Angry Birds

Game: Angry Birds
Developer: Rovio Mobile
Platform: iOS and Android
Release Year: 2009
Stephen's Rating: 6/10

Angry Birds is the infamous and addictive bird tossing puzzle game everyone has on their smart phone.

Basic Plot

The story of each campaign is roughly similar. You play a collection of (wingless) birds. A group of pigs have stolen your eggs. It's up to you to destroy them and get your eggs back.

Gameplay

From a very basic point of view Angry Birds is like firing a sling shot at a pile of tin cans.

Each level consists of a slingshot, some stylised birds who don't have any wings (usually just a ball with a face on it), a tower of some kind containing various materials (ice/glass, wood, metal, etc), and a group of pigs who are scattered somewhere amongst the tower. The objective is to hit all of the pigs by firing your birds with the slingshot at them. The puzzle aspect is about the different towers which protect them. Often simply trying to fling birds at the tower without any thought will only take out a few of the pigs or none at all. It's about assessing each tower, finding the weak spots, and hitting them accurately.

Firing the birds is done with a touch screen. You pull the slingshot back and aim it in the direction you want. When you release, the bird will fly in the desired direction. On each level there is a pre-determined set of birds in a certain order who automatically jump up into the slingshot when it is their turn.

There are different types of birds who all have different abilities from basic birds who don't do anything, to birds who split into three smaller birds if you tap the screen while they are in mid air, and birds who explode like a bomb after a certain time frame. Knowing what materials and situations each bird is good at handling is a big part of the game.

In some of the later patches and releases there are some new features such as the golden eggs which are hidden around the game. Finding golden eggs unlocks bonus content and is somewhat like the red rings from Sonic Generations.

Positives

Addictive, simple, always with you as long as you have your phone.

Negatives

Repetitive, frustrating (at times).

Memorable Moments

I have to admit my opinion of the game is swayed by the phone I used to primarily play it.  I had a Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini at the time which I believe has the smallest touch screen on the Android market. Plus it has fairly low specs all round. The larger levels became unbearable laggy, plus everything was half the size or less of what everyone else was experiencing.

My wife is the master of this game. She will replay every level until she gets 3 stars, which she always does.