Having found myself caught up in the Angry Birds addiction I was anxious for the release of Rovio’s Angry Birds spinoff Bad Piggies. Last week Bad Piggies was released to the masses and while it’s a physics based game it does not involve catapulting pigs into various structures as Angry Birds did. Instead at the start of every level you build a contraption for your pig to travel from various points on the map to get across the finish line. Parts that you can add to your vehicle creations are wooden boxes, balloons, wheels, fans and various other objects you will unlock along the way designed to help you get from point A to point B. Reaching the finish line will get you a star and allow you to move along to the next level. Each level offers you a chance to earn 3 stars, collecting swag, by not using a specific part for your vehicle or finishing the level before the allotted time runs out will land you the perfect score of three stars.

I wasn’t thrilled when I heard about the vehicular building stage at each level. This is largely due to my years of addiction to The Sims that has crushed my desire to build anything in-game these days. However in Bad Piggies it’s a very simple process and the game offers you an option to hire a mechanic that will build one for you. Of course hiring the mechanic is not free, you can buy various packages of mechanic hires through micro-transactions within the game. Something to keep an eye on if any of you have little geeks playing Bad Piggies.

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As in true Rovio fashion Bad Piggies looks and sounds great and will appeal to all ages of geeks. I found this game to be slightly more challenging than the Angry Birds series especially as you progress to later levels. It’s not as simple as just finding the sweet spot to fling your bird into for success. First you have to add just the right combination of gadgets to your vehicle but after that you also have to know how and when to use things like fans and balloons to get your pig to the finish line. Which is not to say the game is not fun because it is, there’s just a bit more of a learning curve than the Angry Birds series. Once you build that contraption you then must know the exact time to put the objects to good use. The trick of the game is finding the proper balance and knowing when to use an item like a rocket launcher to add speed or an umbrella to slow you down.

There are 72 standard levels and 18 bonus levels to unlock as well as the promise of more to be added in the future. One of the coolest things about Bad Piggies is the additional 5 “sandbox” levels that are basically huge maps with 20 stars to be collected with all the vehicle parts you collected in the campaign levels at your disposal.

In the end I don’t think I had as much fun with the Bad Piggies as I did with Angry Birds but I commend Rovio for stepping away from the formula that “catapulted” them to fame. Bad Piggies will have a high replay value, there’s many ways to build just the right chariot to deliver your pig to the finish line and trust me you will want to experiment with pimping your pigs ride.

Bad Piggies was developed by Rovio and is available now for all iOS and Android devices as well for PC’s and Mac’s.

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