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Rovio flings you to the 'Pork Side' in Angry Birds Star Wars II

Coming in September, the sequel game focuses on the prequel movies and gives you the chance to play as villainous pigs.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
May the Birds be with you.
May the Birds be with you. Rovio

Angry Birds Star Wars surprised a lot of gamers by infusing new life into the seemingly tired bird-flinging franchise. The title has a 4.5-star rating on both Google Play and iTunes, and it made CNET's list of the 30 best iPad games.

Perhaps inevitably, Rovio just announced Angry Birds Star Wars II. Due to hit app stores September 19, the game will focus on the three "Star Wars" prequels, offering more than 30 characters, most of them new to the Angry Birds Star Wars, er, universe.

Speaking of new, the sequel will introduce two fairly major gameplay twists. First, instead of playing solely as bird characters, you'll have the option of "joining the Pork Side," meaning you get to step into the cloven shoes of a pig -- a first for the Angry Birds series.

Second, Rovio is partnering with Hasbro, which will introduce new Telepods figures (also in September). Reminiscent of the popular Skylanders games, which mesh physical figurines and video gameplay, Telepods will "teleport" real-world Angry Birds action figures into the game.

"New characters and super powers can be unlocked for players by placing one of the collectible Telepods physical characters from the Hasbro line on the phone or tablet camera and scanning it into the game," according to Rovio's press release.

You can see this in action, along with some Star Wars II gameplay, in the following teaser video.

What do you think? Will the Force be with this Star Wars sequel? Are you looking forward to it?