There’s an App For That: The Nick App

Well, it’s a thing, right?

 

You know, I have to give Nick some kudos. They forced Korra onto the website, and everyone lost their shit. However, I think I found their reason to. Now, this is just speculation, but here me out. Nick launched this app, and they needed a killer show to actually push downloads. So, they cancel The Legend of Korra Nick, and make it an online exclusive. Now that it’s an online exclusive, people will use whatever means is easiest to watch the episode, even if that means using the app. I won’t lie, I downloaded the app just for easier access. I know, I am a little bit of a sellout.

I am going to come out and say it now: The best part of the Nickelodeon app is that there is no crazy DRM feature that won’t let me capture screen shots of the menus! This is great!

Right out of the gate, the app is awesome for videos. On my Galaxy S3, the video is very clear, almost what the site wishes to be.  The problem here is that whenever you want to switch between videos, episodes, and games, you have to use a seperate menu by holding down the Nick logo on the top left. With this exception put to the side, it has the look and feel of the Nick website. I was afraid of this when I first used it, but it was simple and easy to find what you’re looking for.

 

It’s somewhat cumbersome, but at least it keeps the screen clear. Some apps deal with cluttering the screen to the point where the mobile device slows to a crawl. Nick finally did something right, and gave us a clean app to go by. The same can even be said for the Galaxy Tab 4 I have. You get a second row of content, but it’s still clean and smooth.

 

I tried one of the videos for Chromecast streaming, and it blows Disney’s Chromecast support out of the water. Once the video buffered up, it looked HD. It took a full season and a half, but Nick finally gave us a medium where we can watch The Legend of Korra the way it was meant to be. This was a lot better to watch on my big screen than having to watch on a terrible video service on the Nick site, or deal with the trials and tribulations of trying to watch on my phone.

Next up, I tried a game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The game was called “Shadow Heroes,” and it was a thing. The game streams off of the Nick servers, so it’s rather slow and sluggish, even on a newer tablet. The looks for the game are there, but the controls were terrible. You choose a Turtle, take either a robo-turtle or a shuriken, and ambush Foot Soldiers. If the game had directional presses instead of a slider, the game may have worked better.The performance of the game hindered what could have been a really cool stealth / action mobile game. The worst part is that the game was missing parts of the stage, like it had to catch up with the server. It wasn’t pretty. Here’s a screenshot of when the game is actually working:

All in all, I think this is a great app for any Nick video you could want to watch. But the games are lacking, and I am not sure what the issue is. This is a great option if you have kids who are rowdy on long car rides, and you need something to keep them occupied. Check it out on your app store of choice, and download the Nick app now for The Legend of Korra‘s season finale!