Back when it first came out in late 2009, "Angry Birds" was one of the most dominant apps in the app store, spawning several spinoffs, a merchandising apparel line and even a movie that comes out next year.
During its destructive reign, the smash hit held the No.1 spot for paid iOS apps longer than any other to date, according to mobile analytics company Sensor Tower. The original game reached the top spot 311 times since July 2010.
After ceding its crown to various newcomers, including the infamous "Candy Crush Saga," Finnish game maker Rovio is back with an all-new entry to its series: "Angry Birds 2".
Available today for iOS and Android, "Angry Birds 2" has come a long way from its first entry featuring new graphics, multi-stage levels and boss pigs, and it reaches even greater levels of destruction, according to Rovio.
"Angry Birds 2 doubles down on the core tenets of the original that our fans loved: destruction and more destruction!" the game's creative director Patrick Liu posted Thursday in a blog. "At the same time it adds a whole new layer of emergent strategy gameplay for both old and new fans to master."
The new entry has fans excited but has been met with a bit of criticism from others, since it requires in-app purchases to revive a character. If you choose to not spend any money, then the player would have to wait around half an hour for the characters to be restored - similar to "Candy Crush."
"Angry Birds 2" is optimized for for the iPhone 5, iPad 3, iPad mini 2 and iPod Touch 5G or newer devices, and even though the game can still be run on older devices, the "bird flinging" might not be as smooth.
"Angry Birds 2" will enter a field dominated by games such as "Candy Crush Saga," "Puzzles & Dragons" and "Clash of Clans." Will it be able to topple the competition?
