Angry Birds

ANGRY BIRDS
MOBILE (IPHONE/PAD/POD, DROID)
$.99 (ITHINGS)/FREE (DROID)
10.15.10 (DROID)

Have you heard the word? There’s been a minor cultural phenomenon taking place all around us, and it involves birds. Angry birds. Inside people’s cell phones. But you see, these birds aren’t just mildly annoyed because they’re stuck in a couple million squawk boxes— it’s not that simple. They’ve been driven to the point of kamikaze retribution because their eggs— unborn chicks, really— were stolen by the evil green pigs to make the biggest omelet this side of the Old Country Buffet! So forget the sunflower seeds… these birds are out for blood.

This rag-tag flock of feathered friends wants those eggs back, and it’s your job to help them smash, crash, and generally blow the hell out of the pigs’ fortresses by launching them via slingshot. To help better serve up this white-hot vengeance, each bird has their own ability they bring to the fight. Red birds are a basic no-frills shot, yellow birds charge head-on, blue birds multiply, black birds explode, and white birds can drop egg bombs (ironic, right?). You’ll need each of these skills to get through all 120-plus levels and reclaim those groovy chicks-to-be.

For a game that costs a buck (at most), it’s quite solid. Visuals are whimsical and cartoony. Sounds are a mixture of carnival-esque tooty-tunes and “chirp-shriek-boom” sound effects that will certainly annoy anyone within earshot of your device. The controls are also simple & responsive; requiring only a single finger— I recommend giving it the bird.

Also, since I’m a sucker for stop-motion: