Banana Scoop

All Images Owned by Rovio

So Bad Piggies has been a vacuum of time wasting and a staple to how I spend my time in class.  Between Bad Piggies and stressing to get articles done in time, I think I might enjoy some mindless time wasting via Rovio’s latest mobile app.  Bad Piggies is a spin-off of the Angry Birds franchise that circles around the bad guys of the original game.  This time, they’re in your hands to acquire the thing they desire most: eggs.  On your way to get the eggs, a number of hijinx ensue where you must help the pigs acquire pieces to maps that lead to the eggs.  Unfortunately pieces are in unattainable areas and require you to help the pigs build miraculous contraptions to ge from point A to point B.  The process is fun, challenging, and the time spent:payment ratio far exceeds the $0.99 game for iPhone.

An Appreciated Directional Change by Rovio

After a string of similar spin-offs: Angry Birds: Seasons, Angry Birds: Rio, Angry Birds Space, bringing the franchise in a new direction [and even keeping the old direction with the confirmed Angry Birds: Star Wars], using the Piggies as new protagonists in a completely different setting is really cool to see.  Everyone thought this spin-off would be just another Angry Birds rip-off, but it’s pretty clear that this new game is built from the ground up with similar addictive elements like 3-star grinding and secret hunting.

As an Engineering Student, the Premise Tickles Me Fondly

The premise of the game is to help the piggies get from point A to point B by building them cars, hot balloons, and planes.  Each level starts you off with some basic materials and you get a matrix workspace of size m x n where m and n can be anywhere from 2 – 5 [that’s the engineer in me speaking].  These basic materials can consist of wheels, boxes, rockets, tnt, all meant for you to implement to get up ramps, jump holes, and roll down hills.  Being an engineering student, tinkering with specifications to make your contraption work is both tickling and fun.  But I more than imagine that you don’t need to be an engineering student to fully grasp the rewarding feeling of having your creation succeed with flying [sometimes very literally] colors.

More than Just Dumb Luck [Although there are some Moments Involved]

A lot of what I didn’t like about Angry Birds is how much luck was required to simply beat the level.  Whether it be using the exact bird in a tiny hole to trigger the level win or accidentally fluking the last bird to kill the last pig, Angry Birds could be very frustrating that had little to do fault with how good you were at the game.  In Bad Piggies, your losses are often a direct result of your own mistakes.  While there is an ideal contraption for each level, a number of different versions will work and are even required if you want to find the secrets and three stars.  I will admit that to get some of the harder elements requires a bit of luck, but still so rewarding when you get it.

The Skill Required is Sensical and Engaging

Having the mind to build the contraption is just the first step.  More than often you have elements during the game that you have to control for your contraption to actually get to point A to point B.  These can range from fans that need to be turned off and on, umbrellas that need to be opened and closed.  These elements almost make you feel like a pilot, safely bringing your passenger  and your frantic switching of rockets and motors is a rewarding experience.  The responses are tight and the physics behind the game is very convincing and sensical.  This makes some of the gimmicks like rockets and balloons, while sometimes frustrating, not an entity to be entirely upset with due to their fairness.

Getting Three Stars Actually Means Something and Requires You to Think

I’m pretty embarrassed to say that over 50% of my levels completed were completed to the bare minimum of 1 star [obtained when you get the pig to the end of the stage.]  The other two stars include a variety of different tasks [another improvement onto Angry Birds where sheer dumb luck and breaking another brick is the difference between 2 and 3 stars].  These tasks can range from completing a task in a certain amount of time [hard], not using a certain component [also hard], and collected boxes scattered around the map [incredibly hard, some of these boxes completely baffle me on how to get to them.]  After I complete the initial run-through of my crappy 1-star games, I’ll be sure to complete them all in 3 star format, no matter how long it takes.

The Art, Sound and Graphics are Top Notch

The iPhone has beautiful retina display.  And seeing the piggest in the smoothest fashion is simply the best way to view the action.  Rovio keeps the same art style as from the Angry Birds series, but  obviously some key elements are changed.  The hills are more relevant and meant to trap you with little details such as bumps or protrusions that can make or break you.  The sound is similar to the tune of Angry Birds with primarily grunts of the pigs and occasional snorts here and there.  All it truly does is carry the adorable and cute atmosphere Rovio has built.

This is Only the Beginning

Rovio is well known for their staying power when it comes to games.  To my understanding they’re still updating the original Angry Birds.  With this new release, they’ll certainly be coming up with new things and innovations.  With the original Angry Birds, the coolest new thing we got was a new bird every once in a while and it was all very expected.  The sky’s the limit with Bad Piggies [literally].  I’m sure spin offs will occur [Bad Piggies: Atlantis anyone?].  But long before that, we’ll be getting a number of expansions further adding value to the minimal $0.99 you paid for it.

Overall

Bad Piggies is more than worth the $0.99 phone app.  It’s fairly genuinely innovative for an app.  I’ve played games like this in flash form and thoroughly enjoyed them.  Having a version on the phone, and then one that speaks on a personal level [I’ve been killing these pigs for years now and apparently I’m 100% okay with helping them out now] is simply awesome.  If you need a way to burn some time on your phone or just looking for a good challenge, Bad Piggies is certainly your game.