Wombi Detective - a crime solving mystery for kids Review

Posted by Amy Solomon on December 10th, 2012
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Wombi Detective is wonderful new universal interactive role-playing app that allows children to solve mysterious crimes.

I really enjoy this app, as I do other Wombi apps as they can be enjoyed by adults as well as their children.

The sense of style is terrific, including a moody film noir look that I have not seen in other children’s applications.

To play, this app begins with the close-up of an old-fashioned black rotary telephone on a desk next to a classic green banker's lamp, with damask wallpaper on the interior of this room, presumably the office of the detective seen in the fun, vintage inspired intro video which opens this app. These are period details that make me smile, even if they are over the head of my almost five year old.

Answer the phone, and players will meet the victim of a theft, who explains in a way most amusing and language-neutral that the thief was wearing a mask as well as the item taken such as watch, teddy bear or pearl necklace.

Bottom of the screen are question buttons that one can tap to locate more clues to find the perpetrator - specifically eye color and a description of the hat they were wearing and their height, here described by a color that will match the height of the criminal as they are measured against a wall in the police lineup found in the next scene.

After this information is gathered, use the knowledge gathered to weed out the correct suspect from the lineup, each an interesting anthropomorphic animal person as are the victims of these crimes.


When the thief is found, go to his house and use a series of three photographic clues to search for what has been taken. Look closely at these photos, and drag them to the general area of the property they may fit, such as garage area, beach front, main house, forest behind back or the area under construction. Then search the premise to find the stolen property with a series of interesting mini-games that may include the use of a metal detector or a shovel to dig with.

My family loves how inventive this app is - with a great use of suspenseful film noir type music that really sets the tone. Adults will love playing this game as much as children will.

I was kind of surprised, in a good way, about the level of difficulty this app has as a memory game as well as testing basic cognition because there is much information to remember and decipher as one studies the police lineup. It is also nice that one can pull up the notes taken from the bottom of the screen as a reference, and there is no penalty if one chooses the wrong character except for some smug sounds heard before the player is asked to take another crack at the lineup - a nice touch.

There is not a lot I would change in this great app, but I do wish the different objects that have been stolen as well as the property areas to search could be more random as the same items and areas tend to come up over and over again - a minor note I would love to see looked at.

My son really loves this app as well as enjoys the moody opening that includes a chance to see the detective owl before this game turns into a first person role-playing game as if the player is himself the owl detective. My boy wishes there was more screen time with the owl, dressed in a fedora and other period dress, wanting to answer the phone and hand it to the owl instead of taking on the role of detective himself - an interesting comment about one of my son’s new favorite apps. Having said this, I think Wombi Detective is just about perfect the way it is, making it an excellent application to recommend to families.

Readers should familiarize themselves with Wombi if they have not done so already. They have developed a series of very nice themed puzzle apps as well as other applications, but I feel that Wombi has hit its stride in the last two role-playing apps for kids - Wombi Toys and Wombi Detective, apps that have become top new favorites for my son - high praise to be sure. I am greatly interested to see what new apps Wombi will develop next.Their new app Wombi Ice Cream is a cute and immersive role-playing application as well, to be reviewed by GiggleApps as well in the near future.

iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

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