Angry Anna invades gaming

The game will empower users to vent their frustration against corrupt leaders and politicians.

Geek Mentors Studio, a Noida-based technology start-up, has developed an online game titled Angry Anna, which is more or less similar to the Angry Birds game.

Like Angry Birds, Angry Anna (available at Angryanna.com) has a story and mission behind it. It mentions that some corrupt politicians are stealing the nation's money and users should play it to wipe them out.

The 'Birds' of 'Angry Birds' are replaced with animated faces of anti-corruption leaders such as Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, while the 'Pigs' are swapped with the faces of some politicians. The players are required to use a slingshot to launch the anti-corruption leaders at the politicians, who are placed within various blocks/structures. The target is to destroy all politicians to clear each level of the game.

The game has four levels. The Birds/anti-corruption leaders and politicians are added as the level progresses. The fourth level has five Birds/anti-corruption leaders and five politicians. In case the user fails to clear the fourth level, a message (Anna can't do it alone. Do you support Anna for his fight against corruption) seeking support for Anna Hazare will be showcased on the screen.

Speaking to afaqs!, Mohd Shah Nawaz, co-founder, Geek Mentors Studio, says, "We have not included scores in the game. Our intention is to build a game to garner support for Anna Hazare, who is fighting against corrupt politicians in India, and let people vent their frustration against corrupt leaders."

He says, "We launched the 'Angry Anna' game on August 24, and are still working out on clearing bugs in it. Surprisingly, we have got more than 42,000 game plays within the first 24 hours of the launch of the game. Now, we are witnessing 3,000 game plays in every 30 minutes."

Interestingly, a lot of people are sharing and talking about the game on Facebook and Twitter. In fact 'Angry Anna' is fifth most trending topic on Twitter.com in India region (August 26, 8am). About 385 tweets have mentioned the Angry Anna game since its launch , as per Topsy.com, as on August 26, 8am. One of the popular tweet by a user (Twitter.com/BollywoodGandu) says, "Wow. If you like Angry Birds, you're going to love Angry Anna!"

The start-up has no plans to use advertising to promote the game. Shah Nawaz says, "We will ride only on word-of-mouth marketing to get traction." The firm is also contemplating to launch the game on iPhone and iPad platforms.