Pigs in orbit? Angry Birds Space game explores new frontier

By Deborah Netburn

March 22, 2012 12 AM PT

The reviews of Angry Birds Space are in and they are -- dare we say it -- out of this world.

In previous iterations of Angry Birds, Finnish game maker Rovio kept the formula of the wildly successful game the same. The birds moved to different locales and donned different costumes, but the general catapulting physics of the game remained the same.

Not so in Angry Birds Space, released for download on Apple iOS, Google Android, PC and Mac on Thursday.

Because the rules of gravity are different in space, and they change depending on how close you are to physical bodies, the catapulted birds sometimes act just like you would expect them to. Other times, they float off into space (if they get beyond the gravitational pull of a planetary body).

Also, once you launch the birds at the evil green pigs who stole their eggs (again), they can go into orbit, taking a few spins around a planet before knocking off a pig.

The game feels familiar, it just comes with a whole new set of challenges.

The reviews of the game have been almost exclusively positive, with Mashable calling it the “most inventive game in the franchise yet.” And PC Mag says, “It’s easy enough that you can make progress without being a dedicated gamer, but difficult enough that it’ll offer at least a few hours of challenge.”

And less than 24 hours after its release, the game has an average rating of 4.8, out of five stars, on the Google Play store with close to 14,000 reviews.

Rovio has had tremendous success with Angry Birds. The company launched the game in 2009, and it has since been downloaded 700 million times.

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