Angry Birds (Android)

Angry Birds is the latest installment of the Phoenix Wright series for the Android phone. However, in this game, Phoenix Wright has been replaced by a collection of birds with different abilities. The courthouse has also been erased, and in its place is a big base of pork.

OK, that’s not true. The base isn’t really all that big….and this isn’t really a Phoenix Wright game, either. In fact, I’m not even sure if the actual next Phoenix Wright game is a Phoenix Wright game, or if it’s some sort of Dr. Layton Robotnik’s Mean Bean Scribblenaut Machine Re-shelled. I had heard that it’s joining forces with another series, but perhaps that was a myth, like Elves, Leprechauns, or Eskimos.

This is a puzzle game, in which you launch a sequence of birds with different abilities at houses built by pigs out of ice, wood, and stone. A little bit of Big Bad Wolf action on your phone. Birds are fired in a strategic fashion using your finger (pulled back like a slingshot) to “bring down the house,” both literally and metaphorically. More points are awarded for not using all of your allocated birds on a level, and for causing more mayhem. The artistic style is very similar to Fat Princess or Worms, in terms of both the graphics and the silly British bird vocals. The game comes with a ton of levels, and it also has bonus levels that you can unlock by scoring big on previous levels and finding hidden golden eggs. I suppose they may be hatching a golden Chocobo, but I don’t have the skills to find them all.

There’s really not much more to Angry Birds; its simplicity and ease of picking up is what makes it so great.

Unlike other free Android games, this game is really quite a bombshell, and I’m not talking about exploding someone’s house with a raven. Like most free apps, it is, of course, ad supported. The publisher reportedly makes $1 million a month simply by showing the ads.  That’s a lot of cash for a simple annoying ad banner, but I hope they’re not putting all their eggs in one basket. Unfortunately though, the banner tends to get in the way on some particular levels, though not to the point where you can’t finish them. There are rumors on the Internets stating that one could disable data access (by using Airplane Mode, for example), which would cause the ads not to show.  The game though is really pretty sweet, and since you don’t have to pay one lousy nickel—or, as a matter of fact, any nickels, lousy or not—I’ll allow the ads.  

…”as a matter of fact” is a pretty silly phrase, isn’t it. It’s like saying “I do declare” at the end of a sentence.  

*ahem* There is also a paid version of Angry Birds on the Apple App Store, but currently only the free version is available on the Android.

So pick up the game on your smart phone today! There’s no reason not to; it’s by far the best free game available on Android.  Oh, there’s also an Angry Birds Seasons, a stand-alone title, which has a chapter of Christmas-themed levels and a chapter of Halloween levels. There’s no gameplay difference, but it’s a nice helping of additional levels.