Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a pig with planks of wood strapped to his arms decides to soar as far as he can, eating green apples and avoiding killer wasps along the way. With a premise that goofy, it’s no wonder that Pig Up! comes from the same minds that brought us Plants vs Zombies. And in traditional Popcap fashion, this Facebook game is deceptively simple and incredibly addictive. Plus, it has a smart mouthed pig.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a pig with planks of wood strapped to his arms decides to soar as far as he can, eating green apples and avoiding killer wasps along the way. With a premise that goofy, it’s no wonder that Pig Up! comes from the same minds that brought us Plants vs Zombies. And in traditional Popcap fashion, this Facebook game is deceptively simple and incredibly addictive. Plus, it has a smart mouthed pig.
The premise is the same as in plenty of other browser games: you fire the pig from a cannon and the goal is to go as far as possible. But while many similar games, such as The Flying Dog, force you to simply watch as your animal soars through the clouds, Pig Up! gives you much more control over the action. You’re given a limited number of flaps, which are what keep the little piggie in the air. Each time you flap the number will go down, but you can collect green apples along the way to increase that number.
It’s more than simply clicking, though. The longer you hold down the mouse button, the higher you’ll go, which gives you much more control over your movement. And that’s important, because the skies are filled with bees that will send you plumeting towards the ground. Interestingly, in Pig Up! the goal is not only to go as far as possible, but as high as you can as well. As you ascend to different layers of the atmosphere you’ll start accumulating points much more quickly.
You can earn virtual currency that can be put towards unlockable power-ups, that do things like give you more flaps or provide armor against the bees. And of course there are high-score leaderboards so you can compare your best games with those of your friends.Pig Up! is also pretty darn funny, and the titular flying pig will frequently spout goofy one liners that are sure to make you smile. There’s also a button that does nothing but make an oink sound.
The game you can currently play on Facebook is listed as a “preview,” which appears to mean it’s a temporarily open beta, and Popcap is actively soliciting feedback on the game. It may be early, but Pig Up! already seems like it could be the next big thing on Facebook. And, though Bejeweled Blitz and Zuma Blitz were excellent, it’s great to see Popcap gracing Facebook with a brand new franchise.
You can take the preview for a spin right here.
