Review: Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin - 3D Interactive Pop-Up Book

Overview & Features

The classic Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale of Rumpelstiltskin has been digitized, and poped up in the new 3D interactive pop up book for all iDevices. The book features 30 pages of text in the old ornate style as well as 11 double page pop ups. You can tap and swipe on various objects in the pop up to interact with them.

The Good

The app brings new life to the classic fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin, and it does so much more than a simple ebook. Reading through the story is an engaging experience with a pop up almost every other page. Then you get to see the words come to life, and it's nice to tap and swipe around to see what you can interact with. You can also shift the perspective to see the entire scene from different angles. The book looks great on your iDevice screen as it's bursting with color, and really resembles the physical book. The pop ups truly do pop up off the page, and it's nice to see the page flip animations, and various objects move on interaction. There is a great soundtrack the embodies the fairy tale so well. The app looks great and its easy to see all the details whether you're on an iPad or an iPhone/iPod Touch.

The Bad

The app is fairly limited in long term use. Once you read through the story, and look at the pop ups there really isn't any incentive to go back again. The pop ups are neat, but the isn’t very much interaction, and you just wish there was more you could do with the pop ups. The pop ups are supposed to allow for more detail, and layers than a regular picture could. Though there are 3D pop ups you don’t get a lot of detail in the images. It's nice to read through the book, but an option for a voice over could help, and it's expected soon in a planned update.

The Verdict

Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin 3D Interactive Pop Up Book is no doubt neat, but that neat factor wears off pretty quickly. The book is beautifully designed, and it's great seeing the 3D pop ups, but the short story is exactly that, short, and there isn't any reason to read through it a second time. The interactive features are few and far between, and the 3D pop ups don’t add much. For $2.99 the app isn't worth it as the main selling points of 3D pop ups and interactive features don't offer much.

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