Two young sasquatches barely get an ill-defined quest underway in this poorly engineered and abruptly truncated episode, the second two parts of which can only be continued via in-app purchases.
Loudmouthed, stupidly reckless and closely resembling a stumpy cartoon Tasmanian devil in shape and size (though with longer ears), Tanu sets out with a companion to “discover the secrets of not only the world they left behind…but also within themselves.” First up, though, is a quixotic mission to rescue his mother, who has been wounded and captured by human hunters. Apparently dying (but still alive later on), she telepathically tells him to seek out the mystic Clearing of the Ancient Souls instead. Trying for a 3D effect, each of the 30 pages in the first part features several flat layers that continually rock back and forth in a vertigo-inducing manner. The layers and dialogue balloons appear and vanish in succession either automatically or by tapping obtrusively placed and frustratingly sluggish arrows. Despite an “auto advance” option, pages can only be advanced manually, whereupon readers are left to stare at a black screen for several seconds while each new page loads. A multi-voiced narration keyed to highlighted text, the much lower-volume sound effects and a loop of woodsy background noises can also be turned on or off.
A closing invitation to buy part two can safely be ignored. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)
