Another iPhone app review, this time for the latest JTR game.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/track-the-ripper/id526677865?mt=8
iPhone/iPad
£2.99
Track the Ripper is an interactive mobile movie that allows you to visit the streets of London’s Whitechapel in 1888. Glean as many clues as you can and match your findings against a police database of suspects to identify the Ripper. Can you repay the faith shown in you by Inspector Abberline and stop the most notorious serial killer of all time before he kills Mary Kelly? Track the Ripper can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home, but for the bravest of souls, it is recommended that you follow in Jack’s footsteps and walk the streets of London. Made in Association with the Fink Agency, Jody Medland and Bullseye Lantern Ltd.
Unlike the previous app we looked at, Track the Ripper is a game (though it does contain a lot of accurate factual info, including accurate recreations of the murder scenes by the same team that worked on The Definitive Story documentary) so there is some departure from facts for dramatic purposes. It did not bother me one bit!
This is a fully immersive game, taking you back to Whitechapel 1888 and letting you compare the then to now. It is also designed to let you play while taking part in a Ripper tour (though I’m not sure how advisable this would be late at night – a bit like wearing a giant tshirt saying “mug me!”) and contains directions from each murder site as the game progresses. The clues are given by actors in recreations of the crime scenes, and despite the subject matter it is not very lurid or tasteless.
Each time you play the game your choices of what to investigate can influence who the Ripper is and your task (given to you by Abberline no less) is to arrest a suspect based on the profile you put together in time to save Mary Kelly.
It is addictive though! I started playing late last night and was determined not to go to bed until I won a game! It was nearly 1am by the time I managed this and so I blame my tiredness today entirely on this app!
Inspector Abberline gives you instructions
Your Casebook begins to form a profile of the Ripper
Investigating a crime scene
Your map, taking you to each crime scene