Our Verdict
Spend any sentence with some of the iOS apps created byMoonbot Studios , and you get the signified that the developer really has a passion for Word and write up . FromThe fantastical Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmoreto the more recent releaseNumberlys , Moonbot ’s visually striking apps get a love for language and an appreciation for how story - telling can add color to our lives .
Take Morris Lessmore , a masterpiece of an iPad app that we recognize with an App Gem award last year . Morris Lessmore tells the story of a Buster Keaton - esque young man whose spirit start out upended , only for him to find comfort in a humankind of books .
Moving Pictures : The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is n’t just an ebook ; interactive elements — like tapping on the book or Morris in this prospect to get them to flap at each other — burst throughout the app .
Moving Pictures: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore isn’t just an ebook; interactive elements—like tapping on the book or Morris in this scene to get them to wave at each other—abound throughout the app.
Morris Lessmore get down liveliness as an animate motion-picture show — it ’s vying for an Academy Award for best animated short after this month — and Moonbot could have simply repackaged the movie as an app without any changes and it still would have impressed . The aspect of the app is distinct and resonant , the music perfectly complements the living , and the tarradiddle itself is undeniably moving .
But Moonbot went beyond just repurposing the Morris Lessmore movie . Instead , the app come loaded with interactive features that augment the storyline . When a windstorm blows Morris out of his comfortable life , you could make houses fly off with a flick of your fingerbreadth . A bowl of alphabet soup becomes a canvas for organize parole . You help Morris while together fragment of a torn up Thomas Nelson Page . Everything neatly fits in with the action , and it ’s a rattling agency to get draw into the saga of Morris Lessmore , peculiarly for younger readers .
Growing Numbers : The Numberlys creates a visually distinct monochrome humankind dominated by numbers .
Growing Numbers: The Numberlys creates a visually distinct monochrome world dominated by numbers.
In interview elsewhere , the learning ability behind Moonbot have articulate that they ’re not really trying to do moving-picture show or books or games — rather , they ’re creating apps that draw upon elements from all three categories . That school of thought is on display to perfection in The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore . It ’s a breath - taking example of the fresh kind of account - tattle that the iPad can foster . But more important , it ’s just a really great floor to get lost in for a while .
Numberlys is Moonbot ’s follow - up to Morris Lessmore , and like its predecessor , it offers up a very distinctive optical elan . The story is congeal in a monochromous universe of discourse command entirely by numbers , and it follows the escapade of five roly - poly creatures in their quest to introduce letters into their deadening , gray world . The description for Numberlys name - checks such smuggled - and - white classic ask KongandMetropolis , and while you may certainly see those influence in the sprawl cityscape fo the app , it ’s also exonerated that Moonbot was able to make a dramatic world all of its own for this app .
Numberlys is not just about telling a story , but also innovate interactive element that engage the lector . You avail the Numberlys produce the letters of the alphabet through a series of activities — fire a cannon to turn numbers into varsity letter , spin gears to pull missive into configuration , and using a trampoline to part letters in two . alas , it takes a little while for those synergistic elements to come into play — the young readers who will likely get the most out of this futuristic fib of ABCs could become frustrated long before they get to the meat of the taradiddle .
Out for a Spin: In Numberlys, you help the heroes create the letters of the alphabet, in a series of interactive scenes. In this case, flicking a pedestal helps forge the letter W.
Out for a twirl : In Numberlys , you help the heroes make the letters of the ABCs , in a serial of interactional scene . In this pillow slip , flicking a stand helps forge the varsity letter W.
It also does n’t help that the version of Numberlys that I reviewed—1.0.3 — is still a picayune unpolished . The transitions from narration to animation to activity are often abrupt and jarring . They ’re for certain more noticeable than they are in Morris Lessmore , which makes it hard to get lost in the tale .
Numberlys run on all iOS gadget — cracking news if you ’re an iPhone owner , and you ’re eager to dive into Moonbot ’s immersive worlds . If you ’re using an older machine , however , note that the intricate animations in Numberlys may be too much for your hardware to bear . On my iPhone 3GS , for example , the animation was a bit halt , as opposed to the free - flowing action I saw when watching the chronicle unfold on my iPad . I ’d advocate at least an iPhone 4 or fourth - generation iPod touch for enjoying the full Numberlys experience . Also , crashing go on to be a problem with rendering 1.0.3 , at least on my original iPad .
Rough patches aside , there ’s plenty to like about Numberlys , not the least of which is probably the most rousing rendition of the ABC birdcall ever recorded . I ’ll last with the singular clangour or occasional jarring transition if it think an app that really embraces a new kind of storytelling that ’s perfectly suited for Apple ’s iOS machine . On that front , Moonbot Studios is delivering again and again .
[ Philip Michaels is the editor of Macworld.com . ]
