Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 2: The Button at the Bottom of the Sea Review

Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 2 The Button at the Bottom of the Sea is an interesting sequel to the highly thought of app, Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 1: The Far Away Island, starring Bartleby, button collector and world traveler, who goes on epic adventures as he looks for more buttons to add to his collection.

In this volume, Bartleby’s adventure is an oceanic one as he has been given a tip that strange and exotic buttons may be able to be found on the bottom of the sea.

It is hard to describe this app, but the storyline about this epic adventure is just right for a book primarily made up of a series of mini-games that include pitch-perfect narration.

These puzzles are part reading comprehension as clues needed to be successful are expressed in the text and narration offered on each page. From the buttons to press, to the knobs to turn - even tilting one’s device and more - these puzzles are wonderfully interactive, with a great style and use of color, both in the detailed illustrations as well as in the mechanical elements themselves, really bringing these elements to life.

Seventeen pages are included, and I enjoy how involved some of these interactions are, as well of at times difficult to figure out, needing the use of both hands for some, good for dexterity in general. Some of these puzzles are simple, others make me contemplate looking to see if there were any Game FAQs about this app that I could find online, yet ultimately I was able to solve all of these puzzles myself without too much frustration.

Given that the amount of time spent with this app has a lot to do with how quickly one can solve these puzzles, it is a subjective question as to whether or not this app has enough content to justify the price of this application when not on sale, but the quality here is undeniable, the illustrations are terrific, the story interesting and interactions dynamic and fun. It is worth noting as well that this second volume took me longer to complete than Vol. 1.

Collectable stickers can also be found throughout that can also be printed using AirPrint, as well as Twitted if one so desires, and there are some other bells and whistles such as using iCloud to sinc the progress one makes within this app to multiple devices, as well as being able to connect this app to an HDTV with the use of airplay and Apple TV if one is using an iPad 2.

What I did not like about this app is that this book, Vol. 2, ends with a cliffhanger and a “To Be Continued” note at the last page, something I was not expecting and was disappointed by. I really wish developers would let the public know if one needs to buy installments of an app to finish the story.

I did find, however, that within this app, the included interactions can be enjoyed with their own merits, yet the storyline of this app cannot and it is a shame that people who have spent their time with this book will have to presumably wait for Vol. 3 to be released to get the conclusion of this storybook, assuming that there is not book 4 and so on as well - not an issue with the original Bartleby Book of Buttons.

Having said this, I have enjoyed the interactions within these pages and do look forward to the next volume of this series. It is nice that this app will be of interest to grade school children alone or younger children with the aid of a parent. Readers will need to decide for themselves how much the lack of an ending within Vol. 2 will disappoint their children.