Angry Birds Stella Review
When I first heard about Angry Birds Stella, I figured it was a pink “for girls” variant, like the pink PS2 or the recently-announced pink PS Vita. Despite featuring an almost-exclusively-female cast (the baby bird is a boy), the game doesn't seem aimed at only girl gamers.
The plot remains basically the same as the original Angry Birds - catapult birds to make piggies pay with their lives. This time their queen, a bird named Gale, has ordered them to annoy the birds who live on the Golden Island by stealing something from Stella, then accidentally disrupting each bird's day in turn, which makes them - can you guess the emotion? Angry, that's right!
So Stella and co. give chase across the island, wanting to murder Gale for daring to inconvenience them. Of course, rather than looking angry each bird is all smiles - they take joy in causing death to green pigs, such as hasn't been seen since Green Eggs and Ham. This is as good a time as any to admit to not fully understanding the plot to that book.
Joining your genocidal crusade are the titular Stella and her pals. The artistic Willow, the scientific Dahlia, the wacky Poppy and the baby Luca. Each has a different power, as with the original, such as zippy speed, spinny smashing and teleportation. Some depend in the angle the bird is facing, others you can aim independently - it plays into your strategies to reach three stars on every level. The way stars are calculated are much clearer in Stella,as it shows you the stars and remaining score required to reach each. It's very useful to know whether you are ten or a thousand points away from three stars.
The graphics are much improved over even the most recent Angry Birds Star Wars II, with very vibrant characters and great backgrounds. The pigs even have little costumes or at the least some shading - no hiding against the backgrounds for these guys! And speaking of costumes, when you’ve collected certain amounts of coins you unlock costumes (hats, glasses or hair) you can select one at a time for the birds to wear.
Speaking of coins, you get coins as you collect certain numbers of stars, or sometimes by causing random destruction. You can, of course, buy more with real money. You use them for unlocking costumes, buying additional birds to try and win a level, or to speed up area unlocks. These come after about five levels, with Gale tossing a bomb in your way - leaving you to wait one, two or five hours or use coins to clear it sooner. I found it gave me a natural pausing point, which made the game last longer. Playing just before bedtime, then being told I had to wait five hours was quite welcome - it meant I could play as soon as I woke up. With only about 120 levels so far, you can blaze through it in a couple of hours.
It is also compatible with Telepods, but not being the sort to waste my money (this is a free game after all), I didn’t test the feature. Telepods are purchased in toy shops or Amazon, then placed over the phone/tablet camera to read a QR code on the underside of them, it then puts the bird into the game for you to use. They are available in Music Concert and Sleepover playsets. This, along with the costumes, are the only things that would identify it as a ‘for girls’ version of Angry Birds, as it isn’t really any different from any of the others such as Seasons or Rio.
Being a fan of the Angry Birds casual game type, I couldn’t find any faults apart from the length. And Roxio are fond of putting out additional levels for all editions of Angry Birds, so it shouldn’t be too long before it gets more. Plus there are two areas, outside of levels, that have a gift box partially obscured by the date “1.11.14” - so they must have something planned for the first of November.
Scratch that, I managed to find something that annoys me. The music is fine, the bird sounds are alright - but the pigs are very noisy. Not like in previous games where they pop and make the odd noise, sometimes it sounds like there are a hundred pigs on screen. If you jolt the platform one is stood on, it doesn’t shut up until it is popped or stops moving. If I kept the sound on, I’d have uninstalled. Or each level would be a time-trial.
In all, the game is well put together and a strong addition to the Angry Birds franchise. I’ll happily play with these birds as much as the other ones. Just so long as I keep it on mute.
Angry Birds Stella (Reviewed on Android)
This game is great, with minimal or no negatives.
In all, the game is well put together and a strong addition to the Angry Birds franchise. I’ll happily play with these birds as much as the other ones. Just so long as I keep it on mute.
COMMENTS
Alicia - 02:38am, 9th August 2021
I used to play this game on my old Kindle Fire before it petered out. I didn't feel the need to make any in app purchases with it, but overall it was a fun, challenging, and underrated addition to the Angry Birds saga. That being said, I miss this game.