Angry Birds Star Wars II Review

By , on September 19, 2013
Last modified 11 years, 1 month ago


Angry Birds Star Wars II
Download on the AppStore
4 out of 5

PROS

  • Looks and sounds great.
  • Retains the authentic Star Wars vibe.
  • Dark Side campaign is a welcome change of pace.
  • Rovio manages to make Jar Jar useful.

CONS

  • More of the same.
  • Will have to pay extra if you want to unlock all the characters permanently.

VERDICT

Though it sticks very close to the established formula, Angry Birds Star Wars II offers just enough tweaks and additions to warrant another trip to that galaxy far, far away. 


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You like Star Wars, right?

Well, you did before they did those three rubbish films. Maybe the new one will be good. I hear the Star Trek bloke's doing it. He knows about... stars...

And Angry Birds! You like Angry Birds, right? With the flinging and the smashing and that pause before the level ends when you're waiting for everything to stop moving.

Yes, you guessed it: The birds are back and the force is with them once again. Angry Birds Star Wars II delivers another instalment of bird-lobbing, lightsaber-swooshing, physics-based nonsense to your touchscreen.

Old favourites like Obi-Wan, Vader, and the Yoda appear alongside Episode I, II, and III characters Qui-Gon Jin, Padme, and pod-racing pipsqueak Anakin.

So, besides the character roster, what has changed?

Well, not a great deal. Each character still their own special power, which is triggered by touching the screen. Qui-Gon can destroy structures with a slash of his lightsaber. Obi-Wan can use the force to send block and piggies flying. Yoda can bounce around the screen like a mad green pinball.

Meanwhile Jar Jar, in a complete break from established Star Wars cannon, is actually useful and entertaining, able to latch onto objects with his tongue and either swing himself or bits of scenery across the screen.

The other big difference this time around is that you can play through a Light Side and a Dark Side campaign. This gives you access to piggy versions of Darth Maul, Count Dookoo, and Boba Fett. Though many of these characters have similar powers to their goody-two shoes jedi counterparts, it's nice to see the pigs getting one up on the birds for a change.

Extra characters can be unlocked using gold coins. You can earn these characters through play, purchase them via IAPs, or teleport them into the game using the Telepod stands and accompanying action figures. It's a bit expensive to unlock characters permenantly, so you'll often have to buy consumable refills if you want to try them all.

Question is: Is it still fun?

Well, yeah, it is. The same attention to detail we saw in Angry Birds Star Wars is still present, right down to the music and authentic sound effects. The force powers liven things up a bit, and the piggy levels offer a welcome distraction.

It's not a huge leap forward for the franchise, though, and if you're already sick of throwing animals at other animals then this probably isn't going to convince you otherwise. If you're just after another dose of Angry Birds Star Wars, however, then this second episode has just enough to catch you in its tractor beam.

Screenshots

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