Angry Birds Star Wars: Part 1

Angry Birds: Star Wars Edition

by Rovio Entertainment 

As discussed in a previous post Fruit Ninja is one of the most popular games for the iPhone, but there seems to be one other game that beats Fruit Ninja, and that is Angry Birds by Rovio Entertainment. This mobile game has launched a whole range of things such as merchandise with the characters from the game, to candy produced by the enormous candy corporation Fazer as well as an amusement park in China.

This of course adds a lot of pressure on the company and they have continually added updates to the original Angry Birds version as well as releasing new versions. Those with a critical eye would say that the spin-off games such as Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons aren’t really anything new other than just adding a new skin or theme to the game. But this has changed with the recent release of Angry Birds Star Wars.

At first it just appears as if they’ve put Star Wars costumes on the characters from the original Angry Birds game. But this quickly changes once you play the first level. The red bird which doesn’t have any special powers in the original game has now been equipped with a blue lightsaber and is supposed to play the role of Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movies. Likewise every angry bird has been recreated as an incarnation of a Star Wars character and been given a special ability from the Star Wars universe. There is a Obi-Wan bird that uses the force to push things, a Han Solo bird that shoots three laser beams as well as birds for Princess Leia, C3PO and R2D2. The levels aren’t just a forest or garden as in the original game but are instead placed on planets and locations seen in the Star Movies movie. Starting on Tatooine, where the original Star Wars movie started, moving on to the Death Star after completing every level on Tatooine and then ending on the ice planet Hoth.

The powers that the birds have been given in this version are actually purposeful and not just for gimmicks. In order to win you must not only aim but also time when to use your power. Red Bird or Luke Skywalker has a lightsaber that can cut through wood and harm stone while Han Solo’s laser can bounce of certain items and hit far away pigs. Not only do the powers add to the overall narrative and mood of the game but they are actually useful and needed.