Angry Birds remains one of the biggest children’s brands around the world, even though – and this never fails to shock us – it’s less than five years old.
So, big news today: a brand new game: Angry Birds Stella, featuring a brand new set of heroes: Stella, Dahlia, Poppy, Willow and Luca, as well as a new villain called Gale, the Bad Princess.
You may have guessed the twist from those names: four of the five heroes are female Angry Birds (Luca is male), while the villain is a villainess. Although what’s more surprising is that she’s not a pig: Gale is an Angry Bird gone bad, although she does have an army of the familiar green hogs.
The game itself is also familiar: it’s the same sling-birds-at-pigs gameplay as seen in the original Angry Birds, and its Seasons, Rio, Space, Friends, and Star Wars (x2) games. You aim your birds, let them go, and (hopefully) watch them wipe out the pigs and their defensive structures.
Angry Birds Stella is launching with 120 levels, although more will follow in the coming months. I’ve been playing through the first part of the game, and they’re as inventive and challenging as ever: it’s far from easy to get three-star ratings even in the early stages.
The new birds all have new superpowers, so children (and adults) who’ve played lots of the other Angry Birds games will have fun learning how to use them.
As with recent Angry Birds games, there are some physical toys – Telepods – being sold online and in shops. They’re little figures of the characters that, when scanned in using your device’s camera, can then be used in the game.
Another recent trend for Angry Birds is “freemium” – giving the game away for free, then making money from advertising and in-app purchases. That’s the case for Angry Birds Stella. Ads pop up every so often in between levels, and every one we’ve seen so far has been child-friendly: no gambling or rip-off ringtone offers here.
In-app purchases? Players can buy virtual coins in quantities of up to £37.99, and then spend them to speed up progress and get past particularly tricky levels.
The game’s publisher, Rovio, says they’re not essential to complete the game. In my experience so far, they’re not pushed aggressively to players, but if your children are playing, you should nonetheless make sure that your in-app purchase restrictions are turned on, so they can’t spend without your permission.
One last point about Angry Birds Stella: the question of whether it’s aimed purely at girls, with its pink heroine and plotline involving female friendship. You can imagine some people bridling at the thought, in the same way that the Lego Friends toys get criticised for taking a unisex children’s brand and separating out a version for girls.
I interviewed Rovio’s Blanca Juti for The Guardian, including asking about this point. “Just as I hope people don’t think Star Wars is for boys, I hope they don’t say this is just for girls. We want to challenge stereotypes, both on girls – that they only play easy games – and on boys, that they don’t like anything pink,” she said.
“We really want to challenge this, and there is already a bit of a movement around it… It does celebrate women: we have five female heroes and one male, and all the pigs… well, we don’t know what they are. But most importantly, we wanted to make a kick-ass game. I do think it will attract females as well. I hope it does. But it is not just for girls.”
The game is out now, so girls, boys and their parents can see what they think, with cartoons to follow later this year, as well as toys and other merchandise. Angry Birds Stella is a free download for iPhone and iPad, and a free download for Android.
Read about more Angry Birds games for kids on Apps Playground, and check out our 100 Best iPad Apps of 2013 e-book – £1.99 from Apple’s iBooks Store