Sound+Fury Review

The fact that Shakespeare was one of the greatest creators of insults is indisputable (whether or not the man actually existed, alas, is another matter for another time). Read through almost any of the Bard's plays, from A Midsummer Night's Dream to Henry IV, and you'll find them replete with creative, dynamic, and, best of all, highly effective insults. Online, there are entire sites dedicated to the analysis of Shakespeare's put-downs and generators for dynamically creating your own using bits and pieces of his own words.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Shakespearean insult has finally found its way onto the iPhone? Developer rbjz postindustries' Sound+Fury provides a simple interface for accessing a repository of Shakespeare's most famous insults. Unfortunately, there's not enough in the app at the moment to warrant a purchase.

Opening Sound+Fury takes a user directly to the main interface screen. There, you find three dials: one for the gender of the individual (or, if you prefer, you may choose a genderless group) you intend to insult, one for whether you intend to insult him face-to-face or behind his backs, and one for whether you want to insult his looks, his character or his smarts. Once these variables are chosen, you click the Insult button and a famous (or, in some cases, not so famous) Shakespearean insult is revealed, along with the title of the source play.

Note that Sound+Fury is NOT a Shakespearean insult generator, as it does not create anything new. Rather, it is an interesting way to search a library of established Shakespearean insults. My only problem with this is that the insults aren't all that good (there are certainly better ones out there in the Bard's plays) and sometimes the variables you choose result in no insult at all. This is particularly odd, since there are so few variables to choose from.

The conceit of the app is that you can use it to "dial up" an insult as your personal situation warrants, but the possibilities are so limited at the moment it doesn't seem to do this job very well. And if you want to peruse a listing of Shakespeare's insults, well there are plenty of places to do just that for free online.

Sound+Fury benefits from a streamlined, simple interface; it simply needs to grant users greater flexibility and creativity. No insult intended. :)