Angry Birds has blasted off to Space!

    They've taken Earth, some Seasons, Rio, and now the Final Frontier, Space!. Yes, our favorite birds with the short tempers are back in an adventure that takes them to Space.

 The same slingshot remains but unlike the other games there is a definite change in the games' features, and mechanics, and these lovable, little, cute birds that took the world by storm in 2009 have brand new avatars. I'm not sure if these new avatars will stick but for now I consider them a fresh new improvement. What I do know that I love is the fresh, new gameplay and mechanics. It puts a nice twist on the classic controls of Angry Birds. The twist in question involves gravity and, well, lack of it. The ones who come under the birds’ wrath are the snorting green pigs who have (once again?) stolen the Angry Birds’ eggs. The pigs are perched on planets or in space surrounded by bubbles (apparently for their oxygen requirements). Its really fun to pop these bubbles and watch the pigs freeze up comically only to disappear with a "pop".

 
The birds are to be sent hurtling through Space with the controls of the ever-present slingshot at your fingertips. Everything zips off in a straight-line in Space so you have to use the gravitational fields surrounding the planets. The birds will hurtle into orbit upon reaching a field or, if it has enough speed will exit the field with a curve in their trajectory(path of flight) to zoom into the pigs with a crash, and with a "pop" your first enemy has been defeated.

     Through all the squeaks, laughter, wee-hees, crash-landings, bangs, snorting pigs(only when you lose) and gleeful mayhem  a few inadequacies do crop up. For average powered smartphones (like my friend's HTC Wildfire S) the game takes an agonizingly slow 135 seconds to boot. That's a long time when your fingers are itching to go pig-bashing(lets not leave the birds out, shooting yourself at your enemies has got to hurt). There is also an unnecessary delay for the final birds to "pop" and the winning (or losing) screen to show up. i mean maybe it could have been something like after every 10 stages it displays because while waiting all I'm thinking about is "come on, come on, I gotta go shoot with some birds, just get me to the next level!". But the reward stars hit the screen with satisfying thuds to make you feel as if scoring a full 3 stars is actually an accomplishment. But the thing I hate is that the FREE version has ADS!! Unacceptable, this is! But, other than this rant, there isn't much I can so to remove the ads which occasionally block my view of the target, other than coughing up the 99 cents that Rovio demands.

    So after the past few incarnations of the series this game is actually different,and fun while retaining all the elements that made Angry Birds, well, Angry Birds.

Check out the story trailer below and stay tuned to Bits of Tech Bytes!

Angry Birds is property of Rovio.