Angry Birds Rio Review: Fun Levels, Nice Innovations

My expectations weren't that high for Angry Birds Rio.  Video games with movie tie-ins are traditionally rushed affairs looking to make a quick buck -- especially in the casual gaming space.

Gameplay remains faithful to the original game.  You fling wingless birds at a tower with the goal of bringing it down.  Instead of killing pigs, however, they modified it a little to add elements from the film: in the first world, you catapult your birds to break other birds out of their cages; in the second, you're trying to slay evil monkeys; at the last level, you fling the birds at Nigel, the main antagonist in the movie.

Angry Birds Rio has a total of 60 well-designed levels, all of which offer varying levels of challenge and enjoyment.  The game feels slightly upgraded from the previous one, with an improved interface, parallax scrolling and more collectible items.  Controls and physics remain solid as before.

While my expectations were low, Angry Birds Rio provided a nice surprise.  It isn't some rushed movie marketing designed for a quick buck -- some of the changes here can actually make the original game play a lot better, especially the boss level at the end.  You can get it from the App Store for 99 cents.

[iTunes]