First impressions: 'Angry Birds 2' takes flight
A lot has changed since smartphone owners first flocked to the original Angry Birds.
When it launched in late 2009, the mobile game from Rovio morphed into one of the earliest smartphone hits, big enough to spawn several spinoffs and a deep merchandising and apparel line. It even attracted Hollywood with an upcoming feature film.
While Angry Birds remains a well-established series of games, it's definitely ceded the spotlight to multiple newcomers, most notably puzzle game Candy Crush Saga.
After dipping into racing, fighting and role-playing games, Rovio returns the franchise to its roots with a proper sequel: Angry Birds 2. The transition between the first Angry Birds and this game is striking, between visual quality and the deeper gameplay. But it does adopt some free-to-play concepts that might ruffle some feathers.
For those smartphone owners who have never touched an Angry Birds game, a quick recap: It's a puzzle game where players fling a variety of birds with a slingshot at enemy pigs housed in makeshift structures created with wood, steel and other objects. Each level, the goal is to knock out all the pigs before you run out of birds. The birds have special abilities, such as the small blue bird that splits into three and a black bird that doubles as a bomb.
Angry Birds 2 showcases several influences from all those spinoffs Rovio has launched in the past six years. There's the use of abilities similar to Force powers from Angry Birds Star Wars. There's also the inclusion of special spells similar to their RPG project Angry Birds Epic.
Levels feature multiple layers, so instead of destroying one structure and jumping to the next, players may find multiple challenges within one level that must be conquered before progressing.
Individual birds are representing through cards. When players complete stages of a level, they can earn an extra bird. Players also have power-ups including a blizzard ability that turns structures into ice or sends a flurry of rubber ducks flying from the sky. Once you top Level 25, players access an Arena to earn daily rewards.
The adoption of more in-app purchase options is likely going to annoy players. Angry Birds 2 uses the Candy Crush model, where players have a set number of lives. Once exhausted, players can either wait for lives to refill or spend in-game or real-world currency. Remember when you mess up that first shot during an Angry Birds level and just hit restart? That's gone. Instead, you give up the level and lose a life.
If you can get past the life mechanic, Angry Birds 2 is a significant step up from the original, and a great representation of everything Rovio learned since the first Angry Birds took flight.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.