Angry Birds (also known as Angry Birds Classic) is a puzzle slingshot game released in December 2009 on iOS and Maemo, later being released on Android in October 2010. The game was developed by Rovio Entertainment and published with the help of Clickgamer.
In the game, the player launches the Angry Birds from a slingshot at pig fortresses containing the Bad Piggies who stole their eggs. Seven flock members debut in this game (Red, The Blues, Chuck, Bomb, Matilda, Hal and Terence), while two others (Bubbles and Stella) migrated from the indirect sequel, Angry Birds Seasons. Six types of pigs also appear, including three sizes of Minion Pigs, along with the Corporal, Foreman and King Pigs. There are over 700 levels in the game, spanning over 17 episodes, along with the Golden Eggs scattered across the game that the player can find.
Plot[]
The game takes place in the isolated Piggy Island. A flock of rare multi-colored birds, led by Red and containing the Blues (Jay, Jake and Jim), Chuck, Bomb and Matilda, guarded a nest containing three eggs. However, from the distance watched the Bad Piggies, led by the greedyKing Pig Smooth Cheeks. These pigs have been relegated to eat grass, and King Pig, who, unlike his ancestors, has never eaten eggs and needs to keep that fact a secret, has had enough. Meanwhile, Red witnessed a mosquito touch one of the eggs. Furious, Red tried to fight the mosquito, but it got away (though in the cinematic trailer, he managed to defeat it). King Pig saw his chance, and, along with other high-ranking pigs Corporal Pig and Foreman Pig, stole the eggs while Red wasn't looking. Red and his comrades spotted the empty nest, and screamed in shock. Red, along with Bomb and Matilda, mourned the loss of the eggs, while the Blues spotted footprints leading to the pigs, whom Chuck had spotted. Using a slingshot, the birds slung themselves towards structures made by Foreman Pig, and managed to defeat all three elites and get their eggs back.
Afterward, the multiple episodes show the pigs trying new ways to get the eggs. The birds meet more members of their species along the way (Hal and Terence), and the battle continues to places such as a forest., a desert, a mine, a beach, a laboratory, and more. After the birds take out King Pig in a laboratory, his comrade, Foreman Pig, starts to get more control over the plans. He steals the eggs while the birds are visiting a farm, and after the birds defeat him there, he enters a time machine and goes back to the Triassic period of the world. The birds destroy many structures based on prehistoric animals before the pigs are defeated for what was seemingly the last time. The birds celebrate their victory while the pigs ride dinosaurs.
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
- Red
- The Blues
- Chuck
- Bomb
- Shockwave
- Matilda
- Hal
- Terence
- Bubbles
- Stella
Non-playable characters[]
- Mighty Eagle
Enemies[]
- Minion Pigs
- Small Pigs
- Medium Pigs
- Large Pigs
- Helmet Pig
- Foreman Pig
- King Pig
- Leonard
Episodes[]
There are a total of over 700 levels in Angry Birds, including Golden Eggs. These levels are grouped into episodes. In different episodes, the pigs try to find new ways to escape with the eggs.
- Tutorial, A warm-up episode where the player is introduced to the birds and the power-ups, which are unlimited for use. It contains 15 levels.
- Poached Eggs, The birds find that the eggs are missing, and later they discover that the pigs have stolen the eggs and now the pigs attempt to escape. It contains 63 levels, which must be conquered before any of the other episodes may be played.
- Mighty Hoax, The pigs steal the eggs again and use a cut-out of the King to distract the birds while they escape. It contains 42 levels.
- Danger Above, The pigs steal the eggs and escape on board using several makeshift aircraft. It contains 45 levels.
- The Big Setup, The pigs imprison the birds in a cage to prevent their defeat after stealing the eggs. However, Terence is still loose and frees Hal, and they both fight back. It contains 45 levels.
- Ham 'Em High, The pigs, armed with a rope, lasso the eggs out of the bird's nest and take them to the wild west. It contains 45 levels and 3 Facebook levels.
- Mine and Dine, The pigs steal the eggs and attempt to hide underground, taking them to the underground mines. It contains 45 levels.
- Birdday Party, The birds find that the pigs have taken their eggs for once again, and this time, along with a piece of their cake. It contains 105 levels (including BirdDay 5 which is merged with this episode).
- Bad Piggies, taking place in levels with the same background as in the game with the same name, the birds discovered their eggs are missing when suddenly Chuck noticed that the Bad Piggies (now including Ross and Mechanic Pig in this episode) have taken the eggs, and this time, in a built wooden cart, courtesy of the Mechanic Pig. The birds then give a chase. It contains 45 levels.
- Red's Mighty Feathers, consisting two parts. The first part, play with the classic rule of Angry Birds with Red's new ability. The second part, Egg Defender, uses only Red with his new ability. It has 30 levels, 15 classic and 15 Egg Defender.
- Short Fuse, Bomb has a new ability called Shockwave. Use him to defeat the pigs faster. This episode also has potions, Inflate, Split and Balloon. Set in the piggies' lab inside a tree. It has 45 levels.
- Flock Favorites, a special episode, the levels are based on the themes of the previous episodes (Poached Eggs, Danger Above, Mine and Dine, Bad Piggies, Red's Mighty Feathers, Short Fuse and Surf and Turf). Contains 30 levels.
- BirdDay 5, a special episode, brings new levels designed by fans. They are based in partners including CERN, Google Play, LucasFilm, National Geographic, NHL, Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twitter, UNICEF, WWF, and NASA. It contains 30 levels (NOTE: This episode has been merged with Birdday Party as of the Piggy Farm update).
- Surf and Turf, an episode originally released on Angry Birds Friends; a few small pigs with balloons steal the eggs while King Pig and Foreman Pig look on. It contains 45 levels.
- Bird Island, an episode based on The Angry Birds Movie. Home of the Angry Birds. It contains 21 levels.
- Piggy Farm, an episode in which Foreman Pig and minion pigs wearing a cow costume steal the eggs and escape to a farm, contains 45 levels.
- Jurassic Pork, an episode in which Foreman Pig continues his escape by entering a Time Machine that travels to 65 Million years and ends up in the Cretaceous period, being the king of Prehistoric Pigs, along with fierce dinosaurs. It contains 46 levels.
- Golden Eggs, 35 scattered throughout the game, which unlocks hidden levels when collected. There is also the bonus King Pig level that contains 4 mini-games.
Reception[]
In reviews, Angry Birds has been praised by critics. Chris Holt of Macworld called the game "an addictive, clever, and challenging puzzler,"[1] and Pocket Gamer's Keith Andrew said Angry Birds is "a nugget of puzzling purity dished out with relish aplenty."[2] Jonathan Liu of Wired News wrote that "going for the maximum number of stars certainly adds a lot of replay value to a fairly extensive game."[3]
Reviews for the first versions of the game that did not use a touch-screen, the PlayStation 3/PSP version and the Windows version, have also been positive, but with some disagreement over the different interfaces. Will Greenwald of PC Magazine, in his review of the PlayStation Network version, said that the control scheme on these platforms is good, "but they're not nearly as satisfying as the touch-screen controls found on smartphone versions," and that the PlayStation 3 version appeared "blocky and unpleasant, like a smartphone screen blown up to HDTV size."[4] Conversely, Greg Miller of IGN preferred the analog control setup of the PSP version, saying it "offered me tiny variances in control that I don't feel like I get with my fat finger on a screen."[5] While giving the game a positive review, Miller concluded, "There's no denying that Angry Birds is fun, but it could use polish – such as sharper visuals, a better price and smoother action."[5] Damien McFerrin of British website Electric Pig reviewed the PC version, saying "the mouse-driven control method showcases many distinct advantages over its finger-focused counterpart."[6]
Angry Birds has also been described critically as impossible to understand the playing rules criteria by game critic Chris Schiller of Eurogamer.net, which has 'a contemptuous attitude towards its players, keeping them just frustrated enough not to switch off and play something else instead.'[7]
Angry Birds became the top-selling paid application on Apple's UK App Store in February 2010, and reached the top spot on the US App Store a few weeks later,[8] where it remained until October 2010. Since release, the free, limited version of Angry Birds has been downloaded more than 11 million times for Apple's iOS, and the full-featured paid version has been downloaded nearly 7 million times as of September 2010. The Android version of the game was downloaded more than 1 million times within the first 24 hours of release, even though the site crashed at one point due to the load,[9] and over 2 million downloads in its first weekend.[10] Rovio receives approximately US$1 million per month in revenue from the advertising that appears in the free Android version.[11]
According to Rovio, players logged more than 5 million hours of game time each day across all platforms, with the series having 200 million monthly active users, as of May 2012.[12] In November 2010, Digital Trends stated that "with 36 million downloads, Angry Birds is one of the most mainstream games out right now." MSNBC's video game news blog has written that "[n]o other game app comes close" to having such a following.[13] The Christian Science Monitor has remarked, "Angry Birds has been one of the great runaway hits of 2010." In December 2010, in honor of the one-year anniversary of the release of Angry Birds, Rovio Mobile announced that the game had been downloaded 50 million times, with more than 12 million on iOS devices and 10 million on Android.[14] By January 2014, the Angry Birds series had reached 2 billion downloads, including Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars and Angry Birds Star Wars II, and Angry Birds Go![15] On Christmas Day 2011 alone, 6.5 million copies of the various Angry Birds games were downloaded across all supported platforms.[16]
In the history of the Apple App Store, Angry Birds holds the record for most days at the top of the Paid Apps chart, having spent a total of 275 days at the No.1 position; Angry Birds Rio has been No.1 for a total of 23 days, ranking ninth on the list.[17] In Apple's "iTunes Rewind" list of the most popular iTunes Store media for 2011, Angry Birds was the top-selling paid iPhone/iPod app on the App Store and its free version was the fourth-most downloaded.[18] The game's two special-edition versions, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio, were also ranked in the top 10 for paid iPhone/iPod apps, while its iPad-exclusive Angry Birds HD versions were the top-selling and top-downloaded iPad apps for the year.[18]
Awards[]
In February 2010, Angry Birds was a nominee for the "Best Casual Game" award at the 6th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards in Barcelona, Spain.[19] In September 2010, IGN named Angry Birds as the fourth best iPhone game of all time.[20] In April 2011, Angry Birds won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" at the UK Appy Awards.[21] At the 2011 Webby Awards, Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices".[22]
At the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards), Angry Birds HD was awarded with "Casual Game of the Year," and also received nominations for "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming" and "Game of the Year".[23] It is the first mobile app game in the ceremony's history to be nominated for "Game of the Year".
Trivia[]
- This game saved Rovio after they nearly went bankrupt in 2009.
References[]
- ↑ Chris Holt. Angry Birds Review. Macworld.
- ↑ Keith Andrew (December 21, 2009). Angry Birds (iPhone) review. Pocket Gamer.
- ↑ Liu, Jonathan (March 5, 2010). iPhone Review: Angry Birds Make Great Projectiles.
- ↑ Will Greenwald (January 12, 2011). Angry Birds (for PlayStation 3, PSP). PCMag.com.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Greg Miller (January 10, 2011). Angry Birds Review. PCMag.com.
- ↑ Damien McFerrin (January 19, 2011). Angry Birds PC review. ElectricPig.co.uk.
- ↑ Schilling, Chris (April 4, 2011). May-15-2012 retrieve. Eurogamer.net.
- ↑ Gustav Sandstrom (May 12, 2010). Angry Birds Smartphone App Takes Off For Rovio. Wall Street Journal.
- ↑ Keith Dsouza (October 15, 2010). GetJar Taken Down By Angry Birds. Techie Buzz.
- ↑ Patrick Goss. Angry Birds Android passes 2m mark. techradar.com.
- ↑ The Supremely Addicting Angry Birds Hits 42 Million Free and Paid Downloads. SymbianFreak.com (October 22, 2010).
- ↑ Matt Brian (May 9, 2012). Rovios Angry Birds Titles Hit 1 Billion Cumulative Downloads. Thenextweb.com. The Next Web.
- ↑ Popkin, Helen A.S. (November 22, 2010). 'Angry Birds' fail to negotiate peace treaty. MSNBC.
- ↑ Mike Butcher (December 10, 2010). Angry Birds hits 50 million downloads, creates simple in-app purchases on Android. TechCenter Europe.
- ↑ Rovio Hits Astounding 4 Billion Downloads Across All Games. Hardcore Gamer (January 17, 2018).
- ↑ Eddie Makuch (January 4, 2012). Angry Birds downloaded 6.5M times on Christmas Day. GameSpot.com. CNet.
- ↑ Mike Wehner (May 24, 2011). Apple approves its 500,000th app, but do you care?. Yahoo! News.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 iTunes top ten downloads of 2011. KSAT.com (December 8, 2011).
- ↑ The 6th Annual IMGA Winners. IMG Awards (February 16, 2010).
- ↑ IGN Staff (September 10, 2010). The Top 25 iPhone Games.
- ↑ Whitworth, Dan (April 12, 2011). Angry Birds triumphs at Appy Awards. BBC Newsbeat.
- ↑ Webby Nominees. Webby Awards.
- ↑ Angry Birds HD. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (2016).