Angry Birds has become a recent gaming phenomenon in the mobile department. It’s available on nearly every smartphone, tablet, and other hi-tech portable touch screen devices. The Birds’ popularity has seeped into other products as well, as you can find Angry Birds plushes, fruit snacks, bandages, coloring books, balloons, clothing and apparel, and even dog toys! The simplicity and accessibility of the game is the secret to Angry Birds’ success. And now you can enjoy three of the games in the series with Angry Birds Trilogy on 360, PS3, and 3DS (360 version reviewed here).

Explaining how to play Angry Birds is like having to tell how to play Pac-Man or Tetris. Most people probably know already, but I’ll describe the gameplay anyway. In the games, the bad green piggies have stolen the Angry Birds’ eggs, so now the flustered fowls must get revenge on those bad ol’ pigs and get their eggs back. In each level, pigs and blocks are scattered about, and you must use a slingshot to send the birds flying to knock over the block structures and whomp all the piggies before running out of birds. Some birds have special powers you can activate while they are in the air. Some can split into three; others explode like a bomb or drop eggs, among other abilities.

The three games on Angry Birds Trilogy include Angry Birds Classic, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio. Classic is the regular game. Seasons puts a festive spin with backdrops and sounds from holidays like Halloween and Christmas. The last game uses settings and characters from the computer animated movie Rio, so instead of piggies you’ll be freeing tropical birds and battling mean monkeys. But the basic gameplay remains the same in all three titles.

This collection also includes bios of the characters, concept art, new cutscenes, leaderboards, and more! The Xbox 360 version even offers Kinect support, so you can use motions and voice commands to control the game in a brand new way. But using a regular controller works just fine, too. Sharper HD graphics and exclusive bonus levels round out the package.

The only problems I had with this collection is that the Angry Birds games work better as on-the-go titles you pick up and play anywhere for a short while, and it loses a bit of that functionality on a home console. Also, I was hoping this collection would have Angry Birds Space, but it doesn’t. That’s the only one I haven’t played yet. I hear the company who makes Angry Birds also just came out with a new mobile game starring those bad piggies! But despite those problems, Angry Birds Trilogy is still a nice collection that no fan should be without.

Kid Factor:

Angry Birds Trilogy is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Comic Mischief. The birds knock down walls and blow up piggies, but they’re always ready for more in the next level. So the violence is no worse than a Looney Tunes cartoon. Reading skill is helpful for some of the menus, but not necessary as all the instructions have picture cues. Some of the tougher, later stages may frustrate younger gamers. But there are literally hundreds and hundreds of levels, so nobody in the family will get bored with it anytime soon. It’s a stretch, but Angry Birds can be considered somewhat educational as launching birds at different angles and trajectories can help reinforce certain mathematical and physics skills.

Tags: Game Reviews