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Angry Birds Epic hits all major app stores for free

Rovio unleashes its latest Angry Birds mobile game. Unlike earlier games in the franchise, Epic is a role-playing game.

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Rovio

Angry Bird fans can now take on a whole new batch of bad piggies -- but this latest game in the mobile franchise comes with a twist.

Rovio, the company behind the Angry Birds mobile games, announced the worldwide launch of Angry Birds Epic on Thursday. Unlike the slingshot-focused gameplay of most of the franchise's earlier games, Epic is a turn-based role-playing game.

As with other Angry Birds titles, the heroes in Epic are the birds and the antagonists are "the dastardly King Pig, his advisor Wiz Pig, and his son Price Porky." King pig and his gang have stolen the eggs, and its up to a cast of "feathery heroes" controlled by the user will help get them back.

Angry Birds Epic is available for free today in a wide range of mobile application stores, including Apple's App Store, Google Play, Amazon's Appstore, and the Windows Phone Store.

The mobile game is free to download, but it might not be long before gamers spend some real cash on the title. The game's currency of Lucky Coins are available as an in-game purchase. While it's not required to buy the coins to play the game, it does enhance your ability to get through the title. So far, all of the top in-app purchases for the iOS version of Epic are different quantities of Lucky Coins, with costs ranging from 99 cents to $50, according to Apple's App Store page.

Rovio has pursued a fast and furious expansion of the Angry Birds franchise. The original Angry Birds game launched on the iPhone in 2009, and Rovio revealed in April that the franchise has reached over 2 billion downloads. In addition to the standard Angry Birds title, Rovio has launched Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, and Angry Birds Friends. The company also launched a kart-racing mobile game called Angry Birds Go.

Check out the trailer for Angry Birds Epic, and prepare yourself for battle against the infamous green piggies: