Stride and Prejudice

$0.99, iPad

Teaches: reading, temporal relations

CTR Rating: 82%

CTR Review

Can you get to the end of a novel, without losing your mind, or throwing up? We've reviewed some strange apps in our day.... and this one ranks near the top. From the creative mind of designer Carla Fisher (see also Williamspurrrrg) comes another tried-and-true game mechanic, in this case called "endless running," applied in an unusual way. Instead of running and jumping on ledges, you can read the entire royalty free text of Pride and Prejudice, by running and jumping on platforms which are formed from the text of novel. You play as an 8 bit version of Lizzy (from the book) running in costume. There are several modes, thankfully, including Marathon (see how far you can get from the beginning) and Reader mode, which picks up where you die, so you can read the entire book. A set of preferences let you customize the speed of scrolling and the color scheme, for eye comfort; in addition you can adjust the sound. Testers had strong, mixed reactions to this app. Our two adult subjects (females who like the book) voiced a strong dislike to the format; younger testers found it fun and were soon drawn into the text. Others didn't like the text, or the format, giving up after a few hundreds words. We wanted the jumping to be more fun (perhaps flips with a double tap) and wanted a responsive sound when you tap the screen. Any teacher knows that presenting text in different formats can sometimes work for particular learning settings. This app just might fit the bill.