Get your needles ready… Time to pop some angry balloons!

Two years after the release of Angry Birds 2 (which at that point was still a top 100 app on both Android and iOS) Rovio still manages to capitalize even more from the Angry Birds franchise by releasing yet another spin-off. But, how successful was it? Did it stay afloat or was it just too much “helium” to bear?

Well, it didn’t exactly fare as well as the mainline games, but it still got decent scores. One common complaint was that it was not an “Angry Birds” game in the truest sense. Well, of course it wasn’t, because it wasn’t meant to be! 

I kind of understand where the criticism is coming from, though, and agree that they could have done a bit more to give a more original spin to the otherwise generic tile-matching formula. People expected a bit more from the likes of Rovio but what we got was Rovio’s take on the Candy Crush concept, with some chunks of poultry skin on top of it. 

But (here’s the catch!), Angry Birds Blast is not a “bad generic game” by any means. It’s just not a very good Angry Birds game. If you feel ok with that, then you should have no trouble whatsoever enjoying this one.

You do get a good dose of the usual Angry Birds plot, involving the eternal battle between the piggish hordes and the bird alliance. You’re tasked with delivering your feathered friends from their devilish porcine captors who held them inside brightly-colored rubber sacs. 

For these purposes, you are provided with various tools throughout the game. You can use slingshots (that wasn’t foreseeable at all!), rockets, bombs, and other overkills boosters that enable you to pop various balloons at once and attain freedom for the avifauna. You will also encounter many of the obstacles that pigs are wont to use when building their forts throughout the main series, thwarting your progress every step of the way.

From the start, you have access to two main game modes: The main campaign and the challenges. The challenges work similarly to the main campaign with the difference being the objectives pursued with each mode.

In the main campaign, you are mainly entrusted with the goal of freeing a certain number of birds contained in balloons of specific colors. Other missions may include getting rid of piggies by popping balloons in their vicinity. Challenges mostly involve solving a puzzle in order to open a crate or activate a specific mechanism so as to obtain a specific reward (consisting of Silver Coins, boosters, or any other extra goodies).

The Silver Coins are the game’s regular currency which can be utilized to purchase boosters. Meanwhile, Gold Coins are the ones that you buy with real cash and can be spent on extra boosters or replenishing your lives, among other things.

In the course of the main campaign, you will progress through various locations on a map in a similar fashion to how you went through levels in Angry Birds 2. Meanwhile, you are given five “lives” (five chances, properly speaking). If you lose a match, you lose a life, and losing all your lives means that you won’t be able to advance to the next level and you’d have to wait a while.

Thankfully, the game won’t force you to break your piggy bank. In this regard, it’s surprisingly lenient, letting players enjoy the game albeit at a slightly slower rhythm. Furthermore, you will only be punished with a waiting period when you lose, which is a very tolerable trade-off.

Also, the game is challenging enough, even if you buy all the necessary boosters. It’s a game that awards you for playing rather than for paying (paying will definitely grant you better chances of success but these are only marginal improvements.) At the same time, you will earn boosters often while playing (e.g., when popping a defined number of balloons) so you’ll still have tons of options at your disposal.

Verdict

As we’ve come to expect from this franchise, we’re given little choice but to praise Angry Birds Blast and consider it a net positive. You may be slightly disappointed as it doesn’t have the addictive mechanics of the flagship Angry Birds titles, but I still encourage you to try it out at least once! I assure you that you will have a blast with it!

Also, feel free to pop into the comments section and leave your thoughts about this review or the game under it!