ANGRY BIRDS EVOLUTION

GUIDE

 Angry Birds Evolution definitely succeeds in pushing the brand forward, but with mixed results as it combines gameplay you didn’t know you wanted with a story you probably don’t.  

The set-up for Angry Birds Evolution is about as classic as it gets, assuming that word applies for a franchise that is less than 10 years old. Pigs are threatening eggs, so the grown-up birds need to do something about it and fight back. There’s a lot more to the narrative behind your adventure as well, with the gist of the plot being that you need to convince a legendary team of bird heroes to come back into the fold and help you defeat the Pigs’ leader, who’s obviously been watching some iconic movies as motivation.

But the details of the story don’t grab you as much as the sense that for the most part, these aren’t any Angry Birds you’ve encountered before in other games, animation or even the movie. They look like the characters from the film, but the game designers worked overtime to come up with a whole bunch of new birds when the familiar ones probably would have been enough. That's the main difference. They’re more scary than cute, despite being beautifully rendered and animated. 

There’s also a PvP mode where the same mechanics are combined with the simple goal of shoving as many birds onto your opponent’s side of the playing field for as long as possible. It’s nice that the game doesn’t ask you to learn a whole new way of doing things for multiplayer, and the matches usually tend to be fast and frantic.

In-between battles, there are a lot of very standard mobile game things to do to create a more powerful team of birds. Lower rarity birds can be used to power up the ones you plan on using regularly, and several different currencies give you a chance to hatch new characters in the time-tested gacha style. The different colors of birds all have different types of special attacks and can form sets that unlock extra abilities, so there’s definitely a hunt and collect element to the whole thing. Extra birds can also be sent on resource-gathering missions if you so desire. Clans provide a social hook, as they often do.

One aspect of Angry Birds Evolution you might not expect is that it’s not geared toward kids, or at least there’s an effort to make this one more “adult.” One of the old heroes you’re trying to recruit is named Major Pecker, which gives you an idea of the type of humor involved. That’s not to say the game is objectionable as a lot of what’s going on will fly right over the head of younger players, and it does make me wonder exactly who the intended audience is supposed to be.

To reach these areas you'll battle your way across various tiles and face different enemies - inevitably these scraps get more difficult as the game progresses. From each successful battle you'll reap coins, gems, and more.

The thing in this gameplay element in ABE is your ability to level up your bird team members - at a price. You can earn different birds the eggs enemies drop in battle or you can unlock them in the Hatchery.

When you do it double you end up with can either be sold off or you can merge them into one of your bird bodies like a feathery version of Cell from Dragon Ball Z.

Aside from the bog-standard battles there are also arena matches to take part in. Here you go head-to-head against another player in asynchronous gameplay. The goal here is to keep the piggies out of your side of the court.

You may also buddy up during certain battles by borrowing a feathered companion from another player, though I'm still not entirely sure what the point in this aspect is aside from promoting in-game friendship.

When you continue in the game Scouting Missions unlock and you can use your Scout Team to investigate certain areas. Those will usually spit out some kind of coinage/reward before offering up a couple of extra battles.

This is where things start falling into the old free to play rhythms, however, then you have to pay.

I dare say I was actually enjoying the game until my coinage ran out, my gems ran out, and my Scouts had run out for the fifth or sixth time. And lost everything.

Since you've only got three Scouts to work with, it takes just under an hour for a single Scout to become available again. So, three hours for the full set. 

Angry Birds Evolution manages to get  you in for the first few levels and makes you think you're doing pretty well. Then it become evident you need to upgrade your birds more and more.

Each upgrade costs 40 coins, so you need a ton of them to get anywhere, however, you only gain coins through winning battles or spending cash.

Of course, you can't win them if you're not at a high enough level to do so, and you can only use Scout locations a few times a day or fork out more money to bring them about quicker.

Angry Birds Evolution is better than you think it's going to be. With a decent design, over 300 birds and enemies to unlock and collect, and it is worth focus on community.

But when the grind getting in, and you're stuck at a level that's not high enough to progress, some of that early shine starts to disappear.

It's a real shame as the gameplay itself is rather fun. Its slingshot mechanic works so very well in an isometric view, and you feel very satisfied when you win battle after battle.

But, hitting blockade after blockade as you try to move unlock more of the game is likely to leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth.

Now, though, Evolution embodies an entirely different development strategy, one that known that consumers are savvier than they used to be. It's a complete game that works, an original twist on the Angry Birds conceit, and exhibits some understanding of the broader gaming scene. It strives for irony, a postmodern savviness in the face of its own unconcealed profit motive; it jokes about the mainstream games it borrows ideas from, and piles on the schtick: There's a Zelda reference, a bird named Kim Fli Hy that's modelled after Kim Jong-il , and a black-bobbed bird named Mia that I only now recognize as a Pulp Fiction reference. The jokes don't necessari, and they represent an attempt to dress up a cash-in as something more personal and creative.

Then again, maybe O.G. Angry Birds players are mostly older age now, or at least on their way. Evolution was probably inevitable, and it plants the Birds’ flag in a genre that works well on mobile in a unique manner, but it also jettisons a lot of what many would probably expect, right down to the birds themselves. If you simply love

turn-based RPGs or are down to glide with this IP all the way until the end, you need to try it, but otherwise, it feels like more of a curiosity than an essential.

You can download the ABE: