In a similar vein to Flips: Too Ghoul for School, Flips: Artemis Fowl is another series of interactive books. This time round however, the game is aimed at older children who might want a more focused reading experience than Too Ghoul For School offers with its many distractions.
Artemis Fowl is a series of books about the teenage criminal mastermind of the same name. It’s a darker affair compared to the likes of Too Ghoul for School, and rightly so considering these books are aimed at the ‘tweenie’ age group, 10-13. Despite being a child, Artemis Fowl is quite ruthless as is shown in the first book where he kidnaps a member of the reconnaissance unit of the fairy police force. Think of Artemis Fowl as an anti hero of sorts with some of the moral quandaries later in the series blurring the lines between right and wrong. No surprise then that kids love their sense of adventure and moral ambiguity.
Flips: Artemis Fowl offers six full books as well as two unlockable extra stories. In a similar manner to other titles in the Flips series throughout each story there are a number of hyperlinks which once clicked open up extra character information and images. There are also various code pieces that can be collected as the story progresses which aid in unlocking the extra stories as well as interviews with characters from the books and the author Eoin Colfer.
Navigating the books is simple once more with intuitive stylus based controls as well as the option to use the d-pad. I did find that as the Artemis Fowl books are roughly twice as long as Too Ghoul For School’s, it was easier after a while to revert solely to the d-pad for the sake of my fingers, but the option to use the stylus was still a welcome option.
In terms of game content there really isn’t much here but the advantage of having a number of books in the palm of your hand is certainly handy for fans of the Artemis Fowl books. It also works fantastically in encouraging children to read as much as possible. Aimed at the tweenie age group it ensures that kids continue to think that reading is cool well into their teens. It’s a shame that the interactive features seem to be more limited here as even at the age of 25, I quite liked taking the time out to clear slime from my screen, but it’s not a huge problem. It just makes Flips: Artemis Fowl seem even less like a game than other Flips titles. Now how about some adventure game book style games akin to the Fighting Fantasy series EA?
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
