Note: This Angry Birds Space review is for the Android version of the game. So there’s that.
I wasn’t really sure how I was going to go about reviewing this game. Namely because I never reviewed a relatively small, mobile-targeted game before. Not that it’s more difficult — just different.
By now you probably are well aware of the particular mechanics of Angry Birds Space and how they relate to the game taking place in, well… space. It’s almost immediately apparent even before beginning the game that this take on the Angry Birds phenomenon will be vastly different from past games. The overall core gameplay is the same at its heart. You slingshot a variety of birds with relatively disparate powers/reactions at a bunch of what we’re presumed to believe are dastardly, evil pigs. There’s more to the story than that but you’re obviously not going to play this game for the storyline. Although the spaced out cut-scene videos do provide a zany and surprisingly detailed break in the action.
How Angry Birds Space differs from Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons – as you’ve surely no doubt surmised by now, you Scooby Doo, you — is that it quite literally revolves around everything taking place in space. And I mean that literally as planetary orbits and varying levels of gravity play an integral part within the game as a whole. Most of the birds from past games make a return in the sequel — albeit some of them with more high-tech/sci-fi-esque appearance makeovers — with one in particular being almost laughably overpowered. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s truly enjoyable and visceral (yes, visceral) to use them. As corny and cheesy as that sounds.
All in all, Angry Birds Space exists exactly as you’d think it would — an enjoyable continuation of the Angry Birds series with an intriguing new twist on the gameplay mechanics to keep things fresh. As a fair warning, if you have kids and you’re playing this game on your cell phone… well, don’t expect to get your phone back for quite some time after you let them play it. And don’t be surprised if they turn out to be much better at the game than you’ve ever been as well.
The only downside — if you could call it one — is a new targeting reticle that essentially shows you exactly where your bird is going to go. Considering the whole orbit/gravity twist, though — and the fact that so many of the birds have powers/moves that send them in a vast variety of dizzying directions and angles — and this may not technically be a bad thing. Still, it felt almost a bit too easy playing through the game than in past installments. But then again, this is Angry Birds we’re talking about, after all.
In regards to how it succeeds for the type of game that it is and its target demographic, though, and Angry Birds Space is another resounding success for the series. It’s meant to either be a fun game for kids/teens or a relaxing, diversionary time-waster for adults. And in this, it succeeds greatly. Yet again.
Final Score: 4.5/5
Joshua Galligan first became addicte– err… first got his illustrious start in gaming by relentlessly annoying his older brothers until they’d finally let him run Sonic the Hedgehog through the loop-dee-loops back on the Sega Genesis. Suffice it to say, he’s been passionately chasing those proverbial “loop-dee-loops” as a gamer ever since. When Joshua isn’t playing games entirely too often (according to some), he enjoys reading, writing, “theoretically” gambling on everything from football to Words with Friends, pretending he knows how to cook, MMA, and — perhaps most of all — attending and participating in tea parties thrown by his four year-old daughter. In addition, he strongly dislikes scallions, traffic, the color yellow, and his favorite color is green.
