Angry Birds Star Wars

UPC: 047875767607

Platform: PlayStation 4

Publisher: Activision, Inc.

Developer: Exient Ltd.

Category: Puzzle

Style(s): Action Puzzle

Synopsis: Rovio's killer app joins one of the most popular entertainment franchises of all time in Angry Birds Star Wars. Building off the mechanics introduced in Angry Birds Space, players fire rebel-inspired birds through gravitational fields at empire-themed structures full of Imperial storm pigs. The birds have a variety of new abilities, allowing them to slice through obstacles with a Lightsaber, fire three shots from a blaster, or clear small areas using the Force. The PS4 version offers more than 100 levels of action and includes new competitive and co-op multiplayer modes. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Controls: Joystick/Gamepad

Take a developer who clearly understands the value of cross-promotional tie-ins, pair it with a license holder who was one of the pioneers of cross-promotional tie-ins, and add a publisher that's known for wringing every last drop from franchises before hanging them out to dry. What do you get? Angry Birds Star Wars on PlayStation 4, a game solely designed to test whether a fool and his money are soon parted. The problem is not the game itself, which if you've enjoyed Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds, you'll chirp for. It's the egregious markup for what is essentially an identical game found on mobile devices.

Instead of receiving an overhaul in visuals, hundreds of additional levels, meaningful new play modes, and other surprises, you get a paltry 20 bonus levels and some trifling multiplayer options. Considering the same game on mobile devices debuted for under two dollars, one wonders where the extra money is going to, other than the coffers of Activision, Rovio, and Lucasfilm. In fact, you can purchase every single Angry Birds game that Rovio has released, including the sequel, for less than the MSRP of this PS4 version and still have money left over for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The cynical consumer might think those involved were exploiting the lack of children-friendly titles on PS4 as a way to dupe unsuspecting parents, who want something that can be enjoyed by those too young for the majority of launch games on the platform.

On the flip side, the game is not bad at all -- for a mobile title that's meant to be played in short bursts. Angry Birds Star Wars does not feel out of place in the series, but there are no real moments of wonder or cleverness on display, either. You're still flinging birds from a slingshot to topple wobbly structures, with the goal of squishing each level's fixed number of pigs. For Angry Birds Star Wars, the developers just slapped on some hair, robes, and lasers, and made the levels look a little bit more, well, Star Warsy. Each bird's distinctive power is now based on his or her Star Wars counterpart. Luke, for example, can twirl a lightsaber to assist in your swine-smashing struggles.

The PS4 controller's touch-pad is supported, but it's not a clear improvement over the analog stick, lacking a degree of precision. The multiplayer modes are exactly what you'd expect. The competitive mode has up to four players alternating turns to compete for highest score on a level, while the cooperative mode has two players alternating turns as they attempt to complete a level. A "real" multiplayer mode would have taken more than ten minutes to implement. So the PS4 version has no meaningful features to make it worth your while. There's no built-in level editor with the ability to download additional stages from the community, nor is there a first-person perspective option to play levels in a new way. All that's left is recycled content you could have had for much, much cheaper, making early adopters angrier than any of the game's feathered friends. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

the game requires Joystick/Gamepad.