Angry Birds Rio now partying on Windows Phone 7 and 8

It’s time for another new Xbox Windows Phone game this week. Sadly, Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. 3 didn’t make it out yet, but we still expect it at the end of May or early June. Instead, this week’s release is the not too surprising but still appreciated Angry Birds Rio from Rovio.
I say not surprising because two weeks ago Microsoft and Nokia both announced that Rio would be coming very soon. They weren’t lying! Meanwhile, Angry Birds Rio has also flown in on Windows Phone 7 without Xbox Live features, just as we predicted. Now then, what makes this Rio game different from the 1500 other official Angry Birds titles already available on Windows Phone? Read on to find out.
Blame it on Rio
Angry Birds Rio is both a sequel to the popular Angry Birds series as well as a tie-in to the 2011 CG animated film Rio that everyone has probably forgotten about by now. But you know, other than being yet another blasted movie about talking animals, Rio wasn’t a bad film! Certainly smarter and prettier than Ice Age, if you ask me. Other than the gross and stupid bulldog.
Anyway, Rio happens to be about birds, so the pairing with Angry Birds makes decent sense. But instead of being a Rio game that plays like Angry Birds (which would be the traditional way to adapt a film), Angry Birds Rio is basically a regular Angry Birds game with the standard Angry Birds characters that takes place in the movie's setting of Rio de Janeiro. The enemies are marmosets instead of pigs though.
The game also happens to have levels based more closely on the movie every now and then. These consist of boss battles, a first for the Angry Birds series. In these battles, you’ll fling Blu and Jewel, the movie’s lead characters, at the various filmic antagonists such as Nigel, the incredibly evil parrot and Mauro, the leader of the mercenary marmosets (a kind of monkey or something, by the way).
Find that fruit
Rio surprisingly lacks the usual Achievement for breaking some massive number of blocks or playing a silly number of hours. Players will need to unlock 500 stars and score 17,500,000 points though, which is a lot! There’s also an Achievement for finding six golden fruit. Here are links to guides for most of the golden fruit:
A fully featured flock
Now, casual Windows Phone gamers will be pleased as punch to have yet another Angry Birds game to play. Serious gamers might feel a bit less enthused, as Rovio has published a whopping five Windows Phone series entries since last November: Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Classic, and now Rio. Certainly the glut of similar releases increases the possibility of series fatigue.
Still, we can’t fault Rovio for their much increased Windows Phone support! Not too long ago, many wondered if the series creator had forgotten our plucky platform. Now we have almost every game in the series available to us, and with just about all of their levels intact to boot.
Just last Friday, Rovio updated all three versions of Angry Birds Star Wars (Windows Phone 7, 8, and Windows 8) with new levels as well as fixing some bugs in Angry Birds Classic. Now Rio has launched with all seven standard level packs with 210 levels as well as 40-plus bonus levels (they’re hard to count) that you’d find on other platforms. So we’re getting good versions of these games, at least. And Bad Piggies and Angry Birds Friends can't be too far behind.
Take a trip to Rio
Have some Store links! Before you ask, no, buying the Windows Phone 7 version doesn’t get you access to the Windows Phone 8 version. As with all the Angry Birds games, both versions are separate purchases and not compatible with the other platform.
- Angry Birds Rio – Windows Phone 8 – 99 cents – 31 MB – Store Link
- Angry Birds Rio – Windows Phone 7 – 99 cents - 24 MB – Store Link
Thanks to Jey Si and Guilherme da Silva Manso for the tips!
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Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!
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I love the support rovio gives WP!
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Thanks Nokia for this.
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6 different angry birds now.. I STILL REGRET NOTHING!
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Except them not being Xbox games on 7.x, not even the original
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The original was, just not with all the levels.
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Yea I know it was... But was is not now... But now is now... And also now happens to be the time in which we're talking... So one could assume now is what we're talking about... In the now...
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Screw Rovio with no Xbox live support on WP7, not buying till its added. Hate it when developers are lazy at the expense of customers.
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Rovio and Nokia have been Scandinavian (Nordic technically) best buddies since forever
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Awesome, this is my favorite Angry Birds!
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24MB for WP7.
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Why thank you. :)
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Ok release
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99 cents? I'll take it!!
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Go Rovio!!! So happy to see the update during last week!! Now screw Gameloft for not fixing my Asphalt 7 crashing bug and didn't add any cars like iOS !
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I'm glad to see Rovio starting to focus on WP!
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So ravio has had 6 games sense november if you include amazing alex as well thats pretty crazy
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All of us should thanks Nokia for this... And, lets Samba!!! :)
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Wonder if NOVA 3 comes out next week after the launch of the 928 tomorrow? That would make a lot of Verizon customers happy, increase Gameloft visibility, and be great for the platform.
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Checked with Gameloft and it's unlikely to come out next week. It hasn't passed certification yet.
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I was hoping you were going to say that Gameloft is optimising the game so when released, users with 512RAM can enjoy it too. But alas, still hoping this is the case though.
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Too bad Paul, we still have two more Wednesday's before the end of the month, hope it passes certification before then
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Are you talking about Store certification or Xbox Live certification??
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Xbox Live. If it passes that, they can publish it to the store whenever.
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This is my worry. Is all about Xbox Live delaying game releases.... :/
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I almost don't mind with Gameloft releases because they are extremely buggy. The cert team lets a ton of bugs through, but imagine how many there must be before the game enters certification!
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Paul, any news on when Jetpack Joyride will come to Windows Phone???
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We just know it's been in certification for months. It will surely pass eventually.
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Alright cool, i hope it will come soon, love that game so much on my Windows 8 pc, just need it on WP8 xd
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Cannot install Rio to Lumia 920... Supports only resolution of 480 x 800??
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Are you trying to install the WP7 version instead of the WP8 one? It's running fine on my Lumia 920.
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Oops, you got me... Thanks for the hint!
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while awesome... I'm holding out for NOVA 3. ^_^
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Bought and bought! Hope the 17.5 million achievement is not a pain!
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Another angry birds really, boring. When are we going to get Chaos Rings damn it?????
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Was thinking the same thing....ANOTHER Angry Birds....Yawn..
I guess it will make some people happy and it's great for them but, unless it's free, I wont even try it...I got board with the first one very quicly, I didn't even care to go for the achievements, like I tend to buy games just for them... -
Boooo angry birds we got more angry bird hames than we have all other game combines eff more levels we want more games
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I dont know anybody who play any angry birds on any platform or asks about it anymore
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I don't blame you for being tired of the series, but plenty of commenters right here play Angry Birds. It's silly to suggest that people don't care about it any more.
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I still do. I have every damn ver. out. Can't get enough of it. just a fun quick play.
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Bought and installed, plays fine but no music...volume up all the way and game volume on. ???. Oh well, a step back in time.
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Same price but no achievements on wp 7? No thanks
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I have every paid version on my new Lumia 810, I say bring on AB Friends and Bad Piggies, I can guarantee a purchase of those as well.
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This is def one of the better AB titles so far
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Where are the ea exclusives like NBA live 12 and madden 12 they promised us back when the 900 was released, I don't mind getting angry birds but don't give us 1 game in a weeks time that's been out for years on others we will never catch up ever with this strategy, it'll be another 2 years before we get the others
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I want the stuff we deserve like the porting of Zune apps that was posted over a year ago and more recently audiosurf apps like that are what we need imagine a commercial for wp8 advertising exclusive games nobody else has not, look we got ur last years hand me downs, all broken up and missing lvls
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Yes I bought every one just to show support for the platform and game points not cuz I like angry birds
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You know you can edit your comments, right? To answer your question, EA does publish at least two Nokia exclusives a month. They're taking a while to get to their sports games and Dead Space, but they'll come eventually.
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Yea I know just ranting at work frustrated with Microsoft I've been waiting since Gen 1 Zune, day 1 focus, Lumia 920, surface, and w8 I get my hopes up every week for something better for almost 5 years. The Zune games are better than the crap we've gotten on wp7 or 8
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And with all the google ish their releasing Xbox games Is looking dead as a door knob damn near all functionality as Xbox brand but 100x more apps and more support coming, yet we have to wait a year to get half ass news about how in another year we might get a basic feature
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Wut? That is some seriously bad grammar, borderline encrypted sh!t.
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Duran Duran :-) You're now humming the song...
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Best Angry Birds is Seasons. If you're getting just one, you should get Seasons, imo.
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Thanks ROVIO!!! :) :) :) :) I wish you'll be releasing new games With iOS and Android release. :)
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No no no,angry birds is so old now and just doesn't do it for me anymore,so yeah nice and cheap but no thx zzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Free on iOS, not on WP. As usual....
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Loved Rio
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I want to see after Gameloft and Rovio Publish all their games on WP store what's next..?!?! P.S WE WANT CUT THE ROPE TIME TRAVEL FOR WP8 :)
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Better late than never, right?