Angry Birds Rio Review - No Need to be Angry, This Bird Can Fly

Following up from my review last week of Doodle Jump Hop, I have decided to write my second ever A113Animation Game Review. This newest review is of Angry Birds Rio, a continuation of the wildly successful Angry Birds franchise, to help promote Blue Sky Studios' next animated film (out next month), Rio.

However, the first thing to say, is that this is not just a game made to promote a film; this is far more than just the average video game tie-in to a film, this is a game all of its own. Obviously that will be due in no small part to the fact that this is an Angry Birds game, arguably the most detailed and intensely updated iOS game ever! However, at this point in there meteoric Angry Birds success, Rovio could've just coasted for this game and changed the scenery on some of the levels (a la Angry Birds Seasons), but that's not what they have done.

As you can see in the above picture, this is a far different game to the normal Angry Birds, indeed, it is a very interesting twist on the franchise. Rather than just the Angry Birds norm of destroying the pigs, there is a different objective - actually 2 different ones, one per episode - to destroy the cages and free the captured birds (which is a main plot point of the film) and to destroy the marmosets. These objectives, particularly the cage destroying, are a great way to change the Angry Birds formula (something Hop didn't really do for Doodle Jump). These fairly major changes make it more of a game of its own accord, rather than just a film tie-in, than Doodle Jump Hop was. Also, Angry Birds Rio is far more deserving of having its own game, whereas Doodle Jump Hop really could have just stayed as an add-on the full game.

Another way in which Angry Birds Rio reinvents the Angry Birds franchise is with the very last level, which is something entirely new to Angry Birds, a boss battle. This level works by firing your birds (including the film's protagonists Blu and Jewel) at the moving boss (which is the film's villain, Nigel) and to try and use as few birds as possible to take Nigel down and achieve a high score. This simple boss battle is uber effective, both to help break up the monotony of just level after level, and also to help establish the film (and game)'s villain, acting as a great precursor to the film.

For the above reasons, Angry Birds Rio does a better job of making me want to see Rio than Doodle Jump Hop did for Hop. Due mainly to the fact that it is a more complete game, however, that's not to say that Angry Birds Rio has tonnes of levels. Don't get me wrong, the game isn't a short one, it has 2 full episodes, totalling 60 levels, however, by Angry Birds standards that's not a lot (especially as yet another update brought yet more levels to the full Angry Birds game). Whilst all these levels are really good and quite challenging (especially if you want to get 3 stars on every level) and will last you a good few hours, it could be significantly longer. But, as you can see above, Rovio are going to add more levels to the game throughout the remainder of 2011, which will be interesting to see how these progress as they will be after the film has been released.

The final thing to say, is that this is a beautiful game, the colours and general look of it are vibrant and bright, the music is great and captivating and it just has a generally stunning style as a game. It's a very authentic feel and makes you want to see the film even more, which is a testament to the game and indeed the film.

Overall, I absolutely loved Angry Birds Rio, the feel of it, the look of it and its authenticity and how it breaks the Angry Birds mould. I would definitely recommend this game and give it a resounding 10/10.

The game is 59p in the iOS App Store and is available now, I would encourage you to buy it, you won't regret it.