Sesame Street is no stranger to children’s entertainment, that goes without saying. As they expressed interest in developing for the App Store, we were cautiously optimistic that they would exhibit the same flare and know-how. Their first app Grover’s Special Number drew praise from us in our review. After fooling around with it for a while, it seemed apparent that Sesame Street Workshop and developer IDEO could indeed bring their experience appropriately to the iPhone. We hoped for more. And it has arrived in Elmo’s Monster Maker.
Elmo’s Monster Maker Pros:
- Nice graphics with familiar characters that grab attention of youngsters
- Invites simple game play, and stimulates some creativity in monster design
Elmo’s Monster Maker Cons:
- Some transitions not smooth when going from recorded video to game play mode
- Lacks portrait mode, which makes some of the operations difficult for those without fine motor skills
When First Loading the Game you are presented with multiple monsters with no faces. Fortunately Elmo talks you through what to do. Just by touching the monster they want, the youngster (ehh… gamer) can select the monster of their choice.
Now comes the hard part… Try explaining to your 3 year old what “loading…” is as they wait (ever so patiently) for the next stage. (Almost lost their mind at this point. What is that? What can we do now? Where are the Monsters dad? What is loading? Is Elmo coming back? And so on. You get the idea.) Soon though Elmo is back and talks us through the next stage.
Kids liked this a lot, especially my 5 year old. He said he was “designing” his monster. This is where some of the touch difficulty came in. I had trouble too trying to hit the zone for the eyes. It seemed like the hat area always had priority. Not a big deal, just a little frustrating. Now it’s time to play. After selecting the monster you wish (24 combinations for each of the 4 different body types gives lots of opportunity for new game play). You can select the green arrow in the lower left hand screen and go to the play area. What you will notice on this screen are 3 icons on the bottom. The camera takes a shot and assigns a random background with your monster in it. The picture is stored right in the camera roll. Kids thought this part was ok.
You can also hit the Elmo icon in the face (Slightly therapeutic after years of tickle me Elmo; why can’t those batteries just die!). This brings you to the video where Elmo comes out to do whatever it is he does with your character. The icon in lower right will start playing music along with displaying a new backdrop which makes your monster dance.
What else can you do? Glad you asked. Kids like the next part. You can make him fall down by tapping him in the head, or make him laugh, by wiggling your finger under his arms to tickle him. Also he will do random things if you just tap the screen over him, like lifting weights, or playing a banjo. This is where we would have liked to see the possibility of a non-portrait mode. As it became a little difficult to tell if you were going to tickle your monster or hit him in the head and make him fall over. Not a big deal, just a little frustrating for me, kids didn’t really seem to care that much.
Overall, we liked it a lot. Elmo’s Monster Maker has the ability to calm down a 5 year old and a 3 year old in no time. Even had them asking for more time to play. The usual 30 second attention span was stretched out as long as my battery could last! Bringing a little quiet to my life and a little happiness to the kids. Thanks Elmo!
