Bastion
LQ: 9.15
Recommended Age: 10+
Skills Used: Planning, Working Memory, Mathematics, Reading
Angry Birds has been around for almost a decade now and the franchise never fails to provide something new. Up next? Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs. The “AR” in the title stands for augmented reality and means that the pigs and their structure will be placed “in the real world” using the camera technology on the player’s phone. It also means that, this time around, the player will be viewing the pigs and their structures from the birds’ eye view and the slingshot.
The basic premise of the game, however, has not changed. The player is still given limited birds, of a variety of colors and abilities, and asked to shoot at pigs. Based on how much damage the player does with their limited birds, the player gets stars and coins. The goal is to get three stars per level. Each coin earned can eventually be used to purchase more levels. The player can watch ads to earn more coins.
Because of the AR aspect of the game, Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs requires the player to have a flat surface available to build the pigs’ towers. It must not be too close or too far away from the player. The game provides easy-to-understand placement guidelines and tools. The ESRB rated this game 9+ for infrequent and mild cartoon or fantasy violence.
Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs helps kids to practice and improve the following skills:
Managing our actions, feelings and behaviors.
Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs provides two distinct opportunities to practice self-control skills. First, it can be frustrating when the player makes a plan of attack, launches a bird, and then finds that the bird didn't follow the plan or the tower didn't react the way they expected. If the player doesn't keep their frustration and anger under control, their aim will become worse and they will fail more and more levels. Staying calm is the best way to earn all three stars in any level.
Second, Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs requires the player to control their impulses and think about how each move might impact their next move. In other words, the player must think about the future to plan out the best way to use each bird. When the player takes the time to think ahead, he or she will be able to make educated guesses about which way a tower will fall when hit. This in turn allows the player to decide whether that is the best course of action, as well as determining which special skill is best for which location on the tower (in the case of multiple types of birds).
Recalling and retaining information in our minds while working.
Due to the birds' eye view used in Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs, there are several levels where elements of the tower are initially hidden from view. Not knowing what will be uncovered can make it difficult to beat the level the first time through. This does, however, provide the player the opportunity to practice their visual memory skills. The more they pay attention to and remember what happens in a level, the easier it will be to get all three stars (and all three coins) on their next attempt.
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