No one can deny that the advent of Angry Birds made a permanent change to the way people saw iOS gaming. Since its debut in December 2009, the simple bird-launching game has made approximately 27 boatloads of money, and continues to rake it in with merchandise sales such as plushies and more. Naturally, other designers were bound to try to imitate the formula and appeal to the gamers who were hopelessly addicted to hurling birds at pigs. And with that, clones were born.

Snappy Dragons [99�/Lite/HD/Lite HD] is an Angry Birds clone, through and through. But I have to clarify, because at this point in the post-Angry Birds landscape, there are many different categories of clones, so it's essential to explain what exactly you're getting into. Well, aside from throwing stuff at other stuff.

Snappy Dragons has a very simple premise, just like the game it's inspired by: Evil wizards have kidnapped adorable baby dragons, and it's up to you to save them. To do so, you'll need to progress through a series of levels (80 in total across four different worlds) that present the basic challenge of taking out the wizards and saving the baby dragons. Luckily, you have a handful of fireballs at your disposal, so that helps your quest considerably. You also get to choose which dragon you play out of four, which has pretty much no effect on the actual game but hey, you look cool.

As you progress through the levels, new challenges will be introduced such as dragon cages which you can destroy for extra points. Controls are responsive when it comes to aiming your fireballs and trying to nail the perfect arc, and its still fun to make your way through the levels. It all feels familiar, which is probably because the formula is shamelessly copied from Angry Birds, but if you crave more of that gameplay, you will certainly enjoy making your way through Snappy Dragons.

There are also bonus levels sprinkled throughout the game too, which help to break up the level-by-level formula and let you go on a wizard-killing rampage. It's strangely satisfying to never run out of fireballs, as they are limited in all the regular gameplay levels.

The game has a cheery feel and the art style is perky, with wide eyed dragon babies blinking innocently while they wait for you to save their lives. It's nothing that you'll rave to your friends about, but you will likely enjoy it in that way that a familiar thing can be rewarding (kind of like my shaming and horrible addiction to all Zuma games). It also has built in Facebook and Twitter support, so while you may not need to rave about how unique Snappy Dragons is, you can at least brag about your high scores to your friends. And since bragging seems to be a golden quality among most gamers, it's sure to please those of you who enjoy doing so.

Today I saved the citizens of Metropolis from a missile launched from an unknown location. I flew into the sky and intercepted it in midair, then beat it to pieces. It exploded harmlessly over the city. But no time to wait for thanks -- a car full of criminals was escaping down the stretch of road in front of the Daily Planet. I handled them with my laser vision, if you know what I mean. Then that dastardly Lex Luthor unleashed a bunch of sticky bombs in the city. While I was gathering those up, fires started up on a nearby building. Then the meteors fell.

But hey, Superman [$0.99 / HD] can handle all that. All in a day's work, as they say. It's just too bad he couldn't be doing it in a better game. One that plays a bit less like The Hero, by Traplight Games, perhaps?

It's not that Superman is a total knock-off of The Hero. The Hero has style, charm and humor, and Superman has laser eyes, optional retina assets and the ability to beat up missiles while riding them. But the similarities are abundant.

This is the basic gameplay for both games: you fly around a two dimensional city putting out fires both proverbial and literal. You control your flight with a virtual joystick on the left, and a boost button on the right. You have special abilities you can use to do your job better -- those also hang out on the right side. You go through waves of enemies and crises while a top bar ticks down as you harm the city or allow it to come to harm (because Superman would never harm something himself). You have to finish each level before the bar runs out, and you're scored on the things you destroy or save in the meantime.

Superman adds a score multiplier to that formula. It builds up as you succeed, and falls when Supes gets hit by an otherwise harmless projectile or lets a target get away. At the end of each level, you're ranked based on the score you manage to earn.

But even if it weren't so very similar to The Hero, Superman wouldn't be a very good game. It has its positives -- the flight control is nice, and the control that handles your laser vision is conveniently contextual, changing to the control that punches dudes or picks up cars as needed. And you get to play Superman, if that's your thing.

The negatives just pile on, though. The missions are long and samey. Save a plane from dropping on Metropolis? Cool, you'll do that ten more times over the course of the game. You'll shoot up the same Luthorian police force every few levels. And it's not like the things you're doing ever really make any sense. You need to destroy these cameras/bombs/comets/fires around the city because, whatever, Lex Luthor, am I right? Unless Lois Lane telling you there are criminals on the run is your idea of a great reference to a beloved property, there just isn't much to love.

A couple levels manage to rise above the rest of the familiar, boring schlock. Those with boss fights can be fun, although they highlight the limitations of the controls (flying and shooting moving targets at the same time gets extremely awkward). And there are a handful of time trial levels peppered throughout, which just let you fly and fly and fly. Those are the good times.

Ultimately, if you love Superman and you miss the days when arcade games didn't bother with all that story nonsense and just let you get straight to beating stuff up, you might get something out of this game. If not, it's certainly a fun diversion at times. But if you'd like to see the same game done better, get The Hero. It's starting to show its age, but even so the love with which it was crafted still shines through -- more than I can say for this take on the Man of Steel. Either way, drop by our discussion thread and let us know what you think.