Red, Chuck, Bomb, and the Blues face-off against their piggy nemeses in VR for the first-time.
So many green pigs, so little time… Rovio and Resolution Games’ fully immersive version of their popular Angry Birds franchise is now available on the HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift. Players have access to over 50 levels of exploding birds spanning across exotic beaches, steep cliffs, snowy slopes, and a party city as Rovio Entertainment attempts to bring their massively-successful formula to the virtual reality platform.
“As a company we’re deeply interested in the future of gaming and in fact, investigating new tech and platforms remains one of our core strategic pillars,” says Sami Ronkainen, Creative Director, Extended Reality at Rovio Entertainment. “We’re delighted to be supporting the VR industry’s growth and introducing the beloved Angry Birds slingshot gameplay to new platforms.”
Image Credit: Resolution Games / Rovio Entertainment
“The beauty of VR is that it allows players to enter and play in a 3D, fictional game universe, something people have fantasized about for decades. And, VR inherently lends itself well to strong characters, which is why the Angry Birds brand is such a great fit with its humor and strong gameplay,” said Tommy Palm, CEO of Resolution Games. “It has been incredibly fun for us to bring that to life, opening the door so players can immerse themselves in that world.”
Image Credit: Resolution Games / Rovio Entertainment
What is interesting is that the two companies have clearly invested quite a lot into making this a premium VR game, and have priced it accordingly. In a landscape where so much immersive content is still subsidised and offered for free, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs aims for the AAA market with a fully-fledged experience that will set you back $14.99 on the Oculus Store , Steam and Viveport. Further platforms, as well as new levels of gameplay, should be added in the coming months according to Resolution Games.
Image Credit: Resolution Games / Rovio Entertainment
It will be a valuable learning experience to see the type of appetite that exists for popular, preexisting franchises in the VR medium. However, it does seem a particularly well-suited IP for a test case, as the short, casual, and intuitive nature of the game lends itself well to VR in its current form.
However, I’m a bit spoiled, having recently had a demo of the Magic Leap version of Angry Birds, and I have to say that you really haven’t experienced an exploding bird until they’ve slingshot across your office in full holographic Mixed Reality glory. I can’t help to think that is what the future of entertainment looks like.
