As an avid player of the popular app Pocket God, the release of Pocket God Comics for iOS has brought an increased love for the little pygmies inhabiting the world of my iPhone. When Pocket God first launched, I instantly loved the entertaining misfortunes that I could bring upon the little indigenous people of Pocket God. As the app continued to update and expand on a regular basis, I looked forward to each new release. This new installation of Pocket God Comics brings a new dimension to the already loved app.
The presentation layer is everything it needs to be. Upon launching the app, you will be greeted quickly by a simple and easy-to-use home screen. You will have an option to tap links to the Ape Entertainment mobile web site and the iVerse Media Comics+ app in the App Store or the in-app options. Tap on Read Issue One, and you’ll be swept into the world of pygmies, angry gods and all the adventures that go along.
Here you’ll be able to choose from portrait view, where you can see the entire page of the comic, or landscape, where you can view each of the panels in succession. In portrait view, the interface is very responsive and acts just like your iOS native photo gallery. You can drag, double-tap or pinch to zoom, or flip through the pages of the comic. I found that it looks great in portrait view, but is slightly hard to read. I read the comic in landscape view and enjoyed it. The panels were easy to read and broken down in a fashion that doesn’t take away from the feel of reading a comic book.
The only downside of the app was the resolution of the comic itself. With the beauty of the Retina Display I have quickly become a stickler for high resolution content. Whether you are in portrait view or landscape view, you will see the deterioration of the crisp artwork as you zoom. In landscape view, it will be larger but is never completely sharp. I found myself flipping through the comic in portrait view after reading it once in landscape view, so I could see everything as it was originally drawn.
One other cool feature of the app is the Discover Your Local Comic Shop button on the home screen. Tap here, and you’ll be given a brief description of what a comic shop is. Tap on Find a Comic Shop, and you’ll have the option to enter a ZIP code or tap Locate Me to search for comic shops in your area, a search function powered by comicshoplocator.com.
Rounding out the experience of Pocket God, Pocket God Comics is an entertaining app. It’s too bad they didn’t make the comic a bit higher in resolution. Either way, that small detail isn’t enough to deter me from looking forward to Issue 2. Download and check it out.
