Angry Birds (game)

Angry Birds is a puzzle video game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment that started the Angry Birds franchise. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for iOS and Maemo in December 2009. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from the iOS App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, most notably those using the Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 operating systems. The series has since expanded to include titles for dedicated video game consoles and for PCs.

In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed in or around various structures with the goal of destroying all the pigs on the playing field. As players advance through the game new types of birds become available, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player. Rovio Entertainment has supported Angry Birds with numerous free updates that add additional game content, and the company has also released stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game.

Angry Birds has been praised for its success for leveraging a combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price into a viable franchise with long-term potential for profit. The game's popularity has led to the production of additional versions of Angry Birds for personal computers and gaming consoles, as well as a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With a combined tally of over 2 billion downloads across all platforms as of January 2014, including both regular and special editions of the software, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

History
In early 2009, Rovio staff began reviewing proposals for potential games. One such proposal came from senior game designer Jaakko Iisalo in the form of a simulated screenshot featuring some angry-looking birds with no visible legs or wings. While the picture gave no clue as to what type of game was being played, the staff liked the characters, and the team elected to design a game around them. In early 2009, physics games, such as Crush the Castle, were popular flash-based web games, so the Rovio team was inspired by these games. During the development of Angry Birds, the staff realized the birds needed an enemy. At the time, the "swine flu" epidemic was in the news, so the staff made the birds' enemies pigs. Angry Birds was the studio's 52nd produced game and on its initial release, the game didn't sell many copies. After Angry Birds was a featured app on the UK App Store in February 2010 and quickly reached No.1 there, it reached the No. 1 spot on the paid apps chart in the US App Store in the middle of 2010 and then stayed there for 275 days. The initial cost to develop Angry Birds was estimated to exceed €100,000, not including costs for the subsequent updates. For the iOS version, Rovio partnered with distributor Chillingo to publish the game to the App Store. Chillingo claimed to have participated in final game polishing, such as adding visible trajectory lines, pinch to zoom, pigs' grunts, birds' somersaults on landing. Since then Rovio has self-published almost all of the later ports of the game, with the exception of the PSP version, which was produced under license by Abstraction Games.

When Rovio began writing new versions of the game for other devices, new issues came to light. As the team began working on a version for Android systems, they observed the large number of configurations of device types and versions of the Android software. The number of combinations of software version, processor speed and even user interfaces was significantly larger than that for the iOS version. Ultimately, the team settled on a minimum set of requirements, even though that left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some newly released phones. It was released on October 15, 2010. One month after the initial release on Android, Rovio Entertainment began designing a lite version of the game for these other devices.

In early 2010, Rovio began developing a version of Angry Birds for Facebook. The project became one of the company's largest, with development taking over a year. The company understood the challenges of transplanting a game concept between social platforms and mobile/gaming systems. In a March 2011 interview, Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka said, "you can’t take an experience that works in one environment and one ecosystem and force-feed it onto another. It's like Zynga. They can’t just take FarmVille and throw it on mobile and see what sticks. The titles that have been successful for them on mobile are the ones they’ve built from the ground up for the platform." The Facebook version incorporate social-gaming concepts and in-game purchases and entered beta-testing in April 2011; the game became officially available on Facebook in February 2012.

Improvements for the game include the ability to synchronize the player's progress across multiple devices; for example, a player who completes a level on an Android phone can log into their copy of the game on an Android tablet and see the same statistics and level of progress.

Plot
The plot of the game takes place on Piggy Island. The Flock happily lives together taking care of their Eggs. Suddenly, King Pig and his minions steal the eggs. They attempt to cook and eat the eggs. The birds injure the Corporal Pig, The Foreman Pig, and finally the King Pig.

In the second part of the plot, King Pig once again stole the eggs, but rather than simply fleeing, he placed cardboard cutout eggs in the birds' nest. The birds weren't fooled by this trick, and once again released their vengeance on the pigs for stealing the eggs the second time. There was also a cardboard cutout King Pig used to distract the birds. however, King Pig was behind. In the end, the birds didn't defeat him. Instead, they just destroyed the cardboard cutouts. The birds finally found out about the trick and the real King escaped to jungles, cities, and the clouds. It turned out they flew out with balloons, Stealing the eggs. The birds free Hal, along their journey. They get the eggs back. Next, King Pig and his minions kidnapped the entire flock to prevent the birds from defeating them and stole the eggs. Terence, the Big Brother Bird wanted to exact revenge on the pigs for kidnapping the other birds. In the meantime, the pigs attempted to reconstruct their forts. Quite anxious, Terence went to destroy the fortresses. He then sees Hal kidnapped again and frees him. Together, they freed the Flock. In the end, Terence and Hal captured King Pig in a cage. Terence was given membership into the flock. King Pig got freed. He, the Foreman Pig, and a Small Pig use a lasso to drag the eggs from the nest to them, trying not to get too close. This brings both the Birds and the Pigs to the Wild West, where the pigs are wearing cowboy hats and fedoras. The King Pig, on the other hand, is wearing a big sombrero. In the end, the birds rip King Pig's sombrero over his head. Next, King Pig and the other pigs try digging underground. The pigs, wearing mining hats and carrying pickaxes, dig a hole near the birds' nest and swipe the eggs from there. They escape through a giant cave, but the birds quickly follow. In the end, the birds shoved King Pig into his mining helmet. After this, The Birds notice that their eggs are gone and pieces of cake are too. The Orange Bird is worried. The Pigs stole the eggs, along with the missing pieces of cake and a candle. They are covered in frosting. The Birds do not defeat King Pig in the last level because he was not there; however, King Pig was defeated by the birds in the end, covered in frosting. In the new update for this episode, the Moustache Pig takes the King's place when level 18-15 is beaten. He is then defeated in level 19-15. Next, King Pig teams up with Ross and the Mechanic Pig to get the eggs. He is defeated in the end. Strangely, Ross survived unharmed. Then, The Angry Birds and Bad Piggies are fighting over the Eggs again, but Red is frustrated over a lack of a special ability. Just then, the Mighty Eagle flies by and gives Red a new power. Red joins his fellow birds in their crusade to rescue the eggs. The story then turns over to Bomb, where he recieves a new power. The Pigs (wearing lab coats) stole the Eggs again and brought them to Professor Pig's laboratory, little do they know that a leaking pipe gave Bomb a new power. Then, King Pig orders his minion pigs to steal the eggs with balloons on the beach, while he and the Foreman Pig watch. In the end, the Birds defeat King Pig yet again.

Gameplay
In Angry Birds, the player controls a flock of multi-colored birds that are attempting to retrieve their eggs, which have been stolen by a group of hungry green pigs. In each stage of the gameplay, enemy pigs are sheltered by structures made of various materials such as wood, glass, and stone resembling children's toy building blocks. The objective of the game is to eliminate all the pigs on the level. Using a slingshot, players launch a limited set of birds with the goal of either striking the enemy pigs directly or damaging their surrounding structures, causing the blocks to collapse and squash the pigs. The player must set the angle and force of the bird's travel by pulling back on the slingshot (using intuitive touch-controls in the mobile versions). The launch process is quick and casual, with no visible trajectory data, and a player simply selects a point in the X-Y field behind the launch post from which the virtual slingshot will be released. In various stages of the game, additional objects such as TNT crates and rocks are incorporated into the structures, and power-ups may be used to enhance the birds to attack hard-to-reach pigs.

There are several different types of birds used in the game, distinguished by their color and shape. In the earliest levels only the basic red bird is available. As the player advances through the game additional types of birds become available. Some birds are effective against particular materials, and some have special abilities that may be activated by the player while the bird is airborne. For example, a yellow bird speeds up, a blue bird fragments into three birds, a black bird explodes, a white bird can drop an egg-shaped projectile, a pink bird can trap objects in bubbles, a green bird boomerangs back and an orange bird expands and inflates. The pigs also vary, with hardiness relative to their size. Small pigs are weaker and are easily vanquished by direct hits or by debris from the damaged structures, while larger pigs are able to withstand more damage before succumbing to defeat. In addition, some pigs wear hats or armor, making them even more resistant to damage.

Each level starts with the quantity, types, and firing order of birds predetermined. If all of the pigs are eliminated after the last bird is launched, the level is completed and the next level is unlocked. If all of the birds run out and the pigs are not killed, the level is incomplete and must be repeated. Points are scored for each pig killed as well as for damage to, or destruction of, structures, and hefty bonus points are awarded for any unused birds. Upon completing each level, players receive one, two, or three stars depending on the score received. Players may re-attempt unlocked levels as many times as they wish in order to complete them successfully or to earn additional points to get more stars.

Power Ups
You may also use Power Ups in levels of the game. Power Ups can help you improve your scores in levels and help you get more stars.There are 4 Power-Ups, and you can use 2 per level. Here are the 5 Power-Ups


 * Power Potion: Formerly called Super Seeds, they can turn any bird on the slingshot bigger, and juicier.


 * King Sling: King Sling upgrades your slingshot so that when flung, birds can go faster and farther than before.


 * Sling Scope: Sling Scope allows you to see where your bird's gonna go before you fling them.


 * Birdquake: Birdquake rumbles the ground in a level and can make pig's structures fall down.


 * Shockwave: Is a extra Bomb bird with shockwave to demolish the blockers and pigs.


 * Red’s Mighty Feathers: iOS exclusive, Gives a Red bird that can fly into a targeted area, buy and use it in any level. Only available for purchase during the (RED) update.

Power-Ups are limited, and if you run out, you must purchase more to have more with these exceptions.


 * Slot Machine: In Angry Birds Classic, you can play any level daily to receive a free daily Power-Up from the "Angry Birds Power-Up Slot Machine". Whatever Power-Up you get three in a row in the Slot Machine, that'll be the Power-Up you'll receive. For example, get three Birdquakes in a row in the Slot Machine, you'll receive a Birdquake. Be aware that the Slot Machine goes only ONCE every day, so once you received your free daily Power-Up, you'll have to wait until the next day to receive another Power-Up from the Slot Machine. Unlike the Space Eagles from Angry Birds Space, which are recieved normally after the hour you received one, when the next day comes, if you start any level, the Slot Machine appears anytime.


 * Fun Fact: Power Ups used to be exclusive in Angry Birds Friends until August 2, 2012, which is the day the Power-Ups were updated in the Angry Birds Classic mobile app. Currently it is available for iOS and Android at the time.

Characters
There are currently nine different styles of playable birds (ten if you count the Mighty Eagle). They're shown in the order they are first presented to the player.

Each bird has a different ability, such as being able to boomerang back, splitting into three, or exploding. These abilities are activated by tapping or clicking the screen while the bird is flying. Below is the list of birds along with their real names that have been revealed.

Birds
Main Article: Birds


 * Red Bird (Red) - No special power. (Flies to a targeted area in levels of Red's Mighty Feathers and emits an aura of anger in Angry Birds 2)
 * Blue Bird (The Blues) - Splits into three smaller birds. Works best against glass.
 * Yellow Bird (Chuck) - Picks up speed and distance when tapped or clicked. Best against wood.
 * Black Bird (Bomb) - Explodes when tapped/clicked or shortly upon inpact. Best against stone.
 * White Bird (Matilda) - Drops an egg bomb that explodes on impact when tapped or clicked and does great on wood.
 * Boomerang Bird (Hal) - Comes back like a boomerang when tapped and does great on wood and glass.
 * Big Brother Bird (Terrence) - No special abilities when tapped/clicked, but destroys materials with ease.
 * Orange Bird (Bubbles) - Inflates to a huge size like a balloon when tapped/clicked or upon impact, then deflates a little later. Best against wood.
 * Pink Bird (Stella) - When tapped/clicked or upon impact, she makes bubbles around her which lift up objects like blocks and pigs. The bubbles last for about 3 seconds.
 * Mighty Eagle - You first launch a box of sardines and when it hits the ground, the Mighty Eagle will come down, destroying everything in its path and causing an earthquake, popping all pigs he missed, and shoots back up into the sky, while also destroying anything else in his path. He must be purchased for 99 cents (99¢) to be used, and has unlimited usage, except in Angry Birds Friends.

The Bad Piggies
The Bad Piggies, the Flock's enemies, are a colossal army of green pigs. They constantly steal the Flock's eggs to please their monarch, King Pig. Much like the birds, the pigs are also provided in different varieties, shown below:


 * Small Pig
 * Medium Pig
 * Large Pig
 * Helmet Pig
 * Moustache Pig
 * King Pig
 * Postman Pig (only found on the Pause Menu)
 * Fat Pig (Only found in Angry Birds Space and in King Pig Minigame in Angry Birds Classic (Refer to Golden King Pig))
 *  Freckled Pig  (Only found in Bad Piggies and in cutscenes during the episode, Bad Piggies, in Angry Birds Classic)
 *  Mechanic Pig (Only found in Bad Piggies and in cutscenes during the episode, Bad Piggies, in Angry Birds Classic)

Episodes
Main Article: List of Angry Birds levels

There is a grand total of 530 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.

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. 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. Contains 42 levels.

Danger Above, the pigs steal the eggs and escape on board using a number of makeshift aircraft. Contains 45 levels.

The Big Setup, the pigs imprison the birds in a cage to prevent their defeat after stealing the eggs. However, Big Brother bird is still loose and frees the boomerang bird, and they both fight back. 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. 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. 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. Contains 60 levels.

Bad Piggies, taking place in levels with the same background as in the App with the same name, "Bad Piggies", the birds discovered their eggs are missing when suddenly Chuck noticed that the Bad Piggies (Now including the Freckled Pig and Mechanic Pig in this episode) have taken the eggs, AGAIN, and this time, in a built wooden cart, courtesy of the Mechanic Pig.The birds then give chase. Contains 45 levels.

Red's Mighty Feathers, consisting two parts. First part, play with classic rule of Angry Birds with Red's Ability. Second part, Egg Defender, use only Red Bird and his ability to. It has 30 levels, 15 classic and 15 Egg Defender.

Short Fuse, Bomb has new ability: Shockwave. Use him to defeat the piggies faster. This episode also have potion, Inflate, Split and Balloon. And more amazing items. It has 45 levels. King Pig is defeated completely in the end.

Bonus: Flock Favorites, a special bonus 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.

Bonus: BirdDay 5, a special bonus episode, bring 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. Contains 30 levels.

Bonus: Surf and Turf, an episode originally released on Angry Birds Friends; a few small pigs with balloons steal the eggs while King Pig and Mustache Pig look on. Contains 45 levels.

There are also 32 Golden Eggs (33 on iOS) scattered throughout the game, which unlock hidden levels when collected. There is also the bonus King Pig level that contains 4 mini-games.

Achievements
For this game's achievements, see Angry Birds Achievements.

Gallery
For this subject's image gallery, see Angry Birds/Gallery.

Reception
Reviews for Angry Birds have been mostly positive. Chris Holt of Macworld called the game "an addictive, clever, and challenging puzzler", and Pocket Gamer's Keith Andrew said Angry Birds is "a nugget of puzzling purity dished out with relish aplenty". 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".

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". 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". 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." 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".

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.'

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, 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, and over 2 million downloads in its first weekend. Rovio receives approximately US$1 million per month in revenue from the advertising that appears in the free Android version.

According to Rovio, players log more than 5 million hours of game time each day across all platforms, along with 200 million monthly active users. 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. 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 Entertainment announced that the game had been downloaded 50 million times, with more than 12 million on iOS devices and 10 million on Android. By January 2014, the game had reached 2 billion downloads, including Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars & II and Angry Birds Go!. On Christmas Day 2011 alone, 6.5 million copies of the various Angry Birds games were downloaded across all supported platforms.

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. 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. 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. Mattel also made a few board games based on the app. These were called Angry Birds: Knock on Wood, Angry Birds: On Thin Ice and Angry Birds: Mega Smash.

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. In September 2010, IGN named Angry Birds as the fourth best iPhone game of all time. In April 2011, Angry Birds won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" at the UK Appy Awards. At the 2011 Webby Awards, Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices".

Angry Birds for Kakao
Angry Birds for Kakao is the Korean version of Angry Birds. The game was released on February 16, 2015 and it's only available on Google Play for Korean marketplace.

The gameplay is still a same as the Original version, but the only differences in Kakao version is they have the lives system and Bird Coins in the game, much like Angry Birds 2.

Sequel
A new game, Angry Birds 2, was announced. This game was originally in soft-launch on Canadian App Stores as Under Pigstruction, and was released worldwide on July 30th, 2015.

Videos

 * See Angry Birds Original Trailer