Skip to main content

Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs brings 3D demolition into your living room

Over the years, augmented reality and mobile gaming have proven to be a surprisingly harmonious combination. Pokémon Go showed us that AR can be more than a neat party trick. Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs, the next entry in Resolution Games’ puzzle series, continues that trend.

I had a few minutes to preview the game on the iPhone XS Max. It had all the marks of a signature Angry Birds experience — the same disgruntled fowls, increasingly difficult levels with collapsible structures, and evil little piggies that need to be eliminated. While your typical Angry Birds game challenges you to tackle puzzles in 2D, playing it using AR adds a layer of depth and dimension to the gameplay. Literally — this is the usual Angry Birds experience translated to 3D, and the addition of AR compliments the gameplay well.

Birds of destruction

You won’t be jumping straight into the action in Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs. It requires a tiny bit of time to calibrate so it can work with your surroundings. Just like Pokémon Go, you’ll be playing the game with the space around you serving as a backdrop. You’ll be asked to set the miniature level on a flat surface in front of you. Once settled, the game will start, and if you’ve ever played Angry Birds then it’ll all be very familiar. You slingshot birds with explosive capabilities at shoddy buildings and squish the pigs.

The slingshot is set up along the bottom of the screen, and once your feathered friend is placed inside, you’ll pull back on it while moving your phone to adjust the distance, power, and angle of your shot. Isle of Pigs still shows the trajectory of your shot just like the previous games, and you can walk around (or use your finger to turn) each 3D structure to help plan your next attack. This option is nice as it gives you the ability to turn it into a stationary experience, or one where you can move around. Pigs, chests, and more can be found inside, on, and around structures, so being able to adjust and shoot from any perspective helps tackle those particular challenges.

This is the way Angry Birds was meant to be played from the start.

The levels also environmental themes change the atmosphere of the room on your mobile device. We played a winter-inspired level that added an icy blue hue with snowflakes that fell slowly throughout. In another, a music concert could be seen in the background as it flashed colorful lights and rainbow confetti fell down all around. Unfortunately, the version of the game we played didn’t have audio yet, so in that regard, it was slightly lacking.

Even so, Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs feels like a natural progression for the series. The simple mechanics of shooting and demolishing buildings don’t feel like a gimmick. It feels like this is the way Angry Birds was meant to be played from the start. If you enjoy any of the Angry Birds games, you’ll probably find Isle of Pigs is an authentic and fresh take on the series.

Starting March 19, the Apple App Store will be taking pre-orders of Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs with a launch date sometime in Spring 2019. The game will be free-to-play and may release at a later date for other AR supported devices.

Felicia Miranda
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Born in '89 and raised through the 90s, I experienced what I consider to be the golden age of video games. At an early age, I…
PlayStation Plus’ most notable free April offerings come from Microsoft
Four players stand together in the 4v4 PvP mode of Minecraft Legends.

Sony outlined all the new offerings PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers can expect in April; surprisingly, Microsoft is the company behind two of this month's four offerings, Minecraft Legends, and the Overwatch 2 Mega Bundle.

On April 2, PS Plus can get those two things free of charge in addition to Immortals of Aveum and Skul: The Hero Slayer. Immortals of Aveum is a single-player shooter where players use magic instead of weapons. Although the thing it's most notable for is flopping upon its release, Immortals of Aveum is still a solid shooter that you might have missed out on, and you should give it a shot now that you can get it through PS Plus. Meanwhile, Skul: The Hero Slayer is a tough 2D platformer roguelike that should entertain fans of that genre for quite some time.

Read more
These are the 10 best gaming PCs I’d recommend to anyone
Graphics card in the CLX Hathor PC.

We review dozens of gaming PCs each year. In 2024, there are a ton of great options, but we've narrowed down a list of the 10 best gaming desktops that deserve your hard-earned money.

In 2024, we still recommend the Alienware Aurora R16 due to its fantastic design, solid performance, and decent value. However, there are several other options depending on your needs and budget. If you want a deeper look into how we evaluate gaming PCs, make sure to read our post on how we review desktops.

Read more
Mecha Break’s robot customization shakes up the battle royale formula
Mecha Break robot head with glowing blue eyes

Mecha Break isn't the kind of multiplayer game you can master right away.

You might equip a lance that you barely know how to use because it seemed like a good idea, and spend the rest of a round attempting to bash yourself into enemies to help your teammates. It incorporates action that's more similar to that of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon than it is to the shooter-focused gameplay in Gundam Evolution, Bandai Namco's multiplayer mecha shooter that shut down last year. Overwatch does come to mind, but in a way where mechs are still the focus rather than the pilots within them.

Read more