak has even left a shill review on iTunes. “Its pure great fun!!”, the Budapest developer enthuses. “I recommend it for everybody!” Well, with a testimonial like that, how can we refuse?

I wonder if Novak remembers the time Apple pulled apps from iTunes and banned developer accounts for bogus reviews?