Angry Birds on PS3 and PSP

Mike Bantick
Monday, 17 January 2011 09:07

Entertainment

The iPhone hit has launched itself at the console market.

It is another of these casual, addictive and simple games that has sat well entrenched in the top slots of the sales charts for some time now.

Angry Birds, for the uninitiated, tells the whacky tale of a bunch of maddened feathered flyers and their suicidal vendetta against green hogs (!)

Actually 'flyers' is not too accurate, whist they are indeed birds, these antagonistic quilled ones need you and your slingshotting skills to launch into the air.  The aim (literally) to destroy the green hog faces (some of which are larger, or more armoured than others) to the right of the slingshot.

There are many levels, divided into four sections.  Each level consists of varying degrees of distance between the target and the slingshot, as well as constructions made out of glass, timber, rock and so forth protecting the hogs.



You have limited ammo in the form of a variety of birds, each must be launched at a particular angle and speed to maximise their impact or abilities against the pigs.  The hogs are just targets, and take damage directly from the birds themselves or from falling debris.

Some levels are straight forward; some are diabolical, requiring a combination of planning, and luck to succeed.  And it is these levels that are both frustrating and addictive, with the reload button so handy, and a just-one-more try scheme that may destroy any social activities in the 'real-world'.

On the PS3, the control mechanism works well, instead of touch controls, the PS3 uses the left analogue stick to control the launcher power and direction, whilst the handy bumper buttons allow for shifting the field of view at will between launcher and target.

Being a PlayStation Mini title, there is the option to transfer Angry Birds onto a PlayStation Portable, so your life can be ruined whilst at home or on the go. 



Angry Birds ticks all the boxes for a hit casual release.  It is simple, fast, easy to learn, extremely addictive, well presented and fun.  What would have made it's release on the PS3 perfect would have been a level editor/creator, but who would have time for all that with so many green hogs to destroy?