Wired Today

The angry birds are now racing karts in this free-to-play 
game that’s both fun and frustrating, writes Jim Martin

Angry Birds Go is a fun new free game from 
Rovio. It’s much like Mario Kart and sees 
old and new characters racing against each 
other to earn coins and win gems. 
There are two main tracks, Seedway and Rocky 
Road, and each o ffers five racing modes: standard 
race, against the clock, Fruit Splat (hit enough 
fruit before the finish line), head-to-head (vs) and 
Champion Chase, where you have to beat the bird 
three times to unlock that character.

And you will need to unlock them, since each 

bird gets ‘tired’ after five races and has to recover.
At which point you can switch to another bird or
pay 10 gems to ‘revive’ the one that’s worn out.
This is just one of many ways that Angry Birds Go
will make money, since you can buy bags of gems
from £1.99 to £70. Gems can then be used to buy
coins within the game.

Coins are used to buy kart upgrades, and you’ll
need these not simply to remain competitive but also
because races have ever-higher ‘cc’ requirements:
you won’t be able to enter certain races unless your
kart meets the minimum rating.
You can buy some karts, too, with prices again
ranging from £1.99 to a whopping £35 or more
(see above). However, you can also buy real toy
versions of the karts, called Telepods, which are
recognised (and unlocked) when placed over
your device’s camera. Each character has a unique

power-up which can be used once per race, with
extra uses costing gems. Certain race types have
coins to collect, while others don’t. Within each main
course is a variety of di erent courses, some of
which are in the air and others involving stunts.
To start a race, you catapult your kart when the
countdown clock says ‘Go’, thereby adding a bit
more fun and retaining a link back to the traditional
Angry Birds games. You’ve a choice of tilt or tap
to control your racer and although tilt is more fun,
tapping o ffers more control.

iPad & iPhone User buying advice

Kids and adults alike will enjoy Angry Birds Go,
but you’ll definitely want to disable in-app purchases
and set a strong password to ensure that your
children don’t spend hundreds of pounds buying
gems and karts.

Chris Martin reveals why Nintendo let you play games 
such as Super Mario and Zelda on an iPhone or iPad

The Nintendo Wii U arrived about a year ahead 
of its next-generation console rivals – the 
Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It’s had a di cult 
time, with a lack of interest leading to poor sales. 
It’s a tough battle to fight, but Nintendo has some 
serious ammunition up its sleeve giving gamers 
reasons to invest – the games. The main one is 

Super Mario 3D World, which has had rave reviews.
If you want to play the latest Mario game, then
you’ll have to buy a Wii U because it’s exclusive to
Nintendo’s console. There are many other games on
the way, too, including Mario Kart 8, Super Smash
Bros, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and
a new Zelda game. The same is true of Nintendo’s
DS handheld range which has exclusives like Mario
Kart 7, Luigi’s Mansion 2, Animal Crossing, Pokemon
XY and Zelda: A link between worlds.
It would be brilliant if these games were available
on other platforms, especially smartphones and
tablets, but don’t be surprised if this never happens.
Nintendo’s much loved franchises are the firm’s big
lure or selling point and there are a lot of them.
So if Nintendo was to make app versions of its
games, gamers would have fewer, or no, reasons to
buy its hardware (the 3DS and 2DS are selling well).
It would also make far less profit on mobile versions
of its games compared to console versions.