Departing from their usual 2D catapult norm, the Angry Birds are now racing karts in this fun but frustrating game
Angry Birds Go is a fun new free game from Rovio. It’s much like Mario Kart and sees old and new characters racing against each other to earn coins and win gems. There are two main tracks, Seedway and Rocky Road, and each o ers fi ve racing modes: standard race, against the clock, Fruit Splat (hit enough fruit before the fi nish line), head-to-head (vs) and Champion Chase, where you have to beat the bird three times to unlock that character.
And you’ll need to unlock them, since each bird gets ‘tired’ after fi ve races and has to recover. At which point, you can switch to another bird or pay 10 gems to ‘revive’ the one that’s worn out. This is just one of many ways that Angry Birds Go will make money, since you can buy bags of gems from £1.99 to £70. Gems can then be used to buy coins within the game.
Coins are used to buy kart upgrades, and you’ll need these not simply to remain competitive, but also because races have ever-higher ‘cc’ requirements: you won’t be able to enter certain races unless your kart exceeds the minimum rating. You can purchase some karts, too, with prices again ranging from £1.99 to £35. However, you can also buy real toy versions of the karts, called Telepods, which are recognised (and unlocked) when placed over your device’s camera.
Each character has a power-up that can be used once per race, with extra uses costing gems. To start a race, you catapult your kart when the countdown clock says ‘Go’, thereby adding a bit more fun and retaining a link back to the traditional Angry Birds games. You’ve a choice of tilt or tap to control your racer.
Verdict
Kids and adults alike will enjoy Angry Birds go, but you’ll defi nitely want to disable in-app purchases and set a strong password to ensure your kids don’t spend £100s buying gems and karts.
