Game Review: Angry Birds (Video)

Angry Birds. The name alone instills fear into the minds of millions of people worldwide. Those who fear it know that once they place their hands on the game and fling their first sacrilegious bird into the air, they have become brainwashed and absorbed into the abyss. Hours wasted, lives ruined--all in the pursuit of the unholy "quick fix"...and now it's on Windows Phone!

Rovio has discovered an entirely new population of those unaware of its forbidden fruit and after last week's release we decided to taste it for ourselves. What did we come away with from the experience? Continue past the break to find out.

The Basics
Your mission is simple: seek vengeance on those nasty green pigs for stealing your precious eggs with birds flung by catapult. You can do so by pulling back on the bird inside the catapult, aiming exactly where you want, and then let go to begin the hurt. But Angry Birds differentiates the core gameplay by adding in a little bit of flavor to keep things fresh as it goes. In the game there are quite a few different bird types and each of them have a different function when activated by a tap on the screen:

• The Red Bird - The classic smasher. No special abilities but strong if you know how to use it.
• The Blue Bird - A small bird that multiplies into three in mid-air.
• The Yellow Bird - A medium-sized bird that boosts to smash into objects with more velocity.
• The White Bird - Fires a small, but powerful egg from directly beneath it.
• The Black Bird - Explodes on collision or can be triggered early depending on your strategy.
• The Boomerang - Whips back around just like a boomerang.
• The Big Brother - A super-sized Red bird. Don't mess with this one.

There's plenty of variety here and all of the birds have such unique abilities that it never really gets old. As you progress through the game each bird is unlocked to give you more firepower, but the game's levels also become more challenging as you go. Obstacles protecting those oinkers include wooden, stone, and ice blocks as well as permanent walls that you'd usually bounce off of. Angry Birds is all about strategy by making the best of what you have and thanks to the 165 levels included in the Windows Phone port, you'll have plenty of time to master that formula.

The Good
There's a reason Angry Birds is one of the most successful video games of all time: the gameplay rocks. Each level is wonderfully designed and the birds you're given open up hundreds of possible strategies; no one person will play the same level the same way, and that's a credit earned by a quality game. It's also the ultimate mobile game, providing just enough compelling fun to keep you hooked for about five minutes before you're stashing it away and itching to play another round later. Tie that into the phenomenal graphics and art style and you have a potent mix of success. The Windows Phone port in particular has its perks and the biggest one is certainly Xbox Live support. Angry Birds includes the standard 200 Gamerscore points to be earned through its achievements. While iOS may have Game Center, there's no denying the addictive nature and added replay value Xbox Live achievements bring to the table and they are arguably this version's best unique selling point. There's also support for leaderboards which presents your top scores alongside your friends'.

Paying more to get you less is always a terrible offer, and that's what you get with Angry Birds on Windows Phone.

The Bad
As solid of a foundation as Angry Birds is, the Windows Phone port is also severely lacking in some key areas. The biggest no-no in our book is the fact that this port is based on version 1.4.2 of the game, which is from last November. Just last month the Android & iOS ports of the game were updated to v1.6.0 and include new content and levels. That's already sort of a slap in the face since the game only just came out last week and it's already significantly outdated. Couple the old content with the fact that Angry Birds costs the most of any other smartphone platform version and it's clear Rovio didn't put in their full effort. Paying more to get you less is always a terrible offer, and that's what you get with Angry Birds on Windows Phone. The only issue we found with the actual gameplay in this port was a minor sensitivity bug. Whenever it was zoomed in and we tried to activate a bird's ability by tapping the screen or swiping up on the screen, it would sometimes accidentally think you were pushing the camera around instead and would fail to activate the ability. Again, this usually only occurred when zoomed in and a swipe so it's easily avoidable.



Overall
Definitely the biggest game you could get on a smartphone platform, Angry Birds has found success through a high-quality, low-cost proposition. The high-quality remains present in the Windows Phone port thanks to the crisp visuals, snappy performance, and the added Xbox Live bonuses. However, the low-cost side of the deal has gone raw with this port which offers an older version of the game with less content for a higher price than its iOS and Android counterparts. For releasing so much later than the other platform ports, that is almost inexcusable...almost. As much as our inner-cynic wants to rain hell on Rovio for being lazy and greedy with this port, our common sense is telling us that Angry Birds is still a quality game and to most of the people picking up the game it probably wouldn't matter to them. For $2.99 you are getting one of the best mobile games of this generation, and honestly it's hard to say it's not worth it. Try it for yourself by clicking on the tile below.

Angry Birds Rovio $2.99 + Trial Version 1.0