26 Jul 2014

Angry Birds Go review: a free-to-play Mario Kart copy

Angry Birds Go review

Angry Birds Go is a fun new free game from Rovio. It's much like and sees old and new characters racing against each other to earn coins and win gems. Not only is it a totally new genre, but it's also the first free Angry Birds game on all mobile OSes - iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10.

There are two main tracks, Seedway and Rocky Road, and each offers five racing modes: standard race, against the clock, Fruit Splat (hit enough fruit before the finish line), head-to-head (vs) and Champion Chase, where you have to beat the bird three times to unlock that character.

And you will need to unlock them, since each bird gets 'tired' after five races and has to recover. At which point you can switch to another bird or pay 10 gems to 'revive' the one that's worn out. This is just one of many ways that Angry Birds Go will make money, since you can buy bags of gems from £1.99 to £70. Gems can then be used to buy coins within the game.

Coins are used to buy kart upgrades, and you'll need these not simply to remain competitive but also because races have ever-higher 'cc' requirements: you won't be able to enter certain races unless your kart meets the minimum rating.

Angry Birds Go in app purchases

You can buy some karts, too, with prices again ranging from £1.99 to a whopping £35 or more (see above). However, you can also buy real toy versions of the karts, called Telepods, which are recognised (and unlocked) when placed over your device’s camera.

Each character has a unique power-up which can be used once per race, with extra uses costing gems. Certain race types have coins to collect, while others don’t. Within each main course is a variety of different courses, some of which are in the air and others involving stunts.

Angry Birds Go

To start a race, you catapult your kart when the countdown clock says ‘Go’, thereby adding a bit more fun and retaining a link back to the traditional games. You’ve a choice of tilt or tap to control your racer and although tilt is more fun, tapping offers more control.

No comments:

Post a Comment