I find it funny that one of the best jobs at making a solid Star Wars game came from the world of Angry Birds. The birds versus pigs war has been waged in space, across different seasons, and in the movie Rio, among other locales. I guess it was only a matter of time before they started using the Force to fight their battles. Angry Birds Star Wars takes you to Tatooine and to a moon… wait, that's no moon. It's a space station. So it takes you to Tatooine and the Death Star. There's Angry Birds humor throughout the whole game, and the Star Wars music makes an oddly perfect combination.
Outside of the levels and music, the birds and pigs embrace the Star Wars theme. The pigs now appear as the Galactic Empire. You'll face Stormtroopers, Stormtroopers firing blaster shots, Tie Fighters that also fire blaster shots, Death Star operators and officers, and Darth Vader. Darth Vader suspends objects in certain places with the Force; so if you slam into one of those objects, it will move a little and then stop again. To get the Force to stop, simply take out Darth Vader.
The birds are now characters from the Rebels, all with special abilities activated by tapping the screen. There's the red Luke Skywalker bird with Luke's blond hair that uses a lightsaber to slash through objects; there's the black Obi-wan Kenobi bird that force pushes objects into others; the yellow Han Solo bird (in Han Solo garb and hair) that fires three blaster shots at a location; the tiny X-wing pilot bird that turns into three birds upon tappings; and the big brown Chewbacca bird that smashes through everything in its path.
If you're finding that a level is too difficult with just the birds, you can call in a Millennium Falcon attack that scatters shots across the level. You only earn a certain number of these, and they have their own scoring system (instead of using gold stars at the end of the level). I only used it once, and then replayed the level with birds anyway.
Angry Birds Star Wars features 80 levels across Tatooine and the pig-shaped Death Star that are cleverly designed. The design is a mix of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Space. They're largely comprised of metal (that blasters bounce off of), rock, wood and glass. And there's plenty of gravity fields that you'll have to navigate and manipulate to complete a level. There's also bonus level that you unlock as you earn more stars, motivating you to get three stars on every level. These bonus levels have you play as a C-3PO bird, that you can tap to explode, in C-3PO-themed levels. There's also a free Hoth update coming soon, and for another $1.99, you can purchase the Path of the Jedi, which are Return of the Jedi Dagobah-themed levels.
Angry Birds Star Wars is a match made in heaven. Finally, my love of Star Wars can be put through an avian filter. The addictive Angry Birds gameplay is as catchy and creative as ever, and adding Star Wars to the mix (with some clever implementation of iconic characters) only helps make Angry Birds Star Wars a fine game to add to your mobile gaming collection. Be honest, did you ever think that a marriage of Angry Birds and Star Wars wouldn't be a great think? I find your lack of faith disturbing.
You can follow Movies and Culture Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at [email protected]
