So, due to my frustration with not being able to get my tablet on Friday, I downloaded Angry Birds for Chrome. It was free, though with ads. I guess? I never saw any ads during the whole time I played, but it was labeled "Beta", so maybe that's why.
I won't go into the mechanics too much (because everyone should know them by now): It's a lot like Worms, actually. Which is awesome, because I loved Worms back in the day. You have a slingshot launcher, and different ammunition, trying to hit stationary targets located around/behind/under various obstacles. You have standard birds (just arc and hit), tiny birds (expand into three shots, not much power), triangle birds (have a charge forward fast ability), bomb birds (explode, natch), and egg laying birds (the eggs are also explosive). Your targets are little round pig spheres that grunt.
The graphics are simplistic and cartoony and very, very cute. The birds are colorful and distinct. The pigs are delightfully round, and come in a variety of sizes and armor (read: pots on their heads). You get points for smashing obstacles, squashing pigs, and not using up your allotted birds. To beat a level, you must squash all the pigs. You are ranked from 1 to 3 stars on each level, with the star rankings given for a certain number of points that varies based on the level. On some levels I only got one star for roughly 50k points, but got 2 or 3 stars for the same amount on other boards.
There are a TON of levels in the base game, and lots of add-on levels from Angry Birds Seasons, which has seasonal themed levels. There are little tiny animated cut-scenes that tell the story (what there is of one): Pigs stole your eggs, and the birds are mad about it. You can retry any level an unlimited number of times. Or you can use the Eagle.
The Eagle is part of their monetizing scheme. The base game w/ ads is free. To see more than the first level or so, you need to log in with your Google Account. You can pay to suppress ads for a week ($0.99), or forever ($3.99). You can also buy the Mighty Eagle ($1.99) to help you bypass tough levels. They give you a free use of it in the first "batch" of levels, so I used it on one level that I found hard. I then went back and beat that level legit, so I don't know how useful this is.
This is a pretty awesome little puzzle game, perfect for the casual crowd. I can see why it is almost a phenomena. Given the monetizing scheme (really? $3.99 for the no ads version? On the phone/tablet it's $0.99!) is inconsistent, I'm not thrilled with how they do that, but hey, I can play it for free at home, and I don't find I need any of the add-ons. I will probably buy the Angry Birds Space sequel for my tablet, because I do enjoy the game.
