Angry Birds Go!



Angry Birds Go! is a video game that is a part of the Angry Birds series. It is a kart racing game similar to the Mario Kart series, developed and published by Rovio Entertainment. It was released in 2013 for mobile devices.

Plot
On Piggy Island, the Minion Pigs are about to have a race, with the winner being awarded a giant cake. The Angry Birds look at the cake, which makes their beaks water. Red steals one of the pigs' karts and has a race. After winning, his kart breaks down, much for his grief. However, Mechanic Pig, who was also planning to get the cake, takes Red and his destroyed kart to his hidden cave. There, he builds a new vehicle for Red, who uses it to win some races. Later, Red has some races against Stella who is defeated and joins his group. Afterward, the two race across Piggy Island, defeating more opponents who join their team.

Pre-2.0.0 version
Angry Birds Go! is a kart racing game similar to the Mario Kart games. The player takes control of a series of playable characters, who will participate in races and events using karts. In these races, the player needs to reach their goal in the shortest amount of time. After completing a race, they will get one, two or three stars depending on their performance during it. Should they fail doing so, they will get a Try Again screen, encouraging them to try again with Boosts or after upgrading their kart.

The menu of Angry Birds Go! takes place in the Mechanic Pig's cave, which is divided into three sections: the tree, outdors or in the cave. On the tree, which is unlocked after defeating Stella, the player can select what character are they going to play with, each with their own abilities; outdors, they can upgrade their kart with Bird Coins and participate in events; in the cave, they can select karts, or buy new ones with Bird Coins, with real money, or through the use of Telepods. Each character in Angry Birds Go! has an independient energy system, which is represented in five cupcakes (formerly orange dots); if they run out of energy, the player will be unable to use them unless they get enough rest or the player pays with Gems.

In the menu, the player can select which race to participate in. The player's chances of winning depend on their kart's upgrades and effectiveness, which is represented in CC (cubic centimeters, used to measure engine displacement). Before starting a race, the game will compare the recommended amount of CC with that of the kart the player is using; if the player's kart is low in CC compared to what the game recommends, the text of recommended amount of CC will be in red; in the opposite case, the text will be in green. If both amount of CCs are nearly identical, the text will be in yellow. The races are divided into many modes, which are the following:
 * VS. Race: The player will be racing against two or mode opponents controlled by an AI. At first, those opponents will be Minion Pigs, though they will be replaced with characters the player has already unlocked. Said characters will also use their abilities to get an advantage. After winning in VS. Race five times, the player will be given tasks to complete in said mode.
 * Time Boom: The player will be in an individual race, with the circuits being filled with glass and wooden blocks. They will have to pass through these obstacles and get to the finish line before a bomb explodes. After winning in Time Boom five times, the player will be given tasks to complete in said mode.
 * Fruit Splat: The player has to collect fruits (or ice cream in Sub Zero) to fill a gauge before they get to the finish line. Sometimes, Minion Pigs will collect the fruits so that the player is unable to collect them. Once the gauge has been filled, all fruits will be replaced with Bird Coins. After winning in Fruit Splat five times, the player will be given tasks to complete in said mode.
 * Versus: The player will compete against a random opponent. It is divided into three difficulties: Easy, Intermediate and Hard, each with a tougher or weaker AI. The harder the race is, the more Bird Coins will be awarded to the player after winning.
 * Champion Race: Similar to Versus. It is unlocked after winning a race in VS. Race, Time Bomb and Fruit Splat once. The player has to compete against an opponent and win three races. Once said action is done, the opponent will be added to the character roaster, and will replace the Minion Pigs in VS. Race. Also, the player will be unable to play in said mode after the three races are won.

History
The first information about the Angry Birds Go! appeared on June 12, 2013, while Rovio posted a small preview image and the game. A few days later, it was also announced that the game will be released for iOS and Android (later it was announced that the game was also available on Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry). Before the beginning of the game production company Rovio has signed an extended license agreement with Hasbro, which they produce toys and games under the brand Angry Birds. Hasbro will be involved in the development of Angry Birds Go!, and in conjunction with LucasArts continue working on Angry Birds Star Wars. Development lasted long enough for a long time the news about the game almost did not come (probably due to the development of Angry Birds Star Wars II).

On October 31, 2013, Rovio released a countdown app called Countdown to Angry Birds Go!, where you can get acquainted with the characters, TelePods, little acquainted with the gameplay, and watch game trailers. It is also possible to gain points, for example, going every day to the application.

On November 26, 2013, the game came early in the New Zealand App Store. One day following in Australia, and then it became available on December 11, 2013, worldwide.

Discontinuation and potential revival
As of Summer 2019, Angry Birds Go! has been removed from the App Store and unlisted from the Play Store in every country but Zimbabwe. While Rovio initially said that this was for testing purposes, they said on there support page that they wanted to stop production on this game, along with many other Angry Birds games released before Angry Birds Transformers, to focus on the newer titles.

However, on June 22, 2021, Rovio announced that they will be remaking some of their older titles for newer hardware. While Angry Birds Go! was not mentioned, a survey has started popping up for players of the game, asking about improvements they want added in the game, so there is a great chance the game is a priority for Rovio. The survey can be taken from this link.

Angry Birds Go! Create
'Angry Birds Go! Create' was a web game created by Goo Create and Rovio Entertainment as part of Code Week. It was released somewhere around October 2014, the production took about 4 months. There's not much information about this game since it's currently shut down for both desktops and tablets.

The gameplay is where the players build their own racing games and share them with your friends.

Angry Birds Go! Turbo Edition
'Angry Birds Go! Turbo Edition' was a rework version of the original Angry Birds GO!, released in August 2019. It was exclusive to play on Hatch, a cloud gaming service. Game is now unplayable, due to the closure of Hatch on December 31st, 2020 and of Hatch Kids on April 1st, 2021.

Gameplay

 * Main Article: Angry Birds Go!/Karts 
 *  Angry Birds Go!/Gameplay (Version 1)



In Angry Birds Go!, there are various racing modes and many characters to race with and against. There are 12 playable characters in the game. The very first character that you get to race with is Red. You can recruit more characters by completing events. Each event has a required CC (cake capacity), so make sure you increase your kart's CC by upgrading it.

v2.0 has massive changes from v1.0. The campaign has been redesigned and introduced with new features such as energy system, a new upgrade system for karts, new tournaments (unlocked at Rank 4), new challenges, and a ranking system where you earn XP to level up and unlock from the boxes such as coins, new karts, and tickets. (Rank 50 is a max rank)

There are five upgrades:

Acceleration, Handling , Strength , Top Speed , and Grip.

Once you do, you will get a new kart every time you upgrade them with blueprints.

Modes

 * Race (ABGO RaceFlag.png) - A classic race with up to seven other racers. To pass this event, finish in the top 3.
 * Time Boom (ABGO TimeBoom.png) - Dodge obstacles and get to the finish line before the time-bomb explodes.
 * Fruit Splat (ABGO FruitSplat.png) - Race against minion pigs and splat the fruits until the bar is empty. Sub Zero has a counterpart of this called "Ice Splat", where players splat fruit-flavored desserts rather than the fruits themselves. When the player empties all the fruits on the bar, the fruits on the track change into coins. This is the most important goal for this race, not what place you finish in. The pigs will also splat fruits so it is important to stay ahead of the pigs regardless.
 * Boss Battle (ABGO Versus.png) - A duel with a new racer on a track. Boss Battle typically appears as the 5th/Last Track in a level, and one of the rewards is being able to use that boss in your racing team.
 * Daily Races - Unlock at Rank 3. Daily Races is where you can earn stars from competing in one of three races. If you meet the objective of the race you get awarded stars multiplied by the difficulty selected (Easy (x1), Medium (x2), and Hard (x3)), and sometimes if on Wi-Fi/cell data you can watch a video for a few more. Otherwise, you get nothing for a failed run. When you get the required number of stars listed you can earn prizes such as tickets or coins. You can select any difficulty prior to each race. The races and your star counts reset and change after 24 hours. They also adjust to your selected cart so your high CC kart will face other comparable high CC karts. This is a replacement for "Daily Events" from v1.0.

Items

 * Coins (Bird_Coins.png): Coins are the main in-game currency. They appear as small gold coins with Red's face on them. They appear in every track and can be collected to increase the amount of awarded coins when finishing a race, and there are big-sized coins worth Bird_Coins.png × 50. They are mainly used to purchase upgrades for the player's karts with upgrade parts, and it's also used for purchase 3 upgrade parts at the shop (starting at Bird_Coins.png × 100 for regular parts, Bird_Coins.png × 1,000 for Rare parts, and Bird_Coins.png × 10,000 for Epic parts).


 * Gems (Gem.png): Gems are the premium in-game currency. They appear as small, hexagonal, shiny blue gems. Gems are used to purchase refill energies, to upgrade karts when you don't have enough coins, and to open premium toolboxes (Gem.png × 40 for open 1 prize and Gem.png × 400 to open 11 prizes). A handful of gems are given out with some toolboxes, otherwise, you will have to perform an in-app purchase. Version 1.0 players will get gems for their purchased karts after updating their game and logging on to their Rovio account.


 * Energy (ABGO Energy.png): Energy replaces the cupcake scheme from v1.0. They are used to enter races and can be replenished by waiting, watching video ads, or spending gems (or probably rank up). When your energy is below what is needed for a race, a special video advertisement option is offered where the player can wait four hours to get full energy plus ABGO Energy.png × 20 on top of it.


 * Tickets (ABGO Ticket.png): Tickets, which are introduced in v2.0, are used to purchase toolboxes. They are awarded from meeting the goals of certain daily challenge races, ranking in tournaments, or getting stars in some of the episode event races. You can also get a ticket from watching the video ad at the redemption part of the shop but must wait four hours before you can watch another one.


 * Upgrade Parts: Upgrade parts are the new item to introduce in v2.0 where you upgrade your kart with Bird_Coins.png × 500 for each of them (or gems if you don't enough coins). They appear like a medal with a wrench symbol on them. There are 3 upgrade parts are regular part (ABGO UpgradePart.png), Rare (ABGO RareUpgradePart.png), and Epic (ABGO EpicUpgradePart.png). They can be found in campaign, toolboxes, or at the shop for buying them (Bird_Coins.png × 100 for regular parts, Bird_Coins.png × 1,000 for Rare parts, and Bird_Coins.png × 10,000 for Epic parts, with an incremental cost for each subsequent part until the shop refreshes its inventory). Another upgrade part, Blueprints (ABGO BluePrintV2.png), allows you to level up your kart. Blueprints are found from winning certain campaigns or sometimes in toolboxes.


 * Toolboxes: Toolboxes are the new item to introduced in v2.0. They appear as a toolbox and are opened by tickets. When you attain certain ranks, the game offers a better toolbox that contains rarer prizes (images below). They only found at the shop, you can open the toolbox for Gem.png × 40 for open 1 prize and Gem.png × 400 to open 11 prizes.

Power-Ups
In the v2.0 update, you'll get only one power-up by after watching the advertisement videos.


 * King Sling (ABGKingSling.png): When this Power-Up is activated, the slingshot will become a large, gray, more advanced version of the normal slingshot. When the player takes off from the King Sling, they will be propelled very far, very similar to a headstart. This is the only returning Power-Up in this game, for the King Sling also appears as a Power-Up in Angry Birds.
 * Kart Repair (ABGO KartRepair.png): Prior to the 2015 update (v1.6.2), when this Power-Up is activated, the player's kart will automatically be repaired whenever their kart is damaged.
 * Leaf Blower (LeafBlower.png): This Power-Up replaced the Boost Power-Up during the July 2014 update (v1.4.0). When this Power-Up is activated, a metal fan will appear on the player's kart, which spouts out leaves as it moves. This fan allows the player's kart to accelerate much faster, as well as increasing its speed.
 * Turbo Kart (TurboKart.png): This Power-Up replaced the Target Kart Power-Up during the 2015 update (v1.6.0). When this Power-Up is activated, the player is given a kart that looks like Kyle Larson's NASCAR. This kart has lightning bolts on the front and the word "Turbo" on the back. This kart has a high top speed and accelerates very fast, however, much like with every other Power-Up, it can only be used in that particular race and will not appear as an available kart to drive in the game.

Playable characters
Each character has special powers, giving them additional opportunities in the races. In Boss Battle, each of the characters (except Red, due to him being the default character) has different abilities next to their regular powers. In v1.0, they can use it repeatedly, but in v2.0, they only use it once.

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

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

Reception
The game has received mixed reviews, with a Metacritic score of 60% based on 22 reviews. The Guardian liked the gameplay and was not overly bothered by the in-app purchases. Tech2 did not like the energy system, which only allows you to play five races with a bird, after which they are locked unless you wait or unlock with crystals (which are slowly earned in-game or with an in-app purchase) and did not like the vehicle upgrade progress using in-game currency that is slowly earned by racing or with an in-app purchase for coins.

Trivia

 * The game gives some resemblance to the original Angry Birds, with the appearance of the Slingshot and power-ups.
 * This is the second game to use the Toons art style, with the first being Star Wars II.
 * Although Hal has never appeared in Angry Birds Toons, the game uses Hal in his new design from the Angry Birds Coca-Cola trailer.
 * On the cover of the Jenga tower knockdown game, if you look closely, you can see the Pirate Pig Attack game. This also happens with the Trophy Cup Challenge game.
 * CC in real life stands for Cubic Centimeter, but according to Mechanic Pig, it stands for Cake Capacity.
 * This is probably because the Flock and elite pigs are racing for a cake.
 * The letter "L" next to the kart names denotes the Level of the kart.
 * This is the first Angry Birds game to be played in a 3D perspective, as well as the first to feature three-dimensional CGI graphics.
 * The game gives you the option to steer by tilting or touching.
 * When the player finishes all brackets in a mode, the challenges will be available in that mode. Completing challenges will reward you gems.
 * In older versions, when you tapped a character in its habitat in the big tree, the character commonly would say "Hi" or "Hey". The tree character selection was removed as a part of the v2.0 update.
 * Whenever a kart has been fully upgraded, the kart will "level up" and change in appearance, and the name of the kart will change too.
 * To unlock an episode, you have to recruit all characters in the previous episode.
 * When you pick a kart for Race or Versus, all the racers will be using a variant of that kart. This was true prior to the March 2014 update (v1.2.0).
 * A few characters are not seen in their actual karts in their cutscenes nor in their Champion Chase. This is clearly a result of the developers' oversight.
 * Bomb's real kart is Big Bang, but in Seedway Cutscene 5, he goes by Big Boomer, and in his Champion Chase, he goes by Roofster. Both Roofster and Big Boomer are variants of Big Bang.
 * Chuck's real kart is Mega Rocket, but in Stunt Cutscene 5, he goes by Wall Magnet, and in his Champion Chase, he goes by Rocket Racer. Both Rocket Racer and Wall Magnet are variants of Mega Rocket.
 * Its worldwide release date was on the 4th anniversary of the first game.
 * This is the first game that Sponsored power-ups to change their names. The second was Angry Birds Transformers when State Farm (in the US) changes to Shield or (Energonicon).
 * All characters in Champion Chase uses their L3 kart counterpart.
 * Corporal Pig's ability is a reference to acquiring 3 green/red shells in various Mario Kart games.
 * This game has many bug issues in the v2.0 update, which includes game crashes. The player is stuck on the level and problems with upgrading the kart.
 * All progress is erased in the v2.0 update, even when connected to Facebook or Rovio Account.