Cast your mind back to a few years ago, when the iPhone was in its fledgling years and everybody would crowd around their friends’ screens to watch what is still arguably the most addictive and gratifying game that has ever blessed our tiny screens: ‘Angry Birds’.  Well they’re back.  And guess what?  They’re still angry.

For those of you who are lucky enough still to discover ‘Angry Birds’, here is a very brief summary of the game: You control a catapult that fires birds of varying shapes, skills and abilities into fragile structures that house gloating pigs who have stolen the birds’ eggs, aiming to destroy these light-trottered thieves and retrieve their eggs.  Oh yes, and they also make hilarious noises when in flight.  Not the sort of pitch that would go over particularly well at any potential investor meetings, however it is still one of the most downloaded and highly rated games for the iPhone, which is why the news of a Halloween special edition of the game should bring joy and elation to any fan’s ears.

This time the backdrop to the action is a haunted wood, with pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns strewn across the rocks and stones that the pigs have used for shelter.  The birds fly through the air with the same yelps and squeals as the original, yet the ambience is given an eerie undertone by the church organ soundtrack playing in the background.  Each of the birds has a different skill depending on what colour and size they are, in that when you tap the screen once they are in the air, they either speed up, boomerang back, split into three smaller birds, lay an exploding egg or spontaneously combust.

The premise for the game is very simple, yet it is the game play, the quirkiness and the sheer ridiculousness of it all that will keep any gamer enthralled for hours on end.  Let’s hope that every calendar holiday warrants a new special edition; I can only imagine what ‘Angry Birds Christmas’ would entail…furious turkeys?!

David Harfield

To read the published article, more about iPhone Apps or to purchase ‘Angry Birds’, click here.