App Review: Jelly & Pie

The Jelly Pie books are a bunch of books all about the adventures of funny larger-than-life characters including Mr Gum, Ellie May, and Moon Hare. Jelly & Pie are two characters created by publishing company Egmont to personify this group of books. The app is available free on Android and iOS, but what is it really like?

The Jelly & Pie app follows these two characters who live together, one literally sitting on top of the other, as seen in the picture (left). But in this app the two characters Jelly and Pie have been separated and it’s the players job to run and jump around as Jelly to rescue pie from a purple squid character.

Gameplay – The game is set out in a platform game format like Mario or Sonic. The playable character Jelly is constantly running so it is your job to make him jump over obstacles and avoid falling through holes, or bumping into smelly jellies to reach Pie who waits at the end of every level. Making Jelly jump is very easy, it simply involves tapping the screen, the longer the tap, the longer the jump. Players try to collect jelly cubes while jumping around and at the end of each level their score is rated on a 5 star scale.

Progression – The game is based around this simple story of reuniting Jelly and Pie which gives the game a structure and with cut scenes in-between some levels it helps keep the player engaged with the story and not just the gameplay. Only 12 levels are available to play but these levels should keep you entertained for a while. As you progress the levels get harder and they take quite a few tries to complete which is effective at keeping you replaying.

The easy controls make it a simple game for children to play and very easy for them to pick up as there is really only one control to the game. The simplicity makes the journey from install to playing and completing levels very short.

Look and feel – the game has a nice simple look to it with warning signs marking out dangers and fun cartoon images and effects which work well. The music and sounds are also good, before some levels there is a cut-scene of the story which involves character voices and the music is very catchy. Even I found myself humming the gameplay song to myself after playing.

Monetisation – The app is free and includes no in-app purchases so there’s no worries there. The game also doesn’t have any limited resources like lives or energy which stop you from playing, so happily players can play to the hearts content. Many parents get concerned or are put off by in-app purchases so not including them is a smart idea for acquisition of the game.

Return Loop – There isn’t really anything in the game which tries to get the player to return to the game every day or even twice in a day. It’s very casual and so may not engage some players to the point of returning to play instead of moving on to the next app. Also when returning to the app it immediately starts the player at level 1 again instead of jumping ahead to where they were in the level progression or to a level map like Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga. Improving this may help improve player retention and engagement as young players may think they have lost their progress, and after all this is probably who the game is aimed at.

Level completion screen including score and 5 star rating

Levels are mapped out and a star rating score is achieved for each level which helps improve return play if players haven’t got the full 5 star rating.

Referral – there is not social connection in this game which is appropriate for the age of the target market. The app does encourage links to the Jelly & Pie website at Jelly Pie Central. During the game players have to try and collect a bonus golden jelly cube which will grant them a secret code to put into the website in return for a joke. This is a clever idea to direct the kids to the site and introduce them to the books and the games on the website. I felt that the app while being a fun game was trying to direct the player to the site to explore some more.

Difficulty – The difficulty of the levels increased gradually and even caused me to have to replay the levels over and over before eventually winning. Hopefully more levels will be introduced in updates with a slightly varied gameplay, as athough fun I think further levels should change things up a bit.

 

Verdict

A very nice simple app which will hopefully keep kids returning to reunite Jelly & Pie. The simple controls make it a very easy game for kids to pick up and it is appropriate for any age. The lack of in-app payments and the app being free make it an app which has parents sighing with relief as many apps nowadays include limitations to play or in-app payments which can be a constant annoyance for parents and kids alike. This app may even get parents playing starting and selecting the levels for a go at reuniting Jelly & Pie.

But what do you think?