By Elitza Batchiyska
Editor-in-Chief:

Another bang, another boom, another crack, squeal and oink and you have got yourself the adorably addictive game that is “Bad Piggies”. An extension to the Angry Birds franchise created by Finnish game developers, Rovio, “Bad Piggies” takes the same evil but lovable green pig characters from “Angry Birds” and puts the focus on them and their story, no birds involved.

The ultimate goal of the game is to find the pieces of a map that will lead you to the treasure trove of precious eggs, what the pigs have been chasing after since the “Angry Birds” game was first released in 2009.

While “Bad Piggies” is still a physics-focused puzzle game, comparing the game play itself to “Angry Birds” is like comparing apples to oranges. In “Bad Piggies”, rather than sling-shotting feisty birds into complex structures in order to defeat the pigs sheltered underneath, you creatively construct somewhat ludicrous but amusing contraptions in order to get your pig to the piece of the map waiting at the end of the winding course full of hills and bumps.

The contraptions are more like vehicles that you equip with items in your inventory, including fans, bottle rockets, balloons, boxes of TNT, wheels, your pig and more, in order to loop the vehicle around the complex spins, turns, bumps and hills.

However, in order to earn three stars on the levels, you sometimes have to avoid using certain items in your inventory that help you complete the level easier. Also, you might have to make the trip as smooth as possible, avoiding crashes and reaching the map piece in the time goal set at the top of the screen.

Nonetheless, if you complete all levels with three stars, you can unlock an additional 30 levels. Currently, there are three worlds available with levels to be completed and more worlds will be added as the game expands.

For the more advanced physics-minded individuals and aspiring engineers out there, the game offers a few sandbox levels where players can test their imagination and build contraptions that are a little more complex and include various devices to be used and added.  The goal of the sandbox levels is  to collect a large number of stars using  the vehicles you build.

For first time players or those who are still getting used to the game, the developers have provided the option for a mechanic, in which players can receive some assistance for getting through a level. If you “like” the “Bad Piggies” page on Facebook, you will receive three free options to call up a mechanic in the game. Otherwise, players have to pay for the mechanic piggy to get them through the level, at prices ranging from two to ten dollars, depending on just how much roadside assistance the player thinks they will need.

An amusing and new addition to the “Angry Birds” universe, “Bad Piggies” is sure to draw the attention of players who enjoy games that make them think and find joy in the playful aspect of the pigs’ squeals and mishaps. With “Angry Birds” hitting over one billion downloads across all platforms, “Bad Piggies” is sure to be successful, as well.

Bad Piggies is currently available in the iOS App store at one dollar for the iPhone and three dollars for iPad. Free versions of the game are available in Google Play for Android. Click here to see “Bad Piggies” in the App Store.