Earlier in the week we reviewed the first of the new Mr Bean apps Mr Bean Slider Puzzle. Hot on its heels is another app offering fans of the beloved character another opportunity to interact with him. This time it’s Mr Bean Colour & Paint which allows you to bring images of the animated character to life using your own palette of colours.
As with Mr Bean Slider Puzzle, Colour & Paint offers three difficulty levels – easy, medium and hard – each of which contains 12 images for you to colour in and paint. Once you’ve selected your image you’re given a palette of 37 colours and the option to choose between three different brushes. The brushes do give surprisingly different results so make sure you choose the right one so you stay within the lines (something we failed to do on several occasions!). There’s also an eraser to allow you to rub out mistakes and you can undo a chunk of work with the undo button if you like.
The images feature a variety of characters from the Mr Bean animated series world including his teddy (of course) and Mr Bean himself in a variety of situations. Unlike Mr Bean Slider Puzzle there is no set template to work to so you’re free to paint your images in whatever way you want to.
As you progress up the difficulty levels it really does become a test of patience over skill. Some of the areas are incredibly tricky to paint and trust us when we say it will take you quite a while to finish your masterpiece on the hard difficulty setting.
Once you’ve completed your image you can save it to your Photos app on your iOS device or choose to share it via email, Facebook and Twitter. This is a nice feature as we all know how much people love to share their efforts via social media.
One of the things we felt this app missed was the competitive aspect. With Mr Bean Slide Puzzle the timer gave you a bit of pressure and it ensured that you came back and replayed puzzles several times in order to beat your score. Mr Bean Colour & Paint doesn’t have that and you may find once you’ve worked through a handful of images you have no desire to continue on as there is no incentive. It’s only a minor quibble but the timer may have worked well with this app too.
Mr Bean Colour & Paint, like Mr Bean Slider Puzzle, is a delight. The simplicity of the app is what makes it so good and visually it draws you into the Mr Bean world nicely. Our minor quibble aside, this is one app that is sure to keep the kids quiet as they furiously paint the loveable character and his friends. The saying ‘less is more’ has never been truer than it is with these Mr Bean apps.
