Angry Birds Review

Most casual news-watchers are familiar with bombs with names like Bunker Busters and Daisy Cutters. However, we were surprised to learn that multicolored chickens, when pushed to the limits by egg-stealing green pigs, can take on the properties of these same missiles.

Explosive chickens, adorable as they are, would be pointless without some cool structures to topple, and Angry Birds provides a generous 63 of them. Everything from stone castles to glass houses can be thoroughly demolished, with the egg-stealing pigs squashed inside.

Piggies in glass houses shouldn't steal eggs.

You simply load up a chicken in your slingshot, pull back while setting your angle, and let go to relish in the destructive delight. It's incredibly easy to understand the concept within seconds, and the visual payoff is consistently impressive. Blue chickens split up in mid-air for a spread effect, heavy bomb chickens will explode and send structures flying, and egg-laying hens will let you deliver a yolky payload directly below.

You're always given the chickens in a particular order, which does diminish some of the strategy. For example, you can't choose to soften up the stone exterior with a burrowing hen, and then blast out the walls with a ticking explosive chicken, if that's not what's available. You're completely dependent on the particular tools you're given, in a predetermined order.

Avalanche!

Also, while you might fling your chickens in the same spot each time, the sensitive physics will usually have different results. It's generally impossible to recreate specific trajectories and reactions, and this usually means obtaining a high score (and a full three-star rating) is a matter of luck and not skill. Besides, we didn't see any tangible benefit to completing every mission with a three-star score, since it's all offline and all you seem to gain is the title of "chicken champion".

These are minor problems, and most of the time you won't notice as you'll be too busy trying to squish pigs and make full use of your chicken arsenal. So much about this game, from the "weapons" to the physics and level variety, is really quite excellent. If you've got even one destructive bone in your body, we think this military-farm-complex will be fun for you.

'Angry Birds' – A Physics-Based 2D Puzzler For Fans Of 'Boom Blox'

When you see a game with a name as nondescript as Angry Birds [App Store], it's pretty hard to get excited. Even after playing through the first few levels, I was enjoying this game, but failing to see the real appeal. Sticking with Angry Birds for more than 30 minutes, however, reveals a game that can easily be compared (both by the design and quality) to the Wii's family-friendly hit, Boom Blox, and turns out to be a lot of fun.

Angry Birds is a game that doesn't even pretend to have a story, and I really appreciate that. The full intro to the game is a single picture which illustrates some green pigs stealing eggs from a variety of birds. Naturally, the only way for the birds to vindicate this atrocity is to launch themselves from a slingshot in a suicidal attempt to take the lives of as many pigs as possible. I like to think that because the pigs are green this is some sort of swine-flu revenge fantasy, but it's likely that there's zero credence to that idea.

angrybirds1

With all of that out of the way, players are haphazardly tossed into a level in which several angry-looking red birds are gathered around a primitive slingshot, with a small wooden tower harboring a little green pig to the right. Touching and dragging backwards on the bird that is currently mounted in the slingshot will prime your disturbed little critter for launch. From here, your goal is to aim your shot effectively and take out a weak point on the pig's tower, causing him to fall to his little piggy doom.

angrybirds2 As the game progresses, you'll be given access to different types of birds that each have a unique power which can be activated by tapping the screen while the bird is mid-flight. Blue birds will split into three separate birds, yellow birds will get a large speed boost, black birds explode, and white birds drop explosive eggs.

Angry Birds will hand you preset numbers and types of birds in each level, so strategy becomes key as you find yourself trying to figure out how each of your birds can work cooperatively to cause some Rube Goldberg-worthy destruction. Over the course of the 63 levels in the game the challenges will become more difficult, yet simultaneously more rewarding upon completion.

There isn't much in the way of extras in Angry Birds. While developers Rovio have promised Leaderboard support in a future update, for now the only thing to do in the game is play those 63 levels. There is no tutorial, no multiplayer, no challenge mode, and no other features that are common in other titles.

There is, however, some good motivation to go back and improve scores on previous levels due to the rating system for each level in the game, and Rovio has announced in our forums that they will be holding a fun little contest to see who can get a the highest possible rating on all 63 levels (with the prize being a free Angry Birds poster hand-signed by all the developers).

Angry Birds might not have a lot of extra features besides its single player mode, but to be honest, that mode alone makes the game a fantastic value. Angry Birds successfully captures the spirit of Boom Blox using a 2D viewpoint, a compliment that should make this game an automatic purchase for many.

Angry birds

Angry Birds

“Lemme tell ya, these ain’t no ordinary finches we’re talkin’ about. These here are the Angry Birds, the ones that’s gonna kick you in the ‘nads. And they’re the ones on your side. They must be from Galapadapados, or sumptin’.” – Col. Angus, Bird Expert.

The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles.

Angry Birds features hours of gameplay, challenging physics-based castle demolition, and lots of replay value. Each of the 120 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy.

Protect wildlife or play Angry Birds!