If your children have enjoyed the various Angry Birds games, today’s a big day: a brand new one’s out, and it’s very different. Angry Birds Go! came out this morning.

It’s a Mario Kart-style racing game starring the familiar birds and pigs, each with their own special ability to disrupt their opponents. The game is out on just about every mobile device too: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10.

There are more than 50 karts to drive, a variety of courses to race them on, and plenty of cheeky humour. But there are also in-app purchases: this is the first fully “free-to-play” Angry Birds game, meaning it’s free to download and play, but makes its money from selling virtual gems and karts within the game.

Based on online discussions around reviews of the game (including mine for The Guardian) this is going to be controversial. Free-to-play puts a lot of gamers’ backs up: they see it as scammy and aggressively commercial, with games designed to make people pay at every opportunity. And there are undoubtedly plenty of examples of that.

I wanted to write about Angry Birds Go! here from a parent’s point of view: what should you know before letting your children play it? First, it’s perfectly possible to play through the game without paying and have a lot of fun.

Second: there are quite a few different ways to pay, including one kart sold in the game for £34.99, which will be a nasty surprise on your app store bill if your kids manage to buy it without your permission. My advice: turn on all your in-app purchase subscriptions and make sure your children don’t know your app store password. But also know that not paying won’t mean they can’t enjoy the game.

It’s also worth knowing about the physical toys – “Telepods” – which are being sold by Hasbro. These are characters and karts that you can then scan in to Angry Birds Go! to use in the game. If your children are likely to want extra karts, these toys may make good Christmas presents, thus swerving the issue of in-game payments.

Anyway, Angry Birds Go is a free download for iPhone and iPad, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10. If you think your kids may want to play it, our best advice is to try it yourself first, to see what you think.