Halftone 2 Review
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Halftone 2 Review

Our Review by Jennifer Allen on May 30th, 2013
Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: GREAT COMIC MAKING
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Go in expecting to pay up for the full app, but enjoy this highly entertaining and professional comic book making tool.

Developer: Juicy Bits
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPad 2

iPhone Integration Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar
User Interface Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar
Re-use Value Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar


Building on the success of comic creation tool, Halftone, comes Halftone 2. It's a fairly impressive tool for the iPad that makes it easy to create professional looking comic books from photographs, but one that comes at quite a price.

In a seemingly common trend for apps, Halftone 2 is free but with a huge selection of in-app purchases to supplement what's already there. Mostly every option comes with the choice of "more" but at a price. It's possible to still create a fun comic book with the basics, but those wanting to frequently use the app will find themselves having to pay out for variety.

Fortunately, the standard is pretty high, as well as very easy to implement. Tap anywhere on the strip and a circular selection of options emerge, along with tooltips explaining what everything does. From then on, everything is very intuitive and simple to do. It's possible to change the background color, add specific borders, as well as add numerous different filters and enhancements to photos. The most enjoyable options come courtesy of text options and stamps, with it simple to add comic book style writing as well as plenty of kapows and bams, Again, though, it comes at a price to truly have fun, with only three available in the free package.

One thing that is completely open in the free version is the share button. Everything possible is catered for here, from using email, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox and even Weibo to share creations. It's possible to print directly as well as open in other apps, too.

That's, potentially, the most frustrating thing about Halftone 2. It's a great app but it's really not a free app. For a brief play around or demo session, it's ideally priced, but for anything more than that, paying out is required. The most expensive in-app purchase, priced at $6.99, is called Essentials, which says it all really. It'll be worth it though, as Halftone 2 is quite the professional tool and great fun to play around with.

iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

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