Rovio has abandoned the basics

[MicroMax]

As a Finn and ABNer I am worried. Rovio has obviously thrown away most of the basic things, that used to make AB-games so addictive and successful:

1. A player used to be able to play as much as desired (without paying) – not so anymore
2. Episodes used to be independently playable – not so anymore
3. Highscore used to be visible while playing – not so anymore
4. Scoring on levels used to be clearly indicated – on AB2 (among others) scoring is fuzzy to be polite
5. 1* used to be for passing a level achievable for most players (without PUs/iap) – 3* used to be achievable, without PUs/iap, for experienced players – not so anymore
6. The currency used to be Birdcoins – now they are anonymous gems
7. There used to be one click quick replay no matter how you ended a level – now it is click-wait-click-click-click-wait-click

For me the most telling sign is – funnily enough – #6. The governing vision of the tomorrow of Rovio appears to be looking through windows at anything outside Rovio with $-sign tagged on. If there still are visionaries inside Rovio they must be dreaming of the day after tomorrow when Rovio would be the next Disney forgetting that tomorrow has to happen for that to even be possible.

Enough ranting, just a final notion. I’m close enough to the end of 2nd episode of AB2 to go that far. Then I’ll let the game lay in the corner waiting for an update in (vain) hope that the update will collect the worst garbage. Luckily I still have enough of AB/ABS/ABR/ABSp unplayed to last the next 6 months. By that time there are bound to be updates for the old games.

I hope @bankler reads all of this forum and relays the info to colleagues since all of these comments are by people who actually care about AB games.

Topic

[waimea]

Well said @micromax!

[Baddy2004]

#6: I think Gems work well for premium currency, but if it is regular currency, it’s worse.

[MicroMax]

Well @baddy2004, that I would understand, if the gems were bird shaped ;-)

[Rovio_Bankler]

Thanks for the input. The team always does its best to make the best game possible. There are always many factors to deal with, which sometimes require us to take decisions that “some will like, some will not”. I’m certainly not in a position to make promises about what’s to come in the future, but you can be sure that the team DO read these forums and we appreciate all your feedback and input.

[epicbird]

I loved random levels. They are so competitive than normal levels, my high score can increases dramatically with each new attempt.

[mspat]

I too like this feature. The game is great, not having unlimited lives and unlimited money to buy gems stinks. Please reconsider and possibly allow us to “buy” for a one time charge, unlimited lives. We on the nest love our birds and no longer can fling away for hours.

[Cranky]

I have only played a few levels, and frankly I’m bored. All those bells and whistles and fancy graphics take waaaaay too long to load, and there doesn’t seem to be any easy way to back out and start a level over again.

[MicroMax]

Thanks @bankler for confirming what I kind of new. Of course you follow every source of information relevant to your games ;-) sometimes it’s just difficult to tell at this end of line. So anything you can communicate here is certainly appreciated.

I should point out that I mostly love the game visuals&mechanics and so very much would love to be proven wrong in what I speculated about the current state of Rovio.

In my point of you view the good thing about decisions is that they can be changed, if/when the deciders have what it takes to admit that they were misguided.

[MicroMax]

Thanks @cranky knew I was forgetting something! Added #7 to original message.

[Thorondor]

To me AB2 is just plain boring, especially as compared with original AB. The “je ne sais quoi” that was AB is missing in this release – the fun of AB was in the self-challenge to do better on each level, finding alternate solutions, etc… is just plain missing in this version. I guess I am old-fashioned and over-the-hill, and while understanding the need for Rovio to move forward with game technology and gaming models, somehow they failed to capture the Angry Bird id that was AB

[Sutekh137]

@filipersr

I am hard pressed to see how random levels are “competitive”. As you say, you can radically increase your score by simply getting an easy level, good card distribution, etc.

Where the competition in that? It’s not a level playing field — that’s the first requirement for something to be competitive, IMO.

Thanks,
sutekh137

[Dingbat]

I’ve been playing for a few days now. Some observations…

Most of the levels seem too easy.
The random restructuring somehow does take away from the point of improving scores, i.e. it’s a lottery.
I don’t like the limited lives / hearts. This limits my playing time.
I don’t like the IAP and will never use them.

The combination of these things has somehow removed some of the magic of Angry Birds. As a result, it hasn’t felt quite as interesting / compelling / exciting as the older style games. That saddens me.

On the plus side, some of the new graphics are cool and the basic concept is good.

I would prefer to pay a reasonable upfront amount and have unlimited lives. Because I can’t do this at present, I am fairly sure that I won’t play the game as much. I know this has all been said before, but surely so many AB players all saying more-or-less the same thing should give Rovio a clear message? Whereas I would have spent a few pounds on this, now I won’t be spending anything. Sad, but true ?

[Gelfling]

@cranky instead of starting over we now get to “give up.” I dislike that a lot, and dislike much more what it tells children who are slower to learn. Didn’t this industry start off using the wording “play again? “

[asher]

Well the basics are here, but not the magic. Sorry about that :-(

Let’s start with the good things.

Some ideas are really nice: the multi stage levels, the spitting flowers, the teleporters and I guess others are available later. I would like to see them make their way into ABO someday ;-)

The visual effects are great, the graphics are very nice looking and very…toonesque.

And that’s about it.

I played the first 40 levels and got 3 stars in all but 2 on my first attempt.
That’s way too easy.

The randomness of the level constructions is quite poor. It’s always a variation on the same towers. In fact only the background obstacles are constant.

Even the boss levels are not really stopping you. You don’t need to scratch your head wondering how to get past them, just fling away whatever birds you have available and you will go easily past them.

So no real strategies here. It’s definitely not a puzzle game like the others ABx.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just not my thing.

The scores and also totally opaque. To increase them you should at least have a way to guess what is increasing them. It’s not possible.

And I won’t even go into the lives/gems system. It didn’t really bothered me because I was doing something else at the same time and didn’t mind stepping out for a few minutes.
I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a plane with AB2 though.

You should also know that modded versions of the game are already out, giving you infinite gems (and lives, and spells) and fully upgraded birds.
So the Leaderboard Police will have an almost impossible task. ;->

Anyway, I got bored after 20 levels, and after 40 or so I decided to call it a day.

[Wthewop]

I thought AB2 was going to be more like the original. This game has failed to capture that allure and intrigue. It is rather a lame game.

[kpnanny]

I’ve been an AB fan/player since almost the beginning. When I heard about AB2 I was – to put it mildly – thrilled. It was billed as a sequel to the original and I was more than delighted to think I would have an opportunity to once again challenge my puzzle solving skills, my aim, my perseverance and patience…all those things that made the original Angry Birds the incredible game it was and is. Sadly, it appears that those of us who use the Kindle Fire tablets are red-headed stepchildren. The game is still not available in the Amazon Appstore…my opinion on this follows below.

After the original game, Seasons and Rio had offered the same challenges and mind exercises with frills, as did Space (in an entirely different and original manner, but the same basic format). Then came Star Wars. Similar, but no longer just a mental and visual challenge – suddenly, you needed map pieces and other extras to excel. Then came Power-ups in other games. Then came Epic. An epic money grabber. Sure, you COULD play without spending money, but it became more about the THINGS than about your skill. I played that for a while, beat all the original cave, spent too much money for gold coins and abandoned the game when I realized it had little to do with skill and a whole lot to do with money. There was a little mental involvement when I had to decide which potion or “extra” to use, but when I realized I was spending 80% of my time going back to the easy levels and playing them 100-200 times to build up the items I needed to make things and that I was TOTALLY bored, I quit. I haven’t played in more than 8 months, and have no intention of going back.

Then came Transformers. Fun to play, although extremely repetitive, and another one of those games that encourage you to plunk down $9.99 (Really? $10? Just to get “Jenga Mode”? How appalling is that?) for an allegedly better playing experience. Now, Transformers only works about 20% of the time. The other 80% of the time I am kicked out in the middle of level (sometimes after having used several hundred coins to upgrade my buddy – coins that I DON’T get back after being kicked out), unable to get into the program, kicked out when I watch a video to “Boost my Buddy” or “Double my Rewards”, kicked out when trying to finish a mission, graphic errors (invisible assassins or weapons, or freezing to the extent that a hard reboot is required) – a total exercise in frustration. This is not an occasional problem – it’s been ongoing for weeks.

So to get back to my original paragraph, I was REALLY excited to think we were getting an actual “sequel” to the original. Instead, I find that I’m relieved to be unable to download the game. I think I won’t, even when it’s available.

[Cisco]

I agree with you. This game wasn’t made for us to enjoy. It was made to lure people in who wouldn’t pay for the game upfront. It has all their newest and greatest assets, like artwork and soundtrack, but at its core it is a heartless blood sucking attempt to grab wallets. I do still occasionally enjoy it though. I just worry about the future of Angry Birds. I hope Rovio continues the traditional style of angry birds. What do you think about that?

[firedragon]

The most annoying things is repeating has time limit though I can hack it, but hey, if I have to hack the game to get something supposed to have is less fun.

[FreckledPig147]

Something not related to gameplay or the recent disappointments, but still of interest, is that Rovio had a simple (but nevertheless poorly connected) storyline in the first few games, especially in some of the spinoffs (Go, Epic), where it was slightly more developed. However, once the later games came out, such as Stella Pop, Fight! and AB2, there was practically no logical storyline at all, at least after a certain point. AB2 was actually repeatingthe same Piggy Island locations, only with a different name (Cobalt Plateaus, Pig City, and Bamboo Forest repeat). I’d bet some people would eventually be tired of new-level updates in AB2 because nothing new was introduced, in contrast to the past games, where new episodes were anticipated. Yes, I agree that a storyline is not the most important thing in a game, but I doubt the Angry Birds franchise will last long if Rovio keeps creating games that make less and less sense, because they don’t follow some kind of logic, which a storyline would fix and make players more interested.

Back on topic, something to add to the unsatisfactory details includes how Stella Pop (as to my knowledge), still does not have earnable power-ups or coins. (I am not aware of recent Stella Pop updates, so I might be wrong) In Fight!, there is clear evidence of cheating on the high end of the leaderboard. Not to mention to high cost of gems (There is a 1 gem IAP option for MORE than 1 dollar in Canada. Not cheap at all.), and the anything-but-perfect matching systems. Something tells me that Rovio is rushing these games. Moving on, we have AB2. Along with the life system, I found the game was difficult before completing the bird deck, especially before acquring Matilda, because you only had a few birds for multiple waves. (Think about it, 3 birds for 3 stages?) It was worse in the arena, since you couldn’t use the birds you didn’t have yet. Some of the spinoff games involved hours and hours of boring grinding. In Epic, set items were a must-have for the arena (which was clearly not designed properly), but the means to get them was not very generous. Rovio designed the game with the anvil, but all the need for superior items led to people relying on the GPM, causing some kind of disorder. Some of the spinoffs were very unstable, even today, and had the infamous patterns of crashes, freezes and lock-outs. (whenever it is impossible to even load the game)

[jwgardenwiz]

@micromax — well stated!

@bankler — I’m glad that you and your team read the comments in this forum. Should Micromax (and a large community of others) expect those updates to the original AB releases?

[toucanne]

I hate AB2 for all the reasons Micromax listed. Lives? Really, Rovio? And cards ? CARDS? Not to mention the waiting to play and the ads that will still have sound even when you have game sounds turned off.
I like that you can pick which bird to play and the graphics look great. That’s about it. I haven’t encountered a spitting flower yet and i doubt I will go back just for that.

I have the original AB, Seasons, Rio and Space. I tried others but was not impressed. What I love about the game is the inventiveness that went into it, the physics involved and the thought process to get to 3 stars. My favorites were the unexpected chain reactions, all the lab levels which had amazing detail, and finding golden eggs, fruit etc. I loved how smart these games were.

I am 64 years old with vision issues. I play on an iPad. I play to exercise my mind. The graphics in the older games were perfect. The ability to start over at any point is absolutely vital. I wouldn’t mind paying a couple of bucks for upgrades and new levels, to to play ad-free. It adds up, you know. You don’t have to try and extort people at every turn.

/rant

[kedik22]

Sorry, do not know what IAP means.

Interesting debate, through…

[Sutekh137]

@kedik22

I believe it might refer to In-App Purchases…

Thanks,
sutekh137

[kedik22]

@sutekh137

Yes, I imagined it sounded expensive…

Thanks,

@kedik22

[AndalayBay]

I think the most telling thing about this was how much better I felt after I deleted it and was away from it for a few weeks. I’m back to try a couple of things I didn’t do before. I’ve also started over. I made the mistake of spending $1.19 on my previous game and I won’t spend a cent on it this time. I would buy a game for up to $9.99 if it’s worth it, but it would have to have better play value than AB2. And no ads or in-app purchases, of course.