CelebRhymes Review
iPhone App
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CelebRhymes Review

Our Review by Brad Hilderbrand on November 11th, 2010
Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar :: CUTE BUT SHORT
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CelebRhymes is a neat concept in a flawed package. While the game is sometimes fun, more often it's awkward and boring.

Developer: Davit Osipyan
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPod Touch

Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar
Game Controls Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarhalfstarblankstarblankstar
Replay Value Rating: starstarblankstarblankstarblankstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar

How much do you think you know about celebrities? Are you so well-versed in the exploits of Johnny Depp and Shakira that you can recognize their accomplishments in poem form? If so, then you're the ideal audience for CelebRhymes, which offers a cute new twist on traditional celebrity trivia.

Every round of CelebRhymes opens with a rhyming paragraph about a certain famous personality, with that individual's name being left out. For instance, one puzzle presents players with the stanza:

"He is lithe as a llama,
He is as strong as a buck,
And his last name's: [blank]
And his first name's: [blank]"

Observant players might be able to discern from the meter of the poem that the answers are "Obama" and "Barack," but if you can't quite piece it together yet you can get further hints by tapping on hidden paragraphs which delete a small portion from your overall score. The clues typically get less ambiguous the further back in the poem you go, so that by the time the whole thing is laid out for you it's almost guaranteed you'll have figured out the answer.

Each game consists of five rounds and at the end players are given a cumulative score. Unfortunately the game doesn't bother to show you your score as you go and never really explains how it arrived at your final point tally, so it may as well be assigning a random number. On top of all that, there are currently only 27 puzzles available, so you can see everything the game has to offer in less than an hour. While more rhymes may pop up in future updates, for now there's really very little content to enjoy.

While CelebRhymes has a few witty turns of phrase and a couple entertaining stanzas, most of the poems are bad on a cringe inducing level. Many are awkwardly worded and some celebrity names are just so unique that trying to rhyme them with anything feels ham-fisted. For example, the game tries to rhyme Pacino with cappuccino; I guess it's technically correct, but it feels incredibly strained.

CelebRhymes is a cute novelty but unfortunately that's about all it really is. The concept is neat and on a few occasions is executed well, but for the most part the game falls short of its potential. Maybe down the road where there are more puzzles to try and the writing has gotten a little better this app will be worth it, but at this point it's a tough one to recommend.

iPhone Screenshots

(click to enlarge)

CelebRhymes screenshot 1 CelebRhymes screenshot 2 CelebRhymes screenshot 3 CelebRhymes screenshot 4 CelebRhymes screenshot 5
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