Story Chaser App Review
App Info
Price: $3.99 In-App Purchases
Overview
Story Chaser is designed to build reading speed and accuracy for older students. Short passages of several sentences are presented with an illustration, and players must scan the text to tap the given target word within the short time limit. Players earn coins and unlock additional levels to progress through the game.
Features include:
- Short texts from famous works
- Includes literal level comprehension questions
- Points and coins to earn
- Play well to unlock additional stories and levels
- Hidden animations
Quality
Story Chaser is a high quality app. It is responsive to taps that need to be accurate and in quick succession. Developers included a helpful tutorial that will get students reading and tapping quickly, since the point of the game may not be intuitive. There are options to turn sound effects and music on or off, to share scores and to compete with friends. It would be great if developers could incorporate a reset button somewhere in the settings, to allow new users to start the game again, and perhaps a record-keeping system that could accommodate multiple players on the same device.
Education
This app will be challenging even to the best of readers at the high school level. It essentially is a speed reading app, designed to teach students how to take in phrases, sentences and even groups of sentences with a few quick visual sweeps while still absorbing the content of the text. The text for the first sections is taken from The Count of Monte Christo, which is a sixth grade reading level but challenging due to the old-fashioned vocabulary and phrasing. There are 30 levels available with the free version of this app, which will keep many students occupied for quite a while.
Players are required to keep an eye on a target word placed at the top of the screen and also to simultaneously scan several sentences at the bottom of the screen to find it and tap on it within a few seconds. The faster the tap, the more points are scored. Every few screens, there is a comprehension question about the text that has been read, and some screens include hidden animations to find in their illustrations, as well. Levels not passed are repeated, and passing levels opens new levels for play.
Story Chaser will challenge even good readers to become better, and will help average readers improve their speed. It may be frustrating for struggling readers, however, so be sure to monitor its usage to make sure students are enjoying the experience.
Entertainment
Developers have worked hard to make this app enjoyable and engaging. The story excerpts they’ve chosen to include are less common fare in many school curriculums, but appealing to the age group. Players can earn coins that help open new levels and unlock new “skills.” The app is also connected to the Game Center, where students can compare their standings and high scores with those of their friends and peers and even issue challenges to others.
Value
This is a free app, and one of the only ones I’ve seen that is designed to help good readers become better. Reading quickly and efficiently is a hugely important skill for success in college and in the workplace, so nearly all students can benefit from improving their reading at an age where the educational focus shifts away from reading instruction in school. This app really will help teens and adults build reading power that will make a huge difference in their lives.
Child Friendliness
Story Chaser does include in-app purchases that are unprotected. The developers recommend turning off the option to support in-app purchases in your device’s settings, but it would be more “child friendly” if adult mentors could turn this option on or off for this app in a settings area. There is also unrestricted access to the Game Center, which should be controllable by adult mentors, as well.
- NO external links
- NO social media
- NO 3rd party ads
- YES in-app purchases (unprotected)
- YES rate app option on settings screen (does not access App Store)
- YES access to the Game Center and leader board
