After Angry Birds, Rovio Launches ‘Amazing Alex’

Rovio, the maker of the popular Angry Birds franchise, has released a new game that deviates from hurling angry animals at other devious animals with the launch of Amazing Alex.

The object of the game is simple, get a thing from Point A to Point B using contraptions made out of everyday things. A free version is available for Android devices through the Google Play store but if you want the full version, it costs $0.99 on the Apple App Store and Google Play store.

The full version contains some 100 levels so it offers you a lot of puzzles to solve. All the games have eight tutorial levels – kind of bland if you ask me but needed if you’re to learn to play the game – which will guide you to forming those MacGyver-like arrangements of mundane things.

Nonetheless, the launch of the Amazing Alex game does have its rough spots. On Apple’s Game Center, a bug caused the app to repeatedly say “this game is not recognized by the Game Center”. Rovio has said that the problem is being investigated and will be fixed “as soon as possible”.

This new franchise means a lot for Rovio as it tries to replicate the success which is the Angry Birds franchise. Angry Birds is huge. Rovio has had more than a billion app downloads. For 2011, the copany generated $92.3 million in sales with 30 percent of that coming from merchandise and licenses with other companies.

This is why Amazing Alex will be watched closely in the tech industry. However, it is not an original creation b Rovio but rather an improved and re-imagined game. The game was released by independent developer Noel Llopis and small games studio Mystery Coconut in 2011. It was originally called Casey’s Contraptions and never really went viral. Rovio bought the rights to the game earlier this year.

Have you tried Amazing Alex? Do you think Rovio has another gem with it or not? Tell us in the comments section below.

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