Freakdroid, a crash landed robot, stars in this universal iOS app by Digital4You. A side-scrolling, trivia, social media mix, the app attempts to cross several genres with a quip-shouting robot with-an-attitude. Designated as a Freakdroid for a Freakverse of mobile apps, this app is truly freaky.
Design and Function
Touting itself as a “movie trivia experience, wacky virtual comic, and social networking utility,” Freakdroid struggles to combine these parts into an interesting amalgamation of activity, or even a usable app. The features of the app are listed as: “engaging visual movie trivia game;” “wildly entertaining digital comic;” Facebook and Twitter integration; and a “uniquely intuitive user interface…with wacky Freakverse aesthetics.”
The game opens with the comic, explaining how Freakdroid ended up on Earth harassing humans. This “wacky virtual comic” is a one-page, 6 framed comic. As it is listed as a main feature, I expected a much longer interactive comic book experience…an iBook or Newstand worthy experience. Once the comic closes, Freakdroid stands before you in a one room garage that is navigated via a side scrolling interface. There are a couple of interactive items in the garage, but they do not add to the storyline, which ends with the comic.
Located to one side, Freakdroid’s movie projector will start the movie trivia game, which requires Facebook login to access (for no apparent reason). The movie game is merely pictures of Freakdroid dressed as other characters from different movies and a multiple choice answer system. The points accumulated appear to mean nothing nor unlock any hidden features.
Social networking is laced throughout, encouraging the user to post the short quips from Freakdroid to Twitter or Facebook. I refused to connect my Twitter account because the app would be able to: read tweets from my timeline; see who I follow and follow new people; update my profile; and post tweets. At least, the Facebook coupling gave me the choice to deny the Freakdroid app from posting to my account or viewing friends.
What else is there to do? …Nothing in particular.
Conclusion [rating: 2.5/5]
Freakdoid (free, App Store) is thankfully free, so if you are interested, feel free to take the plunge. It is trying to accomplish too many things at once by offering movie trivia, side scroller engagement, and comic book reading. The social integration is annoying at best and does not serve a purpose. In addition, the app is Universal, but not all of the graphics are Retina optimized for the new iPad, leaving some images fuzzy.
Even worse, if you do not play the app frequently enough, by default, Freakdroid will send you alert notifications, even if banners are chosen, trying to get you to play more! Freakdroid may be a cunning jokester, but unless he decides how he really wants to engage his users, he might as well go back to another planet.
Pros
- Free
- The costume quiz is entertaining
Cons
- No clear direction
- Comic is one page
- Movie quiz is really a costume quiz
- Social integration is annoying and intrusive
