Remember when Angry Birds was the most popular mobile game around? Many of you who played religiously ended up moving on to more graphically complex games. Maybe Rovio’s characters, which the company once said would make it the next Disney, suffered from overexposure with licensing deals. The fowl foul had their faces plastered all over the place from Band Aids to board games to underwear.
You can’t say that Rovio hasn’t tried to keep up with the times. VR versions of Angry Birds are available for Oculus Rift and Vive, and an AR variant of the game can be played on the Magic Leap headset. And today, the company has announced that Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs will soon be available for certain Apple iPhone and Apple iPod models. Using Apple’s ARKit, a flat surface like a coffee table is overlaid with different stages while the phone itself becomes the slingshot.
Players can walk around each stage, looking for hidden items and areas where the pigs might be most vulnerable to attack. Rovio is offering the game for free in partnership with Resolution Games, although we are pretty sure that there will be some in-app purchasers that players can make.
“We’re delighted to bring the beloved physics-based gameplay of Angry Birds to life through augmented reality. It’s an especially timely moment to bring our avian friends to mobile AR for the first time, as this year marks the tenth anniversary since the release of the first Angry Birds game.”-Kati Levoranta, CEO, Rovio Entertainment
“This game evokes the core of what makes AR gameplay truly AR. With its engaging characters, classic Angry Birds slingshot gameplay and ability to move around the structures, it utilizes the unique elements of Apple’s ARKit and showcases what AR gameplay is capable of, which is pretty amazing when you see it come to life.”- Tommy Palm, Resolution Games.
Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs is available today to pre-order from iTunes and it will be released in the late spring of 2019. Don’t expect to see an AR version of Angry Birds for Android anytime soon since the phone version of the new AR Angry Birds game is an Apple exclusive for now.
For those familiar with the old Angry Birds games, the rules are the same. You try to knock down as many pigs as possible by using a slingshot to propel one of the Angry Birds toward the swine. One difference is that now you see the slingshot from a first-person perspective. Fling back on your phone to send the Angry Bird flying toward its target. Originally, there will be as many as 40 different levels in the game.
Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs is compatible with all iPhone models dating back to the iPhone 6s, all iPad Pro models, iPad fifth and sixth generation, and the new iPad Air and iPad Mini tablets introduced yesterday.