WeView Verdict: Angry Birds

It seems that this week some of you followed my terrible, not-even-really-a-pun pun and got a little angry about Angry Birds. Yes, I know it’s not a pun if I take one word out of the title and looking back on it “sick as a pig” would have been a way better pun. What can I say I can only pick out the good puns in hindsight. I should stop talking about puns and really talk about Rovio’s pocket juggernaut shouldn’t I? Right.

So yes, there were a few of you who got a little angry at the game. In fact first time reviewer Darth Newdar was particularly critical, although pleased to be able to take part as this was the first time I picked a game they’d played.

In my opinion, the most important thing in a video game is… wait for it… consistency. In any game with levels designed to be replayed, if the player repeats the same actions they must receive the same result.

And that is where Angry Birds fails. Sure, it might be cute. Sure, it might be fun. Sure, it might be addictive. But when the same slingshot line, with the same bird, with the same power can sometimes cause the whole house to fall down, or sometimes make absolutely no impression at all, I can only come to one conclusion.

The game is rubbish.

I wouldn’t quite agree with calling Angry Birds rubbish, but I can certainly understand the frustration about the physics. No matter how hard you try to line your shot up it does seem impossible to recreate your previous shot. Sometimes this mild randomness can make the game fun, but when you’re going for precision I can understand the frustration.

Sticking with the negativity for a moment, lets turn to the game’s presentation. Crocadillian, who is another first timer I believe, makes a fairly valid point about the graphical styling of the fowl flinger.

Although I used to pointlessly hate on it, the main problem I have with is with the games presentation.  Although presentable, it looks like many other iOS and mobile phones with the bubbly font, the yellow shiny interface and typical level graphics, which comes across as a little lazy.  If Rovio gave the games graphics some more thought they could have made their game stand out further than it already does, and less prone to such ignorant criticism because of what it appears to represent.

I can sort of see where they’re coming from about the cartoon style presentation, which does seem to be fairly pervasive in the app store. However, it’s worth remembering that going for a more unique style may well be more graphically intensive and slow the game down, particularly on older devices.

Enough of the negativity now, let’s take a look at someone who was far more positive about the title. Pritchie101 makes a persuasive point about the pervasiveness of the game, and how spot on Rovio have gotten the “just one more” mechanic, enhancing the model from old arcade machines.

Hate all you want, everyone has Angry Birds. It’s extremely annoying but you need, you need one more go at killing those little green devils. Painfully addictive game, yet very, very fun. I’m gonna make it simple, it’s so simple, but it’s been used to greatness. That’s how you make a best selling Mobile game, kids!

Finally MadBoJangles brings us this very short but accurate summary of the game. I don’t think it could be put any more succinctly.

It’s like gaming crack. Seriously. It 110% embodies the “just one more go” ethos to such an extreme it’s untrue.

After missing two buses in a row due to playing Angry Birds it’s hard to argue with that. Anyway, onto the verdict. This week surprised me slightly to be honest, I wasn’t expecting such a split. In fact we have a vote in each of the categories this week, so I’ll break it down in reverse order. In last place was Avoid It, receiving only one vote. Next was Bargain Bin with two of you behind it. However, once again we have a tie for first place with both Buy It and Rent It getting five of you backing that verdict. So there we go, no clear decision again. Perhaps I need to come up with some sort of tie-breaker.