Before you read any of the review below, yes, you should buy Angry Birds Rio. The Angry Birds franchise is probably the very best gaming iOS has to offer and the success of the original app and it's sequel "Angry Birds Seasons" speak for itself. The app is only 59p and the vast quantity of updates that it's two predecessors received (And the updates this one will also receive, more later) make this app an absolute bargain. So unless you have no interest at all in gaming in any form on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad (or OSX or Windows, versions for both of those are coming as well as other phone platforms) you should buy this app right away.
Onto the review.
Angry Birds Rio is a new game in the same way as all the updates to it's two preceding games were not games. That is, it's not really a new game. Although it is a standalone app, everything in the other two games is still present (except the pigs) and the app is more like a new collection of levels that complements the levels already released. To put it another way, the content of this app could have easily been added as an update to the previous game, but, to be honest after the wealth of free updates that game has already received, I think it is fair of the developers to expect customers to pay another 59p.
There are some changes. The graphics of both the game and the interface are much better for a start, but a game like Angry Birds isn't selling for it's graphical merit, more it's addictive gameplay. I am pleased to say that after spending the majority of the past 24 hours playing, this new title exhibits the same pick up and play nature as its two predecessors.
Maybe even more so in fact, as for me it was very refreshing to start the game as it was released rather than be confronted by the daunting number of levels the old game now has, it is nice to start with only 60 levels to complete, then work through the new ones as the app is updated. The app will be updated 4 times, between now and November and if the quality of the updates can match that of the updates the preceding apps received, Angry Birds Rio will have the ability to maintain your interest for the next 8 months and beyond.
Another new feature to the franchise are "boss fights" one of which is present in the included levels. It remains to be seen whether this will become a staple feature of the series.
Unfortunately, several improvements that I feel should have been made haven't made their way into the game. Considering how useless game centre has turned out to be, I think it would have been nice for the developer to add a "facebook connect" style feature (Like in doodle jump) where you can log into your account in the app to compare scores with your friends. At the moment, unless you wish to add all your friends manually via game centre, this is not really possible.
Again, borrowing an idea from doodle jump (incidentally you can find my review for that here) I think the developers could have incorporated some kind of "counter" or "timer" to keep count of how many times each level has been played and how long has been spent playing the game. This would be good as a use to promote further competition between players, for example, there could be a leader-board where players are ranked by how fast they completed each section or how many attempts it took them.
Thirdly, I would have liked to have seen some kind of replay mechanism, where, after completing a level you could view the strategy you used to complete it and maybe show it to a friend who is having trouble.
Overall then I would say that this app is more "Angry Birds 1.5" than "Angry Birds 2". It makes use of a few small additions, but the core gameplay is essentially the same as the two predecessors. You may see this as a good thing, after all the two other games were both great, but time will tell whether Angry Birds can maintain its popularity without making use of innovation. Maybe "Angry Birds 2" will provide the innovation that I am looking for.
Overall - 7/10
If you liked the other two games, you will like this. If you are looking for something new, this isn't it.
PS - if you are playing, add me on game centre - bish7751
Thanks for reading!
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