Angry Birds Action Review: Rovio Enters Pinball Arena, Fancy Pinball That Is (Video)

With Angry Birds the Movie now in cinemas we were obviously expecting a tied in game and that game is actually Angry Birds Action. The title arrived in the Play Store a few weeks ago and it’s reviewed below. It’s available for free and it’s being played on the Gionee Marathon M5 Plus here.

So, let’s get this out of the way: we are dealing with a pinball title, with some air hockey elements mixed in with the classic Angry Birds gameplay. You’re still shooting birds out of a virtual slingshot that you won’t see this time, but they won’t be out to get pigs. Instead they have to hit candy, TNT boxes or eggs on top of totems.

There’s a lot of ricoches and bouncing around and quite a few powerups that make you bouncier, make you go through walls or freeze everything around. You’ll play with Red, Bomb, Chuck and the rest of the gang, each with his special perk. Bomb for example is vital for blowing up rocks, while Red is very fast. As you bounce around you may hit a cannon, that will shoot you in a certain direction and in case you miss a few times, you will lose your bird and have to go again with another bird.

Losing birds also means losing “lives”, just like in Candy Crush and you can only waste about 3 at a time. Then you wait 10-15 minutes or ask a friend for lives, or sometimes watch an ad to get more. The graphics are pretty nice looking, 3D and all and the explosions and ruffled feathers are all funky. However, it’s still a pinball game, without too much complexity, rather repetitive and it doesn’t bring any innovation into the Angry Birds innovation.

Fun in small doses… and we give it a 7.8 out of 10. You can download it here.