It has the hallmarks of an ancient Egyptian site – a sphinx, pyramids, ankhs, hieroglyphics, sacred gods atop head adornments, gold face masks, balloons…
Balloons?
Oh. Apparently it’s not an ancient Egyptian site.
Instead, it’s a recent offering from Angry Birds’ entitled Powerslave Tournament.
I’ll talk about that title in a bit.
In case you’ve been living in a cave, Angry Birds is an immensely popular video game
franchise. Angry Birds was created by Finnish company Rovio Entertainment in 2009, and that’s a long time for any video game to survive.
The Birds shows no sign of getting less angry.
The series focuses on multi-colored birds vs. green-colored pigs, their enemies. I got hooked in 2015 and I’m not embarrassed to admit it.
The reason I’m hooked is because it’s fun, and involves some strategizing, hand-eye coordination, geometry, a touch of physics, and blowing things up. You can get rewarded with online versions of gold stars, a gold crown, and if you win the tournament, a gold trophy:
Hey – I never said it was brain surgery. It’s just satisfying entertainment. Winning is fun, and nobody dies.
The Rovio team shows a lot of creativity in their themes, sound effects and graphics. It’s the graphics I started out with, so let’s go back to that.
I hadn’t seen the ancient Egyptians graphics theme before, and it, too, is clever. Evil pigs disappear and return and wrapped as mummies. The star-lit sky is streaked with lightning. The sphinx – which has bird face, rather than a human – makes ominous noises:
So I’m having fun with the game, but I really have to question Rovio’s choice of title:
Powerslave?
I think this goes way beyond poor taste and right into the realm of truly, politically incorrect.
C’mon, Angry Birds team.
Cause now, I’m getting angry.
