Angry Birds have managed to ruffle a lot of feathers in a pleasant sort of way over the past few months. The acclaimed puzzle video game previously perched itself upon December by bringing Angry Birds Seasons to the WebOS. A Mighty Eagle update also flew out the nest and onto the iPhone last month. Now Angry Birds joins forces with the animated feature film Rio to announce Angry Birds Rio.
The newly-announced title is looked upon as a unique spin-off of the popular game. In the upcoming offering for handheld devices, the original Angry Birds are forcefully ‘birdnapped’. They end up being taken to the magical city of Rio but manage to escape from the claws of their captors. They then set out on a mission to rescue their friends Jewel and Blu. The two rare macaws are also part of the forthcoming Fox motion picture entitled Rio.
“Angry Birds Rio is a match made in heaven for a mobile application and a major motion picture, and this collaboration with Fox is definitely one the most exciting partnerships we have entered into with the Angry Birds brand to date,” commented Mikael Hed, CEO at Rovio Mobile. “In addition to expanding the horizons of two fantastic entertainment brands and creating a great new gaming experience, we have also taken the concept of combining a mobile application and motion picture promotion to an entirely new level.”
“In partnering with Rovio, we are combining the world’s hottest application developer with one of the motion picture industry’s premier creative forces to introduce the millions of fans of Angry Birds to the exciting world of Rio,” stated Peter Levinsohn, president of new media and digital distribution for Twentieth Century Fox. “Our relationship with Rovio is another great example of Fox Digital Entertainment’s continuing work to extend our content to a variety of digital platforms.”
According to the company, the highly-awaited game will offer many hours of engaging gameplay as well as tremendous replay value which bear similarities to the original edition. Players can also look forward to physics-based demolition challenges that are embedded into the game. Although there will be just 45 dedicated levels at launch, new levels are slated to be added as app updates.
Angry Birds Rio can be downloaded on smartphones as well as tablets starting March this year. The official pricing and availability details are still under wraps for now.