ICE CREAM MONSTERS

One-eyed ice-cream-cone monsters play together on planet Amazing Yummy in this didactic storybook app.

Each page in this app features two ice-cream monsters with different attributes playing together, accompanied by a repetitive explanation: “Some ice cream monsters have cherries and nuts on top of them and some ice cream monsters don’t. Even though these two ice cream monsters are different from one another, they still love to play together.” The opening music is mediocre, the distasteful computer-generated cyclopean cartoon characters frolic about against unappealing forest backgrounds, and the sound effects of kids’ laughter are maniacal and forced. The narration is just awful, with a singsong-y intonation that is as condescending and preachy as the text itself. There is single-page navigation, and the simple interactions mostly focus on changing superficial features of the cones.

Skip the trip to this ice-cream planet, which amply demonstrates that good intentions don't necessarily lead to good art.