Angry Birds 2, the sequel to one of the biggest mobile games ever, has hit the App Store and the Google Play Store.
The original Angry Birds hit mobile platforms six years ago. Since then it has gone on to be downloaded an astonishing 3 billion times across every platform you can imagine.
If you haven’t been following the series, you might be wondering why Rovio hasn’t followed up the success of its first game before now. In truth, it has.
There have been a number of Angry Birds follow-ups over the years, including Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio. It just seems that none of these sizeable games has warranted full sequel status from Rovio.
So, Angry Birds 2 offers an all-new brand of bird-flinging action, right? Not exactly.
It’s still a cute 2D physics puzzler in which you catapult variously coloured birds into ramshackle forts in a bid to squish the green pigs cowering within. It’s very familiar.
Differences? Well, it’s now up to you to decide which bird in your arsenal goes next. That’s a fairly substantial tactical shift. There are also multiple ‘rooms’ per level, giving the game a more expansive feel, and you can cast destructive spells to give you an advantage.
Also, the game looks stunning, with a detailed cartoony art style and environmental effects. It’s also impressive how those piggy forts build themselves before your very eyes at the start of each level.
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Another, perhaps less welcome addition sees Angry Birds 2 getting with the times and shifting to a more modern free-to-play model. Yes, it’s technically free, but it also means that there’s an irritating cool-down timer limiting speedy retries, and you get the ability to purchase power-ups to spam your way through tricky stages.
You can download Angry Birds 2 onto your iOS or Android device now. On the iOS front, the game has been optimised for the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 generation and upwards, though you may be able to play it on older devices.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.