The pigs roll off the screen and go “poof,” but they too show up again in the next round, safe and sound. These madder’n hornets fowl don’t ever really die, either, always showing up again in your slingshot after either disappearing into deep space or losing a few feathers in the fray. But then I’d have to also tell the tale of countless metal ducks that’ve been shot with air rifles at circuses and fairs for about as long as anyone can remember. Wondering about any negatives? Well, I guess I could squawk about how inhumane it is to load digital birds into slingshots, or about those unfairly maligned porcine reputations. Those eggs can deliver special pig boss challenges too, such as an oinker daring you to take him out while he’s motoring around in his moon buggy. There are also some little hidden “eggsteroids” that can offer up special bonus levels and mimic other fun classic faves like Asteroids and Super Mario. The $2.99 Angry Birds Space game I downloaded for the iPad starts out with three chapters of 30 levels each. With various gravitational fields in play, for instance, a zooming bird can circle around a planet several times before finally striking home on a pig’s hideout. So the birds must be launched in the right direction to break through and bonk them … and this is where the new physics make all the old fun seem brand new. Like the original, the piggy foes are happily grunting and gobbling away-this time on asteroids, wrapped in oxygen-filled bubbles and hidden behind wood, ice and stone structures. And the cube-like Ice bird freezes objects on contact, making them easier to crumble and break. The hulking green Terrence bird is the crews’ crushing heavyweight. The original game’s yellow bird is now dressed up in a snazzy purple outfit and can be tapped to zip laser-like in any direction. When the bomb bird gets a tap he explodes, taking out everything near him. Then there are the Flash-suited blue birds that take off out of the slingshot as one bird and split into three speedsters with a mid-flight tap on the touchscreen. The red bird sports a cool Wolverine-like mask that helps him scope out his trajectory. And when the feathery heroes decide to retaliate, zipping through the portal from the opposite direction, they take on new outfits and a few new abilities. This game’s variation comes in the form of a piggy mechanical claw that reaches down to Earth through a space portal of sorts and scoops up the birds’ eggy treasures. The storyline-what there ever was of it-has stayed pretty consistent: Pigs steal eggs and birds get ticked. Now you have to aim things just right so you can pick off an oinking baddie on the far side of the moon. So now it’s not just a matter of shooting a birdie up and waiting to see where it might come crashing down. Taking cues from other space-going kids fare such as Mario Galaxy, this Angry Birds twist plays fast and loose with gravity, planetoids and a nest full of furious fowl. That ingenious little twist gives Angry Birds Space a whole new pig in a poke to poke. Silly pig, you simply change the physics and take it all into outer space. How do you inject new zip into a simple game about hurling birds at chortling pigs? How can you possibly reinvent an über-popular physics-based puzzle game? And then the answer came. But that’s only going to satisfy fans for so long. And let’s not forget the moneymaking potential of plush toys, board games and slippers. They could even tie the action into a new kids’ movie release. Sure, they could experiment with special editions of the game that took the pig-bashing, screen-tapping fun into various holiday settings. After Rovio sent Angry Birds winging its way to great success-with well over half-a-billion smartphone and tablet downloads-the gamemakers were left with quite a feathery quandary.
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