Angry Birds Space

The hotly anticipated, intergalactic sequel to the world’s most popular game app has arrived! For those dwindling few who have yet to be initiated into the global phenomenon that is Angry Birds, the concept is simple; the player wields a variety of specially talented birds against a horde of egg-stealing pigs. By use of a catapult and some expert timing the player advances through levels by knocking the pigs from their increasingly intricate strongholds. Some levels require the skills of specially talented birds while others can be barreled through with brute force but as the true Angry Birds fan can tell you the ultimate goal is to get a score of three stars on each and every level.

Angry Birds Space follows the same addictive pattern but with many new twists. The first difference a player will notice is that you are no longer tied to the flat surface of a single planet. For science geeks this is where the fun comes in. Not only do you need to accurately calculate the angle and strength of your catapult throw you have planets with varying gravities to think about. Instead of the old proverb of ‘what goes up must come down’ players now have to consider that what goes up might end up looping around an asteroid and orbiting a planet a few times before plowing into some deserving space piggies. Though this may sound complicated the gameplay is easy to get a handle on and within a few flings you’ll be plotting orbits and trajectories in a way that would make NASA proud. (Guess that’s why the first promotional footage of the game was presented by Astronaut Don Petitt while he floated around the International Space Station.)

Your birds have some new tricks as well. The yellow bird (Mach-ing Bird to his friends) is now purple and shoots like a laser at whatever point you tap on the screen. The bomb bird is not only destructive but concussive as well, a handy tool for knocking asteroid fields into pig space stations. There’s even a new addition, Ice Bird, who turns all the pig construction material he collides with into easily shattered ice. Last but not least players are granted a number of chances to use the fail-safe Space Eagle who emerges from a wormhole to destroy every pig he touches.

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