Courtesy of images.dailytech.com
By Joann Lee, Staff Writer
29 November 2012
On November 8, Rovio released its latest version of Angry Birds: a mash-up of the original app and the Star Wars franchise.
Typically, when a game is derived from a movie series, especially one as iconic as Star Wars, the game itself lacks entertainment. More often than not, the game creators are so occupied with incorporating the movie into the game that they forget to make the game fun and innovative. Rovio, with the creation of Angry Birds: Star Wars, walked a line between losing the game’s identity and producing an entertaining gaming experience.
The game begins on the planet Tatooine, where the classic red Angry Bird is portrayed as Luke Skywalker. The game play is exactly the same as all the other Angry Birds games: fire the bird at the pigs. In this case, fling the Luke Skywalker bird at the pig. As the game progresses, you can unlock other planets/areas such as Hoth and the Death Star, as well as gain new abilities. Some of these abilities include shooting a blaster gun and wielding a light saber. As the levels progress it gets increasingly difficult to gain the perfect score of three stars, but then again, this is nothing new from the previous versions of Angry Birds. There are also more planets for an extended plotline, but you must either wait for an upcoming update or a pay an additional fee in order to play those particular levels.
Besides the cutesy Angry Birds characters dressed up as the Star Wars cast, the gameplay is essentially the same as that of the previous versions. Rovio has made a conscious effort to mix in the Star Wars series with its own game, trying to keep a good balance between the two. While playing the game, however, the Star Wars allusions were not enough to keep interest. It is the same game with a Star Wars coating on top, and Rovio’s attempts to make a new playing experience falls flat. If you happen to be the person who bought all four other versions of Angry Birds, go ahead and purchase it. The Star Wars motif does add another dimension, but expect that the game setup is still going to be the same. As for those who have already exhausted the entertainment of Angry Birds, invest in some other mind-numbing app.
Even though Angry Birds: Star Wars fails to be a new/innovative game by itself even with the new Star Wars theme, it still serves the same purpose as its predecessors: mindless time-killer.