By Akriti Rana and Nimish Dubey


In late 2009, Angry Birds pretty much redefined phone gaming as we know it. The game was launched on the iPhone, which itself was in the business of changing phones as we knew them. The game seemed simple enough. It involved placing some very angry-looking birds in a slingshot and then hurling them at different trajectories at pigs who were hidden behind walls or other defences. Pigs incidentally were having a bad rep globally at that time thanks to the swine flu. In the game, however, they were guilty of having stolen the eggs of the birds, which made the birds angry and go after the pigs for vengeance. 


Fowl flinging becomes a rage


It was a classic physics-oriented game, where you had to work out the angles of the slingshot at which to throw the birds at the pigs, whose barricades kept changing. You had a limited number of birds to use to get past the fortifications and punish the pigs and the fewer you used, the better the player you were. All of this was implemented very smoothly and came with striking cartoon characters and very good audio effects. What's more, new episodes were added to the original game, adding to its longevity — it got new updates and the levels all the way till the end of 2012.


The game was such a hit that it not only spawned sequels but also a Hollywood film. However, as is so often the case, the game could not sustain its initial success. Attempts were made to add other elements to it like racing and matching puzzles, but as of today, in a world dominated by the likes of PUBG on one hand and Candy Crush Saga on the other, Angry Birds has stepped out of the gaming spotlight. So much so that Rovio removed the classic version of the game from app stores in 2019, and focused on new variants of the game.


#BringBack2012 brings back Angry Birds


There was however, a lot of demand for the original titles of the series, even spawning a "BringBack2012" hashtag. And it is now back. Rovio has released the  2012 Angry Birds as Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, with all the original eight episodes and more than 390 levels. All your favourite birds are there, as are the hilarious cutscenes and the nefarious piggies with their nasty giggles.  All of them have been also updated to work on new higher definition displays and  with more devices, using the Unity gaming engine. All of that for Rs 85 on Android and Rs 89 on iOS. No, no free versions, but no ads (apart from tiny references to Rovio's other titles) or in-app purchases either. 




It's yesterday once more…kinda sorta


So does the Angry Birds magic still cast a spell? That really depends on how much you played the original.  At the risk of making some folks feel REALLY old, it is worth remembering  that that original was released more than a dozen years ago. Now, if you were one of the early Angry Birds addicts, you are going to get those sentimental feels when you encounter your old friend. Yes, the graphics might seem a little different and smoother, but hey, the game is essentially the same. 


However, once the fuzzy feels have subsided, you might just be a little deflated, for more than a decade later, the game is essentially the same. 


Growth, anyone?


We would not have had any complaints had the game looked old and scruffy but this somehow looked neither old nor new, but somewhere in the middle. 


Not totally new…and not totally old 


What's more, the original Angry Birds was released on the iPhone 3GS, which had a 480 x 320 resolution. Now, the game has been upgraded for higher resolution displays. The problem is that when you actually play this upgraded game on a full HD display (like say, the Redmi Note 11 or the OnePlus Nord 2), the characters seem a little too small at times, and the colours that had seemed outrageously bright in 2009, seem a little muted. No, it does not affect gameplay at all, but the whole "larger than life" and cartoon-ish element of the game gets a little lost. Things look good in the cutscenes, but move to the game, and suddenly everything seems a little "distant". So distant that you sometimes cannot even see the expressions of the pigs and birds or even track the flight of the birds. The sound is excellent - you can hear the explosions, and the war cries and screams of panic. We, however, felt just a little disconnected from the whole thing. 


Those who hopped onto the Angry Birds birdwagon much later or have not played the game too much (or at all) are also unlikely to get too impressed by Rovio Classics: Angry Birds. That's because the game does not measure up in graphics and gameplay terms to its successors. The comeback of Angry Birds sees it fall between two stools - hardcore fans might find it a little too familiar, and new players will wonder what the fuss is about, or why they should not play newer editions of the game. 


Why try to fix what ain't broken, only old?


All of this makes one wonder if it would have been better if Rovio had perhaps let the game stay in its unpolished avatar and just updated it to work with newer operating systems and hardware. The content might have seemed quirky and pixilated, but hardcore fans would not have really minded it, and newer players would have been ready to excuse any shortcomings because hey, this is a classic game in its own right. In some ways, Rovio Classics: Angry Birds is a bit like a historical monument that has been given a very modern makeover. As a result, it neither looks historical nor modern. Imagine someone trying to colour the Taj Mahal or improving the finish of the Great Pyramid? A bit like that.


We are not saying that classic titles should not be re-released. We have seen a number of old games getting new lives on phones, all the way from Myst to Sim City to Knights of the Old Republic. However, what is notable is that most of them worked very hard to look exactly like they had on original release - Doom on an Android device looks unapologetically pixilated in places, and Baldur's Gate on the iPad looks right out of the nineties (which it is). Problems set in when developers try to make something old look new. It is a thankless task, and almost impossible to achieve. 


Did we love Rovio Classics: Angry Birds? Yes, we did. It was not exactly a blast from the past but neither was it a whimper. We just wish Rovio had let it be loud and proud of its wrinkles and greys, instead of trying to camouflage them with digital makeup. 


You can download Rovio Classics: Angry Birds from Google Play and Apple App Store.