While it might be a little jarring to hear Five Little Monkeys 
Jumping on the Bed presented as a story rather than a song, Oceanhouse Media (and author/illustrator Eileen Christelow) pull it off. Children will love seeing the song presented with quality artwork and the pages pan and zoom to help bring the story to life. The app also is a good learning tool, offering a variety of ways for users to experience it and utilizing picture/word association to help teach children (words zoom and are spoken when an item is touched onscreen). The story’s simplistic, and older kids might get bored quickly, but young children will be captivated.
Category Archives: Common Sense Media
App review: Tiny Wings
Not since Angry Birds first hit the App Store 
has a title so captivated the iAudience, and Tiny Wings deserves the praise. It’s a game whose success lies in its simplicity — the controls consist solely of touching the screen at the right time. That might sound a bit thin, but this is the type of game you’ll find yourself playing for long, long periods. It is, in many ways, Zen-like. Beyond the core gameplay, there’s an added bonus: the various islands you’ll explore change every day, giving the title an incredible amount of replayability, as you can’t simply learn a pattern and repeat it time and again. Tiny Wings is one of those rare games that makes you feel good as you play, letting you root for the chubbly little bird on screen and share his joy when he takes to the sky.
App review: Infinity Field
There’s really not much that doesn’t work — and work 
well — in Infinity Field. The game is a throwback to the glory days of arcade gaming, with the polish and beauty of today’s console generation. The gameplay is simple: enemies appear and you dispatch them as quickly as possible. Along the way, you might pick up an extra life or new way to shoot them down. The screen comes alive with color as the enemies — a collection of amorphous geometric shapes — explode in bursts when they’re shot, much like fireworks. The only potential downside is the frenetic pace of the game, which could be overwhelming for someone used to a slower style of play. If that’s not an issue for you, though, this is one of the most enjoyable arcade/action games around.
Game review: Dance Paradise
Dance games are quickly becoming the best titles 
of the Kinect crop, but Dance Paradise seems to forget that a lot of the players might have two left feet. It’s a fun game that gets a lot right, but many of the dance moves are complicated and confusing, especially for newcomers. The tutorial sets up the initial premise of the game, but doesn’t help you learn any of the advanced moves. If you’ve got rhythm, though, this might be a good game for you. It comes with a variety of game play modes and local multiplayer lets you play with a friend in the same room. (Multiplayer matches through Xbox Live are not supported.) The visuals, meanwhile, are good and the song collection is robust, ranging from Lady Gaga and Rihanna to Gloria Gaynor and Kool & the Gang. Onlookers will appreciate the music videos that play in the background, but players probably will be too focused on their next dance move to pay much attention.
App review: Shadow Guardian HD
As it does with so many of its titles, Shadow 
Guardian HD is Gameloft’s attempt to clone Uncharted, a hit PlayStation 3 fanchise, for iDevices. And while on some technical levels, this app succeeds — the graphics are gorgeous for the iPad platform and it has the requisite blend of jumping, action, and puzzles — it ultimately falls short. What holds the Uncharted series together is a nuanced story with characters you care about. That’s not present here and the game’s flaws are enhanced because of it. The pacing is fine and the combat’s not bad, but without anything tying them together, Shadow Guardian HD ultimately is a mere shadow of a much better title.
App review: Star Battalion HD
Take Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Star Fox, put 
them in a blender and stir and you’ll probably come out with something like Star Battalion HD. The game doesn’t have an ounce of originality, but as a space shooter it’s not a bad title. Graphics, as they generally are with Gameloft titles, are well done, and the action is well paced and solid. Getting used to controlling your ship with the iPad’s gyroscope is a bit tricky, but players can shift to a stick control if it proves too distracting. There are also a wide variety of environments. The lack of competitive multiplayer is something of a drawback and some control bugs drag the game down a bit, but ultimately, this is an app that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a solid space combat game.
App review: Cartoon Wars-Gunner
When the makers of Cartoon Wars set out to make a sequel, 
they decided not to simply copy the formula that was successful the first time around — and that bet has paid off with Cartoon Wars – Gunner. The game is feature-rich and blends action and adventure with role-playing elements, as you decide which weapons to upgrade and which to buy. The inclusion of magic items helps shake up the nonstop shooting, but only a little bit. Ultimately, the gameplay does tend to wear thin as you do the same thing again and again — only with different weapons. Also, while the controls are acceptable, they tend to get stuck occasionally, which is frustrating. The game is a fun diversion and good for short play periods, but not something you’ll want to play for hours at a time.
App review: The Three Little Pigs, told by Holly Hunter
Ruckus Media does a great job with children’s tales, and 
this version of The Three Little Pigs, told by Holly Hunter is another winner, but comes with one concerning factor. On the plus side, Hunter’s reading of the story is charming and engaging and the artwork that accompanies the video is wonderful. The ability to read and record the story in your own voice is another smart addition — as it lets parents tell a story to their kids even when they’re not around. The concern arises from the wolf’s smooth-talking come-on lines to the pigs, which are followed by his violent reactions to their rejections; and could bring to mind some thoughts of an abusive suitor. It makes this book not quite perfect.
App review: Chicken Math
Chicken Math is based around a pretty simple concept, but 
that simplicity is a big part of what makes the game work well — and on so many levels. Children who are just learning to count can learn to do so in a fun, non-stressful way, but parents who want to put their own math skills to the test can ramp up the difficulty enough to keep them on their toes. The onscreen animation is very rudimentary, but the gameplay makes it easy to look beyond that. And the fact that this is an educational game that doesn’t feel like it’s forcing you to learn makes it a good tool for parents looking to help their kids grasp the concept of complex addition.
App review: OLIVIA the Great
Somas Games has already made an Olivia game that targets very 
young childen with Olivia, so it’s nice to see them aim a little bit older with OLIVIA the Great. The game won’t be too challenging to anyone over the age of eight, but younger kids will enjoy the search for hidden objects and the tricks Olivia performs when the mimic-the-finger-swipes shown on screen. The early puzzles are easy even for younger kids, but later puzzles tend to be a bit more complicated, which might frustrate some children. However, the varied difficulty makes the game accessable to a wider age range of players.
Chris Morris: Journalist 