Strangebeard: The Pirate Princess
© 2013 StoryToys
Fun and fast paced, this 36 page ebook adventure contains 3D page turns and nine responsive pirate-themed games that magically unfold out of the pages, just like past StoryToys apps. The narrative, by StoryToy's Jim Pipe, is about Isabelle the pirate, who sails, dances, shoots and digs her way though a series of challenges. You help by completing nine arcade-style challenges that vary in difficulty. Some are quiet challenging. There's a boat steering game where you move vertically to avoid horizontally moving obstacles (too frustrating) and a clever dancing game where you must copy a model, using multi-touch inputs. Completing all challenges earns badges. The entire experience is very responsive and easy to play, and there's a nice variety of things to do. Because the text is narrated, there is some language value. You can toggle between English, French, German and Spanish and there are Read to Me, Read it Myself, and Autoplay modes.
$4.99, iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle
Teaches: playful, fine motor, language experience
CTR Rating: 90%