10 fresh directions for the Angry Birds franchise

It's been three years since Rovio's feather-flinging franchise first swooped onto mobile handsets.

Since that fateful day, fans have gorged themselves silly on the vanilla Angry Birds, explored the passage of time with Angry Birds Seasons, blasted to South America via Angry Birds Rio, and are currently pinging though the cosmos in Angry Birds Space.

Now that everyone's favourite animal cruelty simulator has gone interstellar, the question must be asked: where does the franchise go from here?

We've taken a good look at Rovio's world-beating property, cast our eye over the gaming landscape, and come up with a list of potential themes for future Angry Birds instalments.

If any of these concepts get turned into actual games, incidentally, let it be known that we stole them first.

The Red Bird travels back in time to assassinate evil dictator Adolf Pigler and prevent him from taking over the world. Unfortunately, his plan backfires, causing Joseph Swinelin to swoop in and fill the power vacuum.

It's up to you to defeat his brutal H.O.G. forces by building up your nest and hatching an army (consisting mostly of air units) capable of pushing back the Bacon Curtain. Michael Ironside to play the charismatic B.I.R.D. leader.

The year is 2019. Android birds are used as slave labour in off-world colonies. Some have found their way to earth and are trying to pass themselves off as avian. You're cast as Peckard, a misanthropic ex-Bird Runner, whose job it is to round up and eliminate these escaped "Re-pelican-ts".

In this point-and-click adventure, you have to analyse clues, make tough moral decisions, and even question the nature of your own existence. Do androids dream of electric pigs? Probably not.

Carl Jaybird returns to San Andreas after the passing of his mother, who was trampled to death in a gang war between the Feathers and the Pigskins. Once home, he sets about putting the old flock back together, engaging in some low-key bug deals along the way. Oh, and the occasional fly-by shooting.

This bird-person shooter will likely cause controversy because of its violent content and graphic depiction of anti-social behaviours like pooping on car windshields.

Terrorist pigs are trying to sell nuclear "boarheads" to cells in neighbouring farms. You are Sam Kingfisher, ex-member of secret agency Bird Echelon, called back into action to stop these amoral swine from turning the world into a giant rotisserie.

You must flit from shadow to shadow, distracting your targets with egg bombs, before swooping down and silently incapacitating them with well-timed eye gouges. Michael Ironside to voice Kingfisher.

This beat-'em-up features every variety of bird and pig ever to have appeared in Rovio's über-popular franchise, plus a host of popular Ninty characters.

Laugh as you brutally peck Link's face off. Scoop up Pikachu in your talons, fly him to the top of the screen, and then look on impassively as he falls to his death. Fail to see Solid Snake because you haven't played the 145,000 matches required to unlock him. Realise you're wasting your time. Go back to playing Angry Birds Rio.

Private Preston Magpie is on a mission to locate enemy artillery positions and use them to launch himself kamikaze-style into the porcine ranks.

From a first-person perspective, you have to point Magpie's beak towards pig-inhabited buildings, press the 'pull' button, and enjoy a bona fide bird's-eye view as you hurtle through the air towards death and glory.

Games are short but invigorating.

Everyone else is jumping onto the boardgame bandwagon, so why shouldn't Rovio hitch a ride to the bank?

Another patently unoriginal, but inevitably lucrative, interpretation of the Pictionary formula, this picture-puzzler may prove a little too easy for veterans of the genre.

"Can you guess what it is yet?"
"Yes. It's a bird. Again. Your turn."

You must nudge sleeping birds out of their nests and stack them one on top of the other before they wake up and fly (angrily) away.

Given the curved nature of avian anatomy, this version is a little trickier than its block-based inspiration. To make things even tougher, the game catapults a pig into the play area every thirty seconds in an effort to topple your feathery high rise. Karma's a bitch.

A gorgeous, Retina display-optimised fighter that sees the Red Bird pecking his way through numerous heavily armoured pigs to reach the climactic final confrontation with the immortal Hog King.

Prepare to stare in slack-jawed amazement at each exquisitely rendered feather and high-definition trotter. Plus, when you've finished, you get to knock the castle over. Michael Ironside to voice the Hog King.

Who doesn’t want to see a small bird glued to a lollipop stick, then pushed off the top of a snowy mountain? No one, that's who. Flip, flap, and freestyle your way to the top of the leaderboard in this extreme sports title that the critics are sure to call "deeply misjudged".

Rather than avoiding obstacles as you ride the powder, you receive points for every hillside dwelling you smash to smithereens. Michael Ironside to play the pillock who shouts "Radical!" after every button press.