Rovio reinvention: ‘Angry Birds Star Wars’ offers themed birds, music, Millenium Falcon to fans

Rovio, the company behind the 2009 video game, “Angry Birds,” has had a big year. On Sept. 27, they released “Bad Piggies,” an “Angry Birds” spinoff, where the bird’s enemies, the pigs, are the protagonists. They even released a game that is not “Angry Birds” related, called “Amazing Alex.” Their latest game, another followup to “Angry Birds,” was released on the Nov. 8, and it takes the birds into a galaxy far, far away.

“Angry Birds Star Wars” mixes Rovio’s game world of birds versus pigs with George Lucas’ movie world. For this game, the birds take up the role of the various members of the Rebel Alliance, while the Pigs assume the role of the Empire. The gameplay is a mixture of the regular toss and destroy method from the original “Angry Birds,” some elements of “Angry Birds Space” and new elements with a “Star Wars” twist.

For example, the red bird takes up the appearance of Luke Skywalker. The bird wields a light-saber and can attack various pig buildings with it. Another bird is Han Solo and can shoot blaster shots at various pigs. Regardless of the new bird mechanics, the goal of killing all the pigs in a level remains the same as other Angry Birds installments. Rovio has only three worlds released currently, and they consist of 40 levels each. However, as typical with Rovio games, updates with more levels will be released free of charge. “Angry Birds Star Wars” main menu reveals what is to come within future updates by showing various “Star Wars” themed worlds locked out.

As of now, the only world that appears to be locked is the world of Hoth, taken from “The Empire Strikes Back.” If more updates become available, beyond the locked levels of Hoth, then those familiar with the “Star Wars” saga should expect the entire classic trilogy of “Star Wars” movies to be interpreted into “Angry Birds” form. Music in the game is a highlight. The background music comes directly from the “Star Wars” movies, and it mixes surprisingly well with both the screaming of the birds being launched, and the grunts of pigs being killed. The game itself seems a bit too easy, considering how the original Angry Birds gave players a challenge to beat basic levels.

“Angry Birds Star Wars” alleviates a lot of the previous challenges by introducing a Millennium Falcon summoning bird, which can basically kill all pigs in one fling. The Millennium Falcon option is like the Mighty Eagle option from past “Angry Birds” games, keeping the same feature that if a player gets stuck, he or she can move on to another level. However, the Mighty Eagle typically cost money in older Angry Games, while the Millennium Falcon bird is attainable for free within the main “Angry Birds Star Wars” game. Due to its recent release, “Angry Birds Star Wars” is not perfect. At times, activating a certain bird’s power is hard to manage.

Since it’s not an unusual issue, this bug will be repaired when Rovio releases an update for the game. Regardless, the game is extremely fun. It brings back the addiction of the original “Angry Birds” and creates a new world. Overall, the game would be a 9 out of 10.