In the game, birds and pigs play the roles of characters from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Characters from the original trilogy and the television show Star Wars Rebels also make appearances in the form of a bird or a pig. In official books and annuals, characters' names are changed to fit whether they are portrayed by bird or pig.
In Angry Birds Star Wars II, players must destroy targets fortified in or out of their created fortresses including various bosses, depending on the side they are in (Bird or Pork side). Players also earn up to 3 stars, as of other games in the series. The game features over 56 playable characters.[3] The game differs from the other Angry Birds games because the player can summon a specific bird/pig instead of the pre-determined selection. This summoning can be done to replace each bird/pig.
Telepods
The game is compatible with Hasbro's Telepods line of toys-to-life figurines, allowing the player to summon a specific character into the game via its QR code; this summon is once per level, but the player can use multiple Telepod summons per level. Each Telepod can be used on up to 15 separate devices and one must rescan the Telepod to get access to the particular character if the game is fully closed.[citation needed]
As of December 2013, Hasbro has sold over 1 million Angry Birds Star Wars II Telepods units.[4]
Shop
The player can via in-app purchase or through achievement rewards, have the use of certain birds or pigs during gameplay. With the Revenge of the Pork and the Rebels update, the former Watto's shop, which was a separate area of the game to buy playable characters, was removed and was merged within the character swap menu.
Release
The game was released on September 18, 2013. Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game were announced, with the former being released on October 24. The Mac version's release plan was discontinued, and on November 13, 2014, the Windows PC version was no longer available for purchase or download and would not be updated.[5]
Discontinuation
The game was discontinued on February 3, 2020, alongside every Angry Birds title released before Angry Birds Transformers (excluding Angry Birds Friends and Bad Piggies). It was removed from both App Store and Google Play. In a 2021 interview, nearing the rerelease of the original Angry Birds, Rovio employee Steve Porter stated that the Rio and Star Wars games were unlikely to be re-released due to third-party licensing.[6]
The game has received generally favorable reviews with a Metacritic score of 77/100 based on 24 reviews.[7] While the game continues the gameplay of its predecessor with fun new ideas, some reviewers[who?] have noted that the increase in the number of playable characters may make the levels unbalanced due to characters having different powers. Some reviewers[who?] did not like the numerous microtransactions but found the game fun.[9]
