Todays iPhone app that I will be reviewing isn’t so much of fun from games but instead it is fun from viewing some of the most amazing works by M.C. Escher. M.C. Escher (Maurits Cornelis Escher in full) was a Dutch graphic artist who is known for his mathematically inspired works, and these often featured impossible constructions such as in infinite staircase and so on. What this app does, is share the joy and magic that this great man produced, and if you’re looking for some mesmerizing pictures to look at, this app certainly does just that.
The app consists of M.C. Escher’s works, and among the collection features several unedited sketches and photographs of the artist himself. The pictures can be saved within your iDevice itself as well as using them as wallpapers and whatnots. It is nice and fascinating to see all his works and a greater joy to share the entertainment and amazement you had with another person.
In addition, the app includes two games that challenge your intellectual ability. The first named “Lights Off†will put logical and perhaps mathematical skills to the test as you are presented with a preset amount of lights being on and what you have to do is to turn them all off. However, every time you turn one off or on, the surrounding lights will all be turned in their opposite states. With hat in consideration you have to figure out the steps to turn them all off within a limited number of moves. The other game “Pentomino†is something like tetris but it is static. What you have to do is to fit in the given shapes of blocks to fill up exactly a whole rectangle; it is really hard for me and requires a lot of thinking.
That is basically what the app has to offer. Instead of fun and games it is more of the kind of informative app that tells you more of the artist himself and showcases some of his greatest works. However, with the steep price of $2.99, I really doubt anyone would actually want to spend that amount to pay for images that you can easily search up in the net. The thing is you might not be able to find them all and the app immediately helps collect them in a bunch for you to view but with today’s internet I doubt it is going to be really hard.
Another thing about the app is that the images of the works showcased are as it is on my iPhone. You cannot zoom in or anything but view his majestic works in a small screen with details being left out due to the sheer quality and size. That is another downside to the app, images found on the internet are probably of higher resolution and size, and the attention to detail is of much higher in that case. Something maybe the developers can work on, not that difficult actually.
Overall if you’re looking for a quick solution to see one of the great artists’ pieces the app is definitely for you. No doubt you will get endless amount of inspiration and enjoyment from viewing his pieces but the pricing might certainly put many off.
iTunes App Store Link: Discover the magic of M.C. Escher ($2.99)