Angry Birds Space

Angry Birds Space is one of the newer variations on Rovio's intensely popular Angry Birds franchise.

The premise of the original game is absurdly simple: green pigs (the bad guys) have stolen the colourful birds' eggs. Making them – ahem – angry! The birds are in pursuit and the aim is to lob the birds at the pigs and the various structures on and in which the pigs are hiding. The game is controlled by mouse on the PC version and by finger in the touch-screen versions and is carefully designed for a realistic sensation, enabling the player to precisely aim each bird in order to strike the targets accurately. This is highly important as gameplay would be irritating and frustrating without this feature being so finely tuned and instantaneously responsive.

Following on the runaway success of the original Angry Birds game, Rovio have produced a string of sequels, one of which is Angry Birds Space.

Angry Birds Space takes the game into outer space, featuring planets, aliens and a host of Star Wars characters including Darth Piggy in prime spot as head villain! The gravity in space is different to that on earth, forcing players to relearn throwing skills. There are even zero gravity levels which allow the birds – and pigs and other space debris! – to move in slow motion while heading for the target. Angry Birds Space also introduces atmospheres. With the birds based in space and the pigs securely snug on planets surrounded by these atmospheres, the player must work out – by trial and error – how best to throw the birds so that they bounce off, skip off or burst through these atmospheres. Often, once into the atmosphere, the bird is then subject to a gravity field peculiar to that planet, changing direction or slowing down in very dramatic fashion! Truly tricky levels often require the most precise pinpoint throwing skills as well as a dose of good luck, relying on chance to see the bird sucked into the atmosphere and flung around in just the right way to hit an explosive brick or topple a structure or simply take out the pig.

As always with the Angry Birds franchise a storyboard plays out in between each batch of levels, telling the player the story of the game. Angry Birds Space features an impressive 230 levels allowing players to hone their bird throwing skills in a new and exciting environment.

Frequent updates add new levels to the game and in-app purchases (available on all platforms in which the game is offered) can help players get through those trickier than normal levels.

Pros

• An excellent addition to the Rovio family, with a nice nod to the Stars Wars fans in the player pool
• Plenty of new levels with new skills to be learned

Cons

• In app purchases can lead to unexpected costs, especially if password and parental controls are not engaged
• Gameplay can be frustrating to Angry Birds aficionados who have 'learned' how to aim their birds with earlier incarnations