Angry Birds has left the nest a number of times since first hatching out on iOS and Android devices in 2009. Now after more than a billion installations and thousands of hours of gameplay clocked in across the globe a true heir to the original has been released and it’s called… Angry Birds 2!
Within six short years Angry Birds has become a popular culture phenomenon crossing over into multiple forms of media with a big screen animated adventure in the works, and while some highly entertaining spin-offs including Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars have filled the time (and our SD card space) we have always longed for a proper sequel to come along and get the app game series back on target.
Developer Rovio delivers with Angry Birds 2 which cosies up nicely to the original in concept and appearance but still manages to come across as fresh. The graphics are bolder and brighter and all of our feathered friends are there without gimmicks (no lasers, anti-gravity tricks or squ-awkward Princess Leia cosplay) and the game also introduces some game-changing new features, notably the ability to choose which of the birds you catapult next, rather than the order being predetermined by the app’s programming.
With this Angry Birds 2 offers a more versatile gaming experience, however it doesn’t make things any easier. New game physics mean the Bad Pigs and their crudely built fortresses are more taxing than ever to topple and the unpredictability caused by having freewill over which of your feathery arsenal to deploy means a lot more skill is required to complete the levels – each of which now contain multiple stages and a boss pig to add to the challenge.
Where before you could call upon the Mighty Eagle when you found yourself in an unsolvable situation, you can now also summon special skills including blizzards, hot chillies and a bombardment of golden ducks – these spectacularly silly spells remind us fondly of the classic Worms which was equally as addictive “back in the day”.
Angry Birds 2 is available from today via the iTunes Appstore for iOS devices and Google Play store for Android – and as before, the app is totally free to download and enjoy (with in app purchases available).