Ryan North's To Be Or Not To Be

 iOS
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
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  1. ScotchYeti
    May 6, 2015
    7
    A very funny retelling of Hamlet where you can make your own choices. I have two minor complaints:

    - The author is a bit too intrusive. The first time you smile at the comments but later it just gets old. - There are a lot of sudden ends. In the beginning I have tried to make my own choices and multiple times the book was over rather quickly. Finally I surrendered and more or less    A very funny retelling of Hamlet where you can make your own choices. I have two minor complaints:

    - The author is a bit too intrusive. The first time you smile at the comments but later it just gets old.
    - There are a lot of sudden ends. In the beginning I have tried to make my own choices and multiple times the book was over rather quickly. Finally I surrendered and more or less followed the suggested story line. Other interactive books are able to combine different paths much better. You can restart from different checkpoints though but it still requires too much back-tracing.

    As a choose-your-own-adventure book it doesn't succeed, which also means that as a "game" it's a failure. However, if you are interested in a funny reinterpretation of a classic spiced up with nice illustrations then you won't be disappointed. The iOS adaption is rather cheap compared to the 25 bucks that are charged for the physical book.    … Expand
  2. Unlikeminded
    Aug 19, 2015
    0
    The game is extremely boring. The humor is very "special", in the sense that my 8 year old nephew could have thought of it. Just silly and not funny at all imho. After having "played through" the game two times within 5 minutes (especially with answers that differ from the original Hamlet story one "playthrough" can literally take only a minute or two) I already had enough. As reward youThe game is extremely boring. The humor is very "special", in the sense that my 8 year old nephew could have thought of it. Just silly and not funny at all imho. After having "played through" the game two times within 5 minutes (especially with answers that differ from the original Hamlet story one "playthrough" can literally take only a minute or two) I already had enough. As reward you get some unfunny, childish ending and a score of how much your "version of Hamlet" has deviated from Shakespeare's original play (the so called HAML-O-METER). I don't mind paying premium prices for premium games (in fact I rarely download anything freemium at all) but for what little you get here the price tag is ludicrous.

    If there at least were different ways to get through the game. But as soon as you leave the trail of the original Hamlet story (with "modern" language here, but still) the game usually ends with some "super original" line in the likes of "Bad luck Bro, aliens abducted you and your girl eloped with the overlord".

    Of course I'm paraphrasing a bit here but hope you catch my drift. "Humor" and language is exactly in this style but more importantly a self-called gamebook should have different ways of the story panning out instead of finishing as soon as you take a little turn from the direction the original play is based on. This way you're just playing a ("game")book which always ends as soon as one or two of your answers deviate from the original Hamlet story.

    My fault for listening to overpraising reviews once more. Obviously the quality of a game isn't as important as trying something different anymore. No matter how silly that might be.

    I suppose this game only caters to a very special target audience. Even if you like the work of Shakespeare, the odd kindergarten humor and the mostly ridiculously short "playthroughs" as soon as you try something different leave very much to be desired.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best iOS Game of 2015
81
#81 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2015
83
#83 Most Shared iOS Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Pocket Tactics
    Apr 8, 2015
    100
    It is truly a fantastic gamebook and a great way to spend time with Shakespeare, even if you end up searching for sunken ships on the bottom of the North Sea.
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  2. Digitally Downloaded
    Mar 26, 2015
    90
    I genuinely believe this kind of game is something that anyone studying Hamlet should play and should make it part of their extended studies of the play. That's not to say it's not entertaining, because it really is laugh-out-loud funny and working through some of the decision trees gives it a lot of replay value.
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  3. 148Apps
    Mar 23, 2015
    80
    There hasn’t been an absurd take on Hamlet this enjoyable since “Last Action Hero.”
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