Bomb (Angry Birds)

''Angry Birds'', retrospectively known as ''Angry Birds Classic'', is a 2009 physics-based casual puzzle video game developed by Rovio Entertainment, and the first of the ''Angry Birds'' series. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was originally released for iOS and Maemo mobile devices starting in December 2009, utilising touchscreen controls. By October 2010, 12 million copies of the game had been purchased from the Apple App Store and Nokia Ovi Store, prompting Rovio to port ''Angry Birds'' to various other mobile devices as well as to home video game consoles, personal computers and others by 2011.

The gameplay of ''Angry Birds'' revolves around players using a slingshot to launch the birds at green pigs stationed in or around various structures, with the intent of defeating all of the pigs on the playing field. As players advance through the game, new types of birds become available, some with special abilities. Rovio supported ''Angry Birds'' with numerous free updates over the years which added additional game content; many special and themed games were also released thereafter, beginning with ''Angry Birds Seasons'' in 2010.

''Angry Birds'' was very well received critically and commercially for its simple and addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price, turning into a mainstream phenomenon during 2010 and 2011. Many critics consider ''Angry Birds'' to be among the best mobile games ever made, and one of the greatest video games of all time. It led to the creation of the ''Angry Birds'' media franchise, which includes merchandise based on its characters, the feature-length animated film ''The Angry Birds Movie'', its sequel ''The Angry Birds Movie 2'', and more. The game was followed by a sequel in 2015, ''Angry Birds 2'', and altogether there have been over five billion downloads of the ''Angry Birds'' game series across all platforms.

In early 2019, several ''Angry Birds'' games, including the original, were removed from the iOS App Store and Android Google Play Store. The game was remade and released as ''Rovio Classics: Angry Birds'' on March 31, 2022, four years after the original was removed. ''Rovio Classics'' was removed from Google Play on Android on February 23, 2023, and renamed to ''Red's First Flight'' on iOS on the same date.

Gameplay

The player controls a flock of multi-colored birds on a mission to save their eggs after they were stolen by a large number of green pigs. In each stage of the gameplay, the pigs are sheltered by structures made of various materials such as wood, glass, and stone resembling children's toy building blocks. Some pigs may be inside the structures, while others may be outside them. The objective of the game is to eliminate all the pigs in each level. Using a big slingshot, players launch a limited set of birds with the goal of either striking the enemy pigs directly or damaging their surrounding structures, causing the blocks to collapse and pop the pigs. The player must set the angle and force of the bird's travel by pulling back on the slingshot (using intuitive touch-controls in the mobile versions). The launch process is quick and casual, with no visible trajectory data, and a player simply selects a point in the X-Y field behind the launch post from which the virtual slingshot will be released. In various stages of the game, additional objects such as TNT crates and rocks are incorporated into the structures, and power-ups may be used to enhance the birds to attack hard-to-reach pigs. Also hidden in the levels, players can unlock bonus levels by collecting golden eggs.

There are several different types of birds used in the game, each distinguished by their color and shape. In the first levels, only the basic desert cardinal—whose name is Red—is available. As the player advances through the game additional types of birds become available. Some birds are effective against particular materials, and some have special abilities that may be activated by the player during the bird's flight; Chuck can rapidly speed up, Bomb can explode, the Blues can fragment into three with the help of his identical siblings, Matilda can drop an explosive egg-shaped projectile, Stella can trap objects with bubbles, Hal can open his beak to boomerang back, Terence functions similarly to Red but deals much more damage than his smaller counterpart, and Bubbles can expand and inflate. The pigs also vary, with hardiness relative to their size. Small pigs are weaker and are easily vanquished by direct hits or by debris from the damaged structures, while larger pigs are able to withstand more damage before succumbing to defeat. In addition, some pigs wear headgear or armour, making them even more resistant to damage.

Each level starts with the quantity, types, and firing order of birds predetermined. If all of the birds run out and the pigs are not defeated or are still shown on-screen, the level is failed and must be repeated, but if all of the pigs are eliminated after the last bird is launched, the level is instead cleared and the next level is unlocked. Points are scored for each pig defeated as well as for damage to, or destruction of, structures, and hefty bonus points are awarded for any unused birds; each unused bird grants 10,000 points. Upon completing each level, players can receive up to three stars depending on the score received. Players are encouraged to repeat any previously beaten levels in which all three stars were not awarded at first in order to fully master them and earn the full three star score.

Development

In early 2009, Rovio was in a state of bankruptcy; the staff began viewing proposals for potential games. One such proposal came from senior game designer Jaakko Iisalo in the form of a simulated screenshot featuring some angry-looking birds with no visible legs or wings. While the picture gave no clue as to what type of game was being played, the staff liked the characters, and the team elected to design a game around them. In early 2009, physics games, such as ''Crush the Castle'', inspired the Rovio team. During the development of ''Angry Birds'', the staff realized the birds needed an enemy. At the time, the "swine flu" epidemic was in the news, thus it is commonly believed that the staff made the birds' enemies pigs because of this. This has since been disputed, with Iisalo claiming that the pigs were inspired by drawings he had made at the age of 10.

''Angry Birds'' was the studio's 52nd produced game. On its initial release, the game did not receive many downloads. After ''Angry Birds'' was a featured app on the UK App Store in February 2010 and quickly reached No. 1 there, it reached the same spot on the paid apps chart in the US App Store in the middle of 2010, staying in that milestone for 275 days. The initial cost to develop ''Angry Birds'' was estimated to exceed €100,000, not including costs for the subsequent updates. In terms of publishing for the iOS version, Rovio partnered with distributor Chillingo to publish the game to the App Store.
Chillingo claimed to have participated in final game polishing, such as adding visible trajectory lines, pinch to zoom, pigs' grunts, birds somersaulting onto the slingshot.

When Rovio began writing new versions of the game for other devices, new issues came to light. As the team began working on a version for Android systems, they observed a large number of configurations of device types and versions of the Android software. The number of combinations of software version, processor speed and even user interfaces was significantly larger than that for the iOS version. Ultimately, the team settled on a minimum set of requirements, even though that left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some newly released phones. It was released on October 15, 2010. One month after the initial release on Android, Rovio began designing a lite version of the game for these other devices.

In early 2010, Rovio began developing a version of ''Angry Birds'' for Facebook. The project became one of the company's largest, with development taking over a year. The company understood the challenges of transplanting a game concept between social platforms and mobile/gaming systems. In a March 2011 interview, Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka said, "You can't take an experience that works in one environment and one ecosystem and force-feed it onto another. It's like Zynga. They can't just take ''FarmVille'' and throw it on mobile and see what sticks. The titles that have been successful for them on mobile are the ones they've built from the ground up for the platform." The Facebook version incorporate social-gaming concepts and in-game purchases and entered beta-testing in April 2011; the game became officially available on Facebook in February 14, 2012 as ''Angry Birds Facebook'', later renamed ''Angry Birds Friends''.

Improvements for the game include the ability to synchronize the player's progress across multiple devices; for example, a player who completes a level on an Android phone can log into their copy of the game on an Android tablet and see the same statistics and level of progress.

Release

The initial iOS version of the game, which soft launched in Finland on December 1, 2009, and released internationally 10 days later, included a single episode entitled "Poached Eggs" which contained three themed chapters, each with 21 levels. From time to time, Rovio has released free upgrades that include additional content, such as new levels, new in-game objects and even new birds. As updates have been released, they have been incorporated into the game's full version offered for download from each platform's application store.

The first update released on February 11, 2010, added a new episode called "Mighty Hoax", containing two new chapters with 21 levels each. Updates released on April 6, 2010, added the "Golden Eggs" feature, which placed hidden golden eggs throughout the game that would unlock bonus content when found, and a new episode called "Danger Above", which initially contained a single chapter of 15 levels, released on April 23 under version 1.3.0. Two later updates (released as version 1.3.2 on May 18, 2010, and version 1.3.3 on June 22, 2010, respectively) added two more chapters to "Danger Above", each with 15 levels. "The Big Setup" episode, released on July 16, 2010, as version 1.4.0, added a new chapter with 45 levels and additional Golden Egg levels.

A fifth episode, called "Ham 'Em High", launched on December 23, 2010, in celebration of the game's first year on the iOS App Store. "Ham 'Em High" contained 15 American Old West-themed levels in a single chapter; updates on February 4, 2011 and March 17, 2011 each added one new 15-level chapter. "Ham 'Em High" also introduced the Mighty Eagle, a new bird that may be used once per hour to clear any uncompleted levels. The Mighty Eagle can also be used in previously completed levels, without the once-per-hour limit, to play a mini-game called "Total Destruction" in which the player attempts to destroy as much of the scenery as possible, both with the standard birds and the Mighty Eagle, achieving 100% destruction earns the player a Mighty Eagle feather for the level.

In 2011, the Mighty Eagle was offered as a one-time, in-game purchase, and was initially only available for iOS, as its App Store customers have iTunes accounts with pre-linked credit cards. Rovio begun testing an Android update called the "Bad Piggy Bank" with the Elisa wireless service in Finland and T-Mobile, which allows users to charge in-app purchases, such as the Mighty Eagle, to their mobile phone bills. The service went live on Android with the release of version 2.2.0 in August 2012, using Google Play's transaction system, which allows both mobile billing and credit cards, allowing both Android phones and WiFi-only tablets to unlock the features. This version also added the power-ups from the Facebook version and added an option to pay to remove ads, allowing Android players to play the game ad-free as iOS players can.

The sixth episode, "Mine and Dine", was released on June 16, 2011, with 15 new mining-themed levels and a new Golden Egg. A July 25, 2011 update would release 15 further levels, and an update released on August 25, 2011, concluded "Mine and Dine" with the final 15 levels.

The seventh update, "Birdday Party", was released on December 11, 2011, to commemorate the second anniversary of the first release of the iOS version into the iTunes App Store. It included 15 new birthday cake-themed levels, as well as updated graphics and the addition of elements from the spin-off games, such as the scoring graphic seen in ''Angry Birds Rio'' and the introduction of Bubbles, the orange bird that first appeared in ''Angry Birds Seasons''. The update was later released for Android and Microsoft Windows. The eighth update was released initially to iOS on March 20, 2012, in a lead-up to the release of ''Angry Birds Space''. The new update included an animated tutorial, enhanced gameplay, redesigned user interface, and the first 15 levels of "Surf and Turf", the ''Angry Birds Facebook''-exclusive episode. Another 15 levels were added later on August 2, 2012, with the iOS version receiving the power-ups first seen in the Facebook version.

On October 9, 2012, the final chapter of "Surf and Turf" was released, along with a new episode titled "Bad Piggies" to promote the spin-off of the same name. Another update was released on December 11, 2012, the 3rd anniversary of the game's release, with 15 new levels to "Birdday Party" and 15 new levels to "Bad Piggies". The second set of 15 levels in "Birdday Party" introduced the pink bird Stella to the game. 15 final levels were later released for the "Bad Piggies" episode on March 7, 2013. On the same day these final 15 levels were released, Angry Birds became "Free App of the Week" on the Apple App Store until March 14, 2013, and became an instant hit on the Top Free App charts on the App Store until March 18, 2013, when the app returned to the normal price of $0.99.

An update released on July 22, 2016, introduced the Mighty League, a competitive side mode in which players compete against others' scores to rank up through leagues.

Ports

Since its initial release for the Nokia N900 multimedia Internet device, and Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch mobile digital devices, Rovio has released versions of ''Angry Birds'' for additional devices. An iPad-exclusive version, ''Angry Birds HD'', was released with the iPad mobile digital device in April 2010. In August 2010, ''Angry Birds'' was made available to the Palm Pre phone running Palm's webOS operating system through its App Catalog online store. Symbian^3 phones received a version of the game in October 2010, which initially includes only the "Poached Eggs" and "Mighty Hoax" episodes. Angry Birds works on Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD.

In May 2010, Rovio announced plans for a version for devices using Google's Android operating system, with a beta version being released through the Android Market (now Google Play) in September 2010. The full Android version of the game was first released instead on GetJar in October 2010, though it was subsequently released on Android Market within days. Rovio officials noted that GetJar had a more global reach than Android Market, and GetJar's availability on other smartphone platforms (including Symbian) would make cross-platform promotion of the game easier. Unlike the previous versions, ''Angry Birds'' for Android is a free, ad-supported application, as paid applications aren't available on Android in some nations. An update called "Bad Piggy Bank" enabled players to buy out the in-game ads.

In October 2010, Microsoft suggested on one of its websites that a Windows Phone version of ''Angry Birds'' was in development. Rovio complained that Microsoft had not asked permission to make such a statement, noting that at that time it had not committed to design a Windows Phone version. Rovio would ask Microsoft to revise its site to remove references to the game, a Windows Phone version was ultimately released in June 2011.

A port of ''Angry Birds'' was planned to be launched on the Nintendo DSi along the Wii as a DSiWare game on the former and as a WiiWare game on the latter, but was cancelled most likely due to the Nintendo 3DS's release in 2011 with its "glasses free 3D". However, the game would later be released as part of ''Angry Birds Trilogy'' on other consoles and the later console.

Near the end of 2010, Rovio stated that it was developing new ports of the game, this time for devices outside of the mobile phone market. In January 2011, three of those ports launched. First, Sony announced the release of ''Angry Birds'' for its PlayStation Portable handheld system in the form of a PlayStation mini game that includes nearly 200 levels from the original game; the version is also playable on the PlayStation 3. Next, Rovio announced the release of a Windows version of the game on January 4, 2011, available for sale exclusively from the Intel AppUp center, which included 195 levels at launch and plans for exclusive features not available on the smartphone versions. One day after the Windows version was released, the Mac App Store launched, with one of the first offerings being its own version of ''Angry Birds''. Ports of ''Angry Birds'' have also been proposed for the Wii and Nintendo DS systems, with the former becoming realized through ''Angry Birds Trilogy'' (see below). A 3D-enhanced version of the game was proposed for release on the LG Optimus 3D in October 2011.

The popularity of ''Angry Birds'' has helped spread the game to other devices that were not initially designed as gaming machines. Barnes & Noble announced that a future update for its Nook Color e-reader would let the Android-based device run applications, including a port of ''Angry Birds''. In June 2011, Rovio announced plans to partner with Roku to include a version of ''Angry Birds'' on a new model of its Internet-connected set-top box, the Roku 2 XS running the Roku OS.

In May 2011, an in-browser HTML5 versionAngry Birds HTML5
(HTML5games.com, May 2011) of ''Angry Birds'' was released in beta form. The game uses WebGL or Canvas and is distributed through the Chrome Web Store for use with Google's Chrome web browser. It runs on any WebGL- or Canvas-enabled browser, and features exclusive content when played on Chrome, such as exclusive levels and the so-called "Chrome Bombs". The version includes offline playability and features 60 FPS gameplay with a selection of graphics settings to accommodate a variety of hardware capabilities.

In October 2011, during Nokia World 2011, it was announced that ''Angry Birds'' would come preloaded in Nokia's Asha series of Series 40 touch handsets, aimed at emerging markets such as India, China and South Africa. In December 2011, Rovio released ''Angry Birds HD'', ''Angry Birds Seasons HD'', and ''Angry Birds Rio HD'' on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from Research In Motion. In January 2012, Angry Birds was released for devices using Bada OS.

On February 13, 2012, ''Angry Birds'' made its debut on Facebook through a public beta release. It is known as ''Angry Birds Friends'' since May 23, 2012. The version launched with two chapters from the original game, along with then exclusive "Surf and Turf" chapter. The Facebook version adds a number of new power-up items, with a maximum of two in use per level. For example, the Power Potion power-up makes the next bird larger and thus more powerful, while the King Sling power-up makes the slingshot stronger and able to launch birds higher and faster. Power-ups can be purchased in-game or given by friends who also play the game. "Surf and Turf" would later be included in the original mobile versions of the game, starting with iOS. The Facebook version features weekly tournaments among your friends, with the top 3 winners earning free in-game "Bird Coins" which can be used to purchase power-ups. A unique Green Day themed episode was introduced in the Facebook version of the game added in August 20, 2012, and was removed in December 2012.

At the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, Rovio and distribution partner Activision announced plans to bring ''Angry Birds'' and two of its spin-off games, ''Angry Birds Seasons'' and ''Angry Birds Rio'' to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS systems. Bundled together as ''Angry Birds Trilogy'', the games were built specifically for their respective consoles, taking advantage of their unique features, such as support for PlayStation Move, Kinect, high-definition displays, and glasses-free 3D visuals. ''Trilogy'' was also ported to the Wii and Wii U almost a year later.

A motion-controlled version of the game has also been released as a Samsung Smart TV App.

On April 28, 2015, it was announced that the game was also released on Tizen smartphones by running with OpenMobile's Application Compatibility Layer (ACL) emulation technology.

Removal and re-release

Throughout 2019, several games in the franchise, including the original title, were unexpectedly removed from the App Store and Google Play without warning. Fans of the original game adopted the hashtag "#BringBack2012" to demand the relisting of the removed games. Responding to the campaign, Rovio explained the removal of the games in a blog post citing software rot and the expiration of licensing deals. On March 31, 2022, Rovio released a new version of the original game titled ''Rovio Classics: Angry Birds'' marketed to its older fanbase. It is a remake of the game's state in 2012, replacing its proprietary engine with Unity for compatibility with newer and future devices. The remake also notably lacks microtransactions and pop-up advertisements in favor of a traditional revenue model.

In February 2023, Rovio announced that ''Rovio Classics: Angry Birds'' would be unlisted from the Google Play store and renamed to ''Red's First Flight'' on the App Store. According to Rovio, the removals and renames were due to "the game's impact on our wider games portfolio," such as the decreased revenue from other available ''Angry Birds'' titles.

Reception

In reviews, ''Angry Birds'' has been praised by critics. Chris Holt of ''Macworld'' called the game "an addictive, clever, and challenging puzzler," and ''Pocket Gamer''s Keith Andrew said ''Angry Birds'' is "a nugget of puzzling purity dished out with relish aplenty." Jonathan Liu of Wired News wrote that "going for the maximum number of stars certainly adds a lot of replay value to a fairly extensive game."

Reviews for the first versions of the game that did not use a touch-screen, the PlayStation 3/ PSP version and the Windows version, have also been positive, but with some disagreement over the different interfaces. Will Greenwald of ''PC Magazine'', in his review of the PlayStation Network version, said that the control scheme on these platforms is good, "but they're not nearly as satisfying as the touch-screen controls found on smartphone versions," and that the PlayStation 3 version appeared "blocky and unpleasant, like a smartphone screen blown up to HDTV size." Conversely, Greg Miller of IGN preferred the analog control setup of the PSP version, saying it "offered me tiny variances in control that I don't feel like I get with my fat finger on a screen." While giving the game a positive review, Miller concluded, "There's no denying that ''Angry Birds'' is fun, but it could use polish – such as sharper visuals, a better price and smoother action." Damien McFerrin of British website Electric Pig reviewed the PC version, saying "the mouse-driven control method showcases many distinct advantages over its finger-focused counterpart."

''Angry Birds'' has also been described critically as impossible to understand the playing rules criteria by game critic Chris Schiller of Eurogamer.net, which has 'a contemptuous attitude towards its players, keeping them just frustrated enough not to switch off and play something else instead.'

''Angry Birds'' became the top-selling paid application on Apple's UK App Store in February 2010, and reached the top spot on the US App Store a few weeks later, where it remained until October 2010. Since release, the free, limited version of ''Angry Birds'' has been downloaded more than 11 million times for Apple's iOS, and the full-featured paid version has been downloaded nearly 7 million times as of September 2010. The Android version of the game was downloaded more than 1 million times within the first 24 hours of release, even though the site crashed at one point due to the load, and over 2 million downloads in its first weekend. Rovio receives approximately US$1 million per month in revenue from the advertising that appears in the free Android version.

According to Rovio, players logged more than 5 million hours of game time each day across all platforms, with the series having 200 million monthly active users, as of May 2012. In November 2010, Digital Trends stated that "with 36 million downloads, ''Angry Birds'' is one of the most mainstream games out right now." MSNBC's video game news blog has written that " other game app comes close" to having such a following. ''The Christian Science Monitor'' has remarked, "''Angry Birds'' has been one of the great runaway hits of 2010." In December 2010, in honor of the one-year anniversary of the release of ''Angry Birds'', Rovio Mobile announced that the game had been downloaded 50 million times, with more than 12 million on iOS devices and 10 million on Android. By January 2014, the ''Angry Birds'' series had reached 2 billion downloads, including ''Angry Birds'', ''Angry Birds Seasons'', ''Angry Birds Rio'', ''Angry Birds Space'', ''Angry Birds Star Wars'', ''Angry Birds Star Wars II'', and ''Angry Birds Go!'' On Christmas Day 2011 alone, 6.5 million copies of the various ''Angry Birds'' games were downloaded across all supported platforms.

In the history of the Apple App Store, ''Angry Birds'' holds the record for most days at the top of the Paid Apps chart, having spent a total of 275 days at the No.1 position; ''Angry Birds Rio'' has been No.1 for a total of 23 days, ranking ninth on the list. In Apple's "iTunes Rewind" list of the most popular iTunes Store media for 2011, ''Angry Birds'' was the top-selling paid iPhone/iPod app on the App Store and its free version was the fourth-most downloaded. The game's two special-edition versions, ''Angry Birds Seasons'' and ''Angry Birds Rio'', were also ranked in the top 10 for paid iPhone/iPod apps, while its iPad-exclusive ''Angry Birds HD'' versions were the top-selling and top-downloaded iPad apps for the year.

Awards

In February 2010, ''Angry Birds'' was a nominee for the "Best Casual Game" award at the sixth annual International Mobile Gaming Awards in Barcelona, Spain. In September 2010, IGN named ''Angry Birds'' as the fourth best iPhone game of all time. In April 2011, ''Angry Birds'' won both the "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" at the UK Appy Awards. At the 2011 Webby Awards, ''Angry Birds'' was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices".

At the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards), ''Angry Birds HD'' was awarded with " Casual Game of the Year", and also received nominations for "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming" and "Game of the Year". It is the first mobile app game in the ceremony's history to be nominated for "Game of the Year".

Sequels and spin-offs

''Angry Birds'' has since spawned a number of spin-offs and successors. The series' first spin-off, ''Bad Piggies'', was released on September 27, 2012. In 2015, a direct sequel titled ''Angry Birds 2'' was released, featuring two new birds: a Peale's falcon named Silver and a potoo named Melody.

See also

* ''The Angry Birds Movie''

Notes

References

Further reading

*

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