Angry Birds Transformers

Angry Birds Transformers is a side-scrolling shoot em' up video game released for iOS (Oct. 15, 2014) and Android (Oct. 30, 2014). In this game, the Angry Birds (as the protagonist «Autobirds») and the Bad Piggies (as the antagonist «Deceptihogs») join forces to battle against the «EggBots».

A cinematic trailer was released on August 29, 2014, animated like a mid-1980s VHS tape, which the original Transformers cartoon series was distributed on for home viewing.

Plot
The storyline begins with the EggSpark hurtling towards Earth. Upon entering the atmosphere, the EggSpark turns into an egg-like shape. As the Allspark is heading towards Piggy Island, the age-old battle between the Angry Birds and the Bad Piggies unfolds, ready to clash over a clutch of Eggs. Shortly thereafter, the EggSpark crashes to Earth, with the fallout turning the Birds, the Pigs and even the Eggs into robots. After marvelling at their new robotic bodies, the Birds (as the Autobirds) and the Pigs (as the Deceptihogs) were about to resume their battle when the roboticized Eggs (dubbed the «EggBots») began shooting at random environmental objects, roboticizing them and attacking both Autobird and Deceptihog alike. With a new threat surfacing, the mutual enemies are forced to enter an uneasy alliance in order to battle the Eggbots and save Piggy Island together.

The game begins with all of the Deceptihogs and most of the Autobirds captured by roboticized Bad Piggies (dubbed the «Pigbots»). Red (as Optimus Prime) and Chuck (as Bumblebee) must free their allies from captivity and save Piggy Island.

Gameplay
The objective in the game is to complete a run from start to finish in each stage, dealing with Pigbots attacking both Autobirds and Deceptihogs alike. Popping pigs is not needed to finish any stage; popped pigs are used to unlock new characters who are encased in ice. To pop the pigs, players must either directly shoot at them, or destroy their fortresses to crush them or make them fall from great heights.

Players can also transform to speed through a level faster and avoid highly damaging falling monoliths. As players upgrade their Transformers, they get special Energon abilities that can be recharged by shooting roboticized environmental objects to release Energon cubes.

Players can also bring an ally (even from a different faction) into a stage, where they can be summoned to assist the player for a set amount of time. If Astrotrain flies over you after your partner has disappeared, then he can no longer help you complete the level before returning to Astrotrain. However, if your partner is still present when Astrotrain flies over you, then he will remain with you until you and him both return to Astrotrain. Players' health are represented by five hearts made of five lines (4% health) representing 20% of health. If you lose all of your health points, you will fail the level and Astrotrain will beam your beaten-up Transformer away from the event, followed by a spotlight shining down on the beaten-up Transformer inside his cab on the Game Over screen with the word "Unlucky!" appearing over him.

Coins
Throughout levels, players will collect coins for every pig popped or destroyed block. These coins are needed to upgrade the player's unlocked Transformers and/or recharge them when defeated. Coins also appear in special golden blocks that release coins when shot at. A number of one to five of these blocks can appear in levels, however, they are tough to destroy completely, especially when flying Pigbots or missiles are present. Occasionally, a bonus level may appear covered in a red/blue glass shield, which the player can unlock for 10 gems to play a level of a random difficulty where coins are released more often than regular. These type of levels last only for 24 hours before becoming a regular level once again. Depending on the player's Transformer and the difficulty of the level, it is possible to earn over 5000 coins in these type of levels by popping bigs, destroying fortresses and shooting at golden coin blocks.

Gems
As a recurring item from many other games in the series such as Angry Birds GO!, Gems reappear in Angry Birds Transformers, once again, as an alternate currency. Their main use in the game is to speed up and complete upgrades, missions (missions portal) or recharges, purchase accessories to customize the player's Transformers, destroy difficult levels using the Skywarp attack (which can only be used a matter of three times; each use increases the amount of gems needed for the next attack), unlock covered levels to play bonus coin doubler levels, or change your Transformer into a different Transformer from the event for 1 gem. Gems are difficult to obtain and so far only are rewarded to the player in three ways: through a completed achievement or mission from a missions portal and claiming the reward, by tapping random treasure chests that rarely spawn on Piggy Island, which release a random number of gems between 1 to 10, or by simply paying for them with real money through the in-app purchasing system.

Pigs
As of a recent update, popped pigs from levels are now used as currency to unlock new characters. When the player unlocks a new area through upgrading their Transformers, a new character will be enclosed in a block of ice on the land. The player must give a number of popped pigs to unlock them.

Materials
Also of a recent update, materials are needed to upgrade the player's Transformers. They take the shape of random objects such as gears and can randomly be collected during levels (in the shape of a present box when collected) or from completed missions from the missions portal. As mentioned, materials always appear from a green and red present box, which when tapped on, releases a random material. Materials are stored in the silo on Piggy Island, which can be upgraded to hold more of them (also costs materials to do so). Materials collected by Autobirds are blue and those collected by Deceptihogs are purple. As of the new update of July 15, 2015, more materials are needed for upgrades.

Energon power-ups
Energon power-ups are power-ups that Transformers are able to get by shooting silver roboticized environmental objects. When the objects have taken enough damage, they will release an Energon cube that is immediately added to the Energon power-up button. These power-ups can be upgraded by upgrading the Transformer itself. The upgrades give the power-ups stronger or longer-lasting effects, but they will require more Energon cubes to activate the stronger effects. The power-ups can be upgraded twice. As of the new update, Energon power-ups were replaced with Energonicons.

There is a total of 3 different Energon power-ups:


 * Energon Sheild (sponsored by State Farm) (Replaced by the Shieldor) - it cloaks the Transformer with a force shield that offers ultimate protection, even from falling monoliths. If you have one Energon cube at your disposal, the shield will last for about 5 seconds, if two cubes - 10 seconds, and if 3 cubes - 15 seconds.
 * Energon Airstrike (replaced by the Strikebot) - Skywarp is called to airstrike an area. The airstrike helps in destroying structures, scrambling rockets and fireballs. It is uncertain what benefit the power-up gains from extra Energon cubes, but it's likely that it causes more damage. However, it is advised not to charge this power-up, as in, use it when you have only one Energon cube as the extra cubes don't really make a difference in effectiveness. This will result in more airstrikes.
 * Energy EMP Stunner (replaced by the Electroblast) - an EMP is activated by the Transformer. If one Energon cube is collected, the EMP will disable the scrambling rockets & air Pigbots (except for the balloon Pigbots) and stun the mortar towers for a few seconds, if two cubes - the EMP will not only do the previously mentioned effects, it will also stun Pigbots that are sitting on structures for several seconds and the stun for mortar towers will last longer, and if three cubes - all the same effects as before with additions of balloon Pigbots being disabled and stuns lasting even longer.

Energonicons
Energonicons are new items of the July 15, 2015 update that can be crafted in Professor Pig's lab. They are created from materials and replace the Energon Powerups.

Regular Pigbots
These enemies are the most basic and common type of enemies. Most wield laser weapons and will shoot at the player upon sight. Others simply bounce around and/or stare at the player. They can easily be defeated in a few shots or by causing them to fall from great heights by destroying their towers, as mentioned above. Some Pigbots wear helmets, and can withstand more damage. Pigbots' health increases on harder difficulties.

Flying Pigbots
These enemies appear as regular pigs with a propeller attached to them. Some also wear helmets, giving them more health than those without. Though incredibly weak, they are also incredibly dangerous in numbers, especially on harder difficulties. They attack the player with laser weapons. If not defeated within a few seconds, they will self destruct onto the player, causing the player to lose health. They will also self destruct immediately when the player is in vehicle form. This attack can be incredibly dangerous on higher difficulties. However, on the bright side, these enemies can be defeated with one to two shots (three to four on hard difficulties). Shots from regular Pigbots and other flying Pigbots can also deplete these enemies' health as well and defeat them. Energon EMP Stunners come in handy to take down these enemies when in numbers. Energon Shields are also very effective against numbers of flying Pigbots, especially when using characters who cannot directly attack them, such as Heatwave or Sentinel Prime. As of the 2015 Halloween Update, flying Pigbots were disguised in Halloween masks, however, their attacks were no different. As of the 2015 Thanksgiving Update, the flying Pigbots play a strong role and are disguised as cooked turkeys. They must be shot at and defeated in order to complete the Thanksgiving Challenge. There are prizes for defeating 10, 100, 500, 1500 and (????) Pigbots disguised as turkeys.

Falling Pigbots
These enemies appear as pigs attached to balloons wielding two sticks of dynamite. They attempt to slowly float down onto the player and explode, causing the player to lose health if they successfully collide into him. They are quite durable, however, an easy way to take them down is to shoot their balloon (s), causing them to fall and pop instantly. Energon EMP Stunners are ineffective against these types of enemies unless the player uses the power-up at max level (three Energon cubes).

Falling Monoliths
These enemies appear as towering stone towers with carved pig faces. They attempt to fall onto and crush the player when he or she gets near, dealing high damage if they do happen to do so. The only way to escape their attack is by transforming into vehicle mode. Not all monoliths will attempt to fall on players, but most do. Their attack is identifiable with a shake when the player gets near. The game will play in slow motion if the player transforms into vehicle mode when a monolith is about to crush them; there is an achievement for successfully evading this attack a number of times when this happens. Falling Monoliths cannot be destroyed. Some monoliths will appear in the background. Those which appear falling in the background will not deal damage to players.

Missiles
In most levels, homing missiles will chase down your Transformer and hit you, scrambling the player and turning the player into a washing machine for five seconds, therefore slowing down and making your Transformer vulnerable to attacks, such as those by falling monoliths. There's even an achievement where you get turned into a washing machine at the very last minute as a Deceptihog upon returning to the Astrotrain! Missiles will release coins when destroyed by simply shooting at them before they hit the player. Some characters such as Galvatron, Grimlock, Shockwave, Epic Optimus Prime and Starscream can directly destroy missiles in one shot. It is to note that the cannons that fire these missiles are indestructible. Much like with flying Pigbots, it is recommended to use Energon Shields or Energon EMP Stunners when playing as characters who cannot directly attack and destroy missiles, such as Heatwave or Sentinel Prime. It is to note that any homing missiles chasing the player will fly away off-screen after the player has been hit and turned into a washing machine. In some missions, cannons will fire two missiles at a time. On rare occasions, a Transformer will fail the event as a washing machine (it's easiest if he is it by a missile with at most 40% of health left and is either crushed by a falling monolith, bombarded by boulder shot out of Walking Mortar Towers multiple times, or falling into a pit and/or void with no force field "bridge" deployed), resulting in said Transformer still in his washing machine form on the Game Over screen.

As of a recent update, multiple missile types have been added. They behave like normal missiles, but have different effects when destroyed or if they hit your character. One type appears as a black missile with some black paint splattered over it. Once it hits you, it splatters 3 blobs of black paint on you screen, decreasing visibility, however it does not scramble the player. There is also a blue and pink missile. When hit, it acts like an EMP stunner/Electroblast. It stuns everything on the screen except you if shot down. If the missile hits you, the same thing will happen, except you get "scrambled", resulting in the mixing up of body parts for a few seconds. This can also be achieved by switching between vehicle and normal mode repeatedly. Another type is a gold missile. It does not seem to have any effect on you if you get hit by one, but shooting one gives you 300 coins.

Walking Mortar Towers
These enemies are among the toughest of all. They appear as giant walking stones with evil eyes and huge cannons. These enemies, after having spotted the player, walk back and forth and shoot enormous fireballs from their cannons at them. These fireballs give extreme damage to players who are hit by them. Players who are hit will lose more than a heart of health depending on the difficulty. It is recommended to transform into a vehicle and drive out of the way to dodge these enemies' fireballs. Walking Mortars (called Mortar Towers in-game) have high health and often appear at the very end of a level, however they can be defeated by simply shooting at them while dodging their fireballs. When using an Energon EMP Stunner, these giant enemies will shape into a block and stop moving. They will also take this form if the player boards the Astrotrain. When in this form, they do not take any more damage. When using the Energon Shield, these enemies' fireballs will not hitting you. On later levels, as many as five Walking Mortar Towers can appear in a level. Upgraded Transformers such as Galvatron, Heatwave, Sentinel Prime and Energon Galvatron can easily wipe out Walking Mortar Towers, however.

Sharktihogs
Sharktihogs, as their name implies, are pigbots in shark suits. You can find them in levels with water at the front. When underwater, you can only see their dorsal fins, but you can still shoot at them. They resurface and shoot a laser at you, then go back underwater. They will do this until they become completely submerged (Fin not visible) or until they are destroyed.

Pits and Voids
In some later levels, there are large pits and voids that must be crossed by deploying force fields that can be used as bridges. Falling into one of them will result in an instant Game Over, regardless of how much health your Transformer still has left.

Missions
As of an update, new mission portals appear on the map. There are three mission portals: easy, medium, and hard. They are located on Desert Island, the Forest, and Cobalt Valley. To unlock the easy mission portal reach rank 35.

When you tap on a mission portal, 3 missions will appear. The missions will display their name, prizes, time, and a symbol. There are three symbols, a lightbulb, a magnifying glass, and a missile. Selecting a mission will bring you to a page where you can choose the transformer(s) to go on the mission. You start out with one "slot" and can purchase two more slots in each portal using gems. Each Transformer also has a symbol, and for the best success you should match the symbols, although you can pick a different character with a different symbol then the mission. After selecting your team, you can use pigs to shorten the time for the mission to finish up to 50%. Once the mission is finished, a bar will appear with several keys on it. The success of a mission is determined by the level and symbol of the chosen transformer(s). Filling up the bar earns you more keys. You can also watch a video to increase the bar. Then, 5 gift boxes will appear. The number of keys you have earned will determine how many gifts you can open.

Some characters can be unlocked by special missions, which are yellow instead of blue. Arcee and Arachnid are unlocked in the easy mission portal, and Bluestreak and Prowl are unlocked in the medium mission portal.

Trivia

 * This is the second 3D Angry Birds game.The first one is Angry Birds Go!, which like Angry Birds Transformers, has a Jenga Mode.
 * This is the second game in which Matilda (so far) does not appear. Angry Birds Space is the first game that excluded Matilda.
 * The Blues and Bomb appear in the comic series before appearing in the game.
 * This is the first game in which:
 * Hal, Bubbles, and Terence are main characters.
 * The Birds and the Pigs are on the same side.
 * Although this was sometimes the case for the Pork Side mode in Angry Birds Star Wars 2, not counting the upgrade to use pigs in bird levels and use birds in pig levels.
 * There are visible arms and legs for the characters
 * The Eggs are the antagonists.
 * Chef Pig is playable.
 * This is the sixth game to use vehicles. The first one is Bad Piggies, the second and third are the Angry Birds Star Wars games, the fourth one is Angry Birds GO!, and the fifth one is Angry Birds Epic (Bomb's pirate ship, the airship and submarine).
 * This is the third Angry Birds game that wasn't released on a Thursday. The first game was Angry Birds and the second was Angry Birds Rio. However, it was released on Thursday for Android in Google Play.
 * Despite the fact the Bad Piggies are teaming up with the Angry Birds, and are indeed playable, the primary basic enemies are pigs (turned into Pigbots).
 * Players can thank characters who are summoned as partners during a stage run, even if a partner is of a different faction. Thanking a character will give the other player 25 coins or gems. There are various humorous animations after thanking. For example, When a player's character gives thanks to a partner of a different faction, your character will push the other character off the screen.
 * Energon Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker use the same sounds as Freckled Pig.
 * Foreman Pig is called Mustache Pig in-game.
 * If you change the time for your advantage, the game will say "time travel weirdness" and may degrade your transformers.
 * If you're at a high enough rank, you don't need any buddies.
 * The Autobirds and Deceptihogs are based on various incarnations of several Transformers characters:
 * Red as Optimus Prime's robot mode resembles G1 Optimus Prime's robot mode, but has Movie Optimus Prime's longnose truck alt-mode and flame decals. His alternate form, Ultra Magnus is based on that character's original toy design (a white recolor of Optimus Prime) instead of his cartoon design (based on the full toy). As Nemesis Prime, he is based on the evil Optimus Prime clone of the same name.
 * Chuck as Bumblebee's design and alt-mode resembles Movie Bumblebee's, even having a Camaro-like altmode and "door-wing" kibble. As Rodimus Prime, he is based on Rodimus from Transformers: The Movie,  Season 3 of the G1 Transformers cartoon, and the Japanese spinoffs. Rodimus Prime is Optimus Prime's successor in some Transformers continuities.
 * Hal as Grimlock's alt-mode is a tricycle since his robot and T. rex modes are treated here as being the same. His mostly-green coloration resembles either that of his Age of Extinction or Robots in Disguise (2015) incarnation
 * Terence as Heatwave is based on the Rescue Bots character of the same name. One of his alternate forms, Sentinel Prime, is based on the Dark of the Moon character of the same name (he becomes a red-and-black fire truck). As Ratchet, his design is based from the G1 Transformers cartoon, Animated, and Prime while his vehicle form is based from the Transformers movies.
 * Bubbles as Jazz's design is based on G1 Jazz's. As Ricochet, he is based from the character of the same name from the G1 Japanese continuation series Headmasters.
 * Stella as Arcee's robot mode resembles G1 Arcee's, but has Revenge of the Fallen Arcee's motorcycle alt-mode. As Airachnid, she is based on the spider-like Decepticon from Transformers: Prime. However, because Arcee and Airachnid share a body, while in Prime Airachnid becomes a helicopter (her spider-like legs become the helicopter's propellers), here she becomes a motorcycle.
 * The Blues as Bluestreak are based on G1 Bluestreak's. For some reason, they also have three heads due to the Blues all sharing the same body. As Prowl, he is based on G1 Prowl, as both Bluestreak and Prowl share similar designs.
 * Bomb as Drift is based from the G1 comics wearing a Samurai helmet based from Age of Extinction.
 * Silver as Windblade is based from the G1 comics and Robots in Disguise (2015) Windblade.
 * King Pig as Megatron is based on Movie Megatron's design in Revenge of the Fallen, even sporting a similar-looking tank alt-mode with tank treads on his legs and a claw-shaped "fusion cannon". As Bludgeon, he has Bludgeon's robot body and tank mode, but his Pretender shell's white skull-like face. As Brawl, he resembles a mix between G1 and Movie Brawl. As Shockwave, he has Prime Shockwave's head (though with two optics instead of a single optic to give him the appearance of a pig nose) and Dark of the Moon Shockwave's tank mode.
 * Minion Pig as Starscream has G1 Starscream's colors, but Prime Starscream's alt-mode. As Thundercracker he has G1 Thundercracker's colors. As Skywarp he has G1 Skywarp's colors. As Acid Storm he has G1 Acid Storm's colors. As Sunstorm his colors resemble G1 Sunstorm from the cartoon (yellow with orange stripes on the wings) in contrast with Sunstorm's other appearances (completely orange body).
 * Foreman Pig as Lockdown is based on the Age of Extinction character of the same name, even having an Aventador-like altmode.
 * Chef Pig as Soundwave has G1 Soundwave's robot mode, but War for Cybertron Soundwave's military truck alt-mode. As Soundblaster, he is based on Soundwave's eventual upgraded form from the Japanese spinoffs.
 * Corporal Pig as Galvatron has G1 Galvatron's robot mode, but Age of Extinction Galvatron's cab-over truck alt-mode.
 * Recent versions of the game require internet connection.
 * The failed to connect message still says "Download failed" instead of "Network error"
 * However, this is now no longer needed.

Characters
''For a list of all characters, visit Transformers characters. Information about the special attack of the characters and how to unlock each character can be found here.''
 * Red as Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Energon Optimus Prime, Ultimate Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime and Epic Optimus Prime
 * Chuck as Bumblebee, High Octane Bumblebee and Rodimus
 * Terence as Heatwave, Sentinel Prime and Ratchet
 * Hal as Grimlock (Comic only, but first in-game character, before the Deceptihog's Revenge Update), Energon Grimlock, Goldbite Grimlock and Grey Slam Grimlock
 * Stella as Arcee and Airachnid
 * Bubbles as Jazz and Ricochet
 * Bomb as Drift
 * The Blues as Bluestreak and Prowl
 * Silver as Windblade
 * Eggs as EggSpark and EggBots
 * King Pig as Bludgeon, Ultimate Megatron, Brawl, Dark Megatron and Shockwave
 * Minion Pig as Starscream, Energon Starscream, Thundercracker, Acid Storm, Skywarp and Sunstorm
 * Foreman Pig as Lockdown and Energon Lockdown
 * Corporal Pig as Galvatron and Energon Galvatron
 * Chef Pig as Soundwave, Soundblaster and Energon Soundwave
 * Professor Pig as himself (in his Crafting Lab only)
 * Bad Piggies as Pigbots
 * ??? as Astrotrain