''Angry Birds Friends'' (formerly ''Angry Birds Facebook'') is a
puzzle
A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
and the fourth game in the ''
Angry Birds
''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...
'' series. It is developed and published by
Rovio Entertainment
Rovio Entertainment Oyj (formerly Relude Oy and Rovio Mobile Oy and doing business internationally as the Rovio Entertainment Corporation) is a Finnish video game developer based in Espoo. Founded in 2003 by Helsinki University of Technology s ...
.
The game was originally an exclusive
Facebook game
A social network game (sometimes simply referred to as a social media game, social gaming, social video game or online social game) is a type of online game that is played through social networks or social media. They typically feature multiplaye ...
called ''Angry Birds Facebook'' that was released on February 13, 2012,
and was renamed to the current name on May 23, 2012.
The Facebook version introduced power-ups to the Angry Birds game series. Android and iOS versions were released on May 2, 2013.
On October 27, 2014, Rovio introduced a global league to allow users from around the world to play against each other.
Gameplay
The mobile version has six-level tournaments that change twice a week, but there are no episodes like other games or the
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
version. Unlike the previous ''Angry Birds'' games, this game syncs progress with the Facebook version's weekly tournaments between the player, placeholder scores represented by Red and Chuck, and any of the player's Facebook friends who also play the game. The game requires a login to Facebook to sync progress; otherwise one can play without a Facebook account. The top 3 winners each week earn in-game currency, called Bird Coins, which can be used to purchase power-ups or to acquire additional bird slingers. In addition, the mobile version includes four power-up practice levels where there are infinite power-ups available for use.
In February 2012, the episode "Surf and Turf" was added to the Angry Birds Friends
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
version and it was also added to the original ''
Angry Birds
''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...
''. In July 2012, the episode "Pigini Beach" was added to the Angry Birds Friends Facebook version.
In August 2012, Rovio announced a partnership with the punk band
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...
, which led to 20 new levels of Angry Birds Friends on Facebook featuring all three members of the band. The new levels showcased each member of Green Day as a green, bad pig and also featured Green Day's latest single, and an exclusive track. The levels were removed in December 2012.
In March 2013, Rovio added the episode named "Pig Tales", which has fantasy-themed levels, for the Facebook version that features an all-new power-up and a mushroom hat that can be used in the in-game avatars.
The game's weekly tournaments sometimes feature levels based on the season, such as
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
themed levels in December and
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
themed levels during Easter. These usually include a special gimmick to make them unique, like 2012 and 2013 Halloween introducing zombie pigs, which spawn an extra pig to kill when a new one’s killed.
In March 2016, Angry Birds Friends had a special theme "Year In Space" to commemorate the return of the American
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
Scott Kelly and a
cosmonaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
after spending
one year
''One Year'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Colin Blunstone, a member of the Zombies. It was released by Epic Records in 1971. It includes "Say You Don't Mind", which peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.
Prod ...
on the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
.
In 2017, all birds and pigs designs changed (except Bubbles).
Reception
The game has received mixed reviews with a
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
score of 65/100 based on 5 reviews.
''
Pocket Gamer
''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...
'' criticized the game for being "shallow and uninspiring"
In April 2013, Rovio revealed that the Facebook game had been installed by over 60 million users, with 1.2 million
daily active users
Active users is a measurement metric that is commonly used to measure the level of engagement for a particular product or object, by quantifying the number of active interactions from visitors within a relevant range of time (daily, weekly and m ...
and 10 million
monthly active users
Active users is a measurement metric that is commonly used to measure the level of engagement for a particular product or object, by quantifying the number of active interactions from visitors within a relevant range of time (daily, weekly and m ...
.
References
External links