Generally when I sit down to review an app, I can get the basic idea of it fairly quickly. Within a few moments, similar apps spring to mind and I start comparing them.
There isn't anything like Ansel & Clair's Adventures In Africa. My first impressions were similar to those of Nosy Crow's Three Little Pigs. There are apps and then there are productions. This is the latter.
The app stars Ansel, a cute kid-alien who likes to travel and take pictures, and Clair, his robot sidekick. They travel through three different areas of Africa: the Nile Valley, the Sahara and the Serengeti Plains. In each area they talk about animals, geography, history and science and lead the child through some mini-games and animations.
Along the way, they look for parts for their broken spaceship and take plenty of pictures, which are saved in a travel album. The app can save the progress of multiple children at one time.
My seven-year old son played it straight through the first time he got his hands on it. He often found Ansel's antics quite funny.
Ansel & Clair's Adventures In Africa is excellent across-the-board (graphics, animations, sound) and the narration is especially good as the two main characters discuss what the find.
I highly recommend the app, with the only shortcoming I see being the price ($4.99 for the iPad only), which is just a tad high. I do hope to see Ansel and Clair explore other continents in the future.
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