Angry Birds - The Tale Of A Suicide Squad

Lunch Break time again! This is the column where I talk about the games I play during lunch.

Angry Birds is what I would call a massive success. The game has sold over 2 million copies and is available on all major platforms. The game is played by people of all ages. Congrats, this is the game that turned grandma into a gamer. The version I played requires the Google Chrome browser, though it looks like FireFox 4 might be able to handle it. Recently Google added a free copy of Angry Birds to their Chrome store and since I have Chrome I decided I would finally give the game a try.

Look kind of similar to you?

I had never played Angry Birds before but I instantly knew how to control it. Angry Birds is almost identical to the flash game Crush the Castle from 2009 (and even that takes from an earlier game called Castle Clout). In Angry Birds your goal is to defeat the evil pigs by launching suicidal birds into the various structures where the pigs are hiding. You must cause enough damage to pigs to defeat them in order to move on to the next level. Each level also has a Star Goal. If you can defeat the level without using all of your birds and/or causing enough damage to get high enough score you get awarded stars. 

The concept is simple, but not original. In Crush the Castle your goal is to defeat the evil monarchy by launching rocks into the castles where the monarchy is hiding. Sounds kinda familiar doesn’t it?

Crush the Castle is a decent game, so why does Angry Birds outshine it? The answer actually quite simple, personality. Angry Birds is overflowing with personality. From the unique look of the various birds, to the noises they make when you slingshot them across the screen.. It’s really enough to tick you off if you fail to take down a pig and the dumb thing mockingly oinks at you! Then you really want to go back and keep trying just to wipe the smug look off of the pig’s face.

Crush the Castle does not have this. The game is stale and lacks almost all personality. The world is “realistic” (read: dull brown and grey).  And the rocks you fling are, well, just rocks. The world of Angry Birds is bright and vibrant. When you launch a bird they scream out a battle cry of challenge. You can’t help but root for the birds as they struggle to reclaim their eggs from the pigs. The birds are willing to sacrifice their very lives for their offspring.

The birds themselves are likeable in every way. Some are cute, some are endearing, some are silly, and others are just fun. The issue I have with Angry Birds (besides not being original) is that I find the gameplay concept to simple. Pac-Man in simple, but I can play that repeatedly. Angry Birds, on the other hand, got boring fast. I’m not one to aim for trophies or achievements so getting the highest star points meant nothing to me. So after I had flung birds around for 30 minutes I put the game down and walked away. Probably never to return.

This does not mean the game is bad, it isn’t. It can be fun and I can understand why our OCD society would be driven to complete levels and gain stars. The whole, “Just one more round” mentality is easy to fall into with a game like Angry Birds. And those obnoxious pigs really make you want to smack them.