Leo's Fortune - HD Edition 9+

My six year (and ten month) old son likes this game. He played it immediately with no help from me… The first level does a very clever job of introducing you to the simple controls and gameplay. The “violent” aspect that earns this game a 9+ age rating seems to be only when Leo hits a thorn or spike, but at that point the game just freezes for a second and resets Leo’s position to where he was a just before your mistake… There’s really no graphic or audible violence. My son sees much worse violence in so-called age-appropriate cartoons. It doesn’t make you replay large sections when you make a mistake, which is nice. The “skills” required for playing the game are timing the direction of Leo’s movement to avoid obstacles, and to take the desired path. I personally don’t like timing-style games, but my son enjoys it. The “puzzles” so far have been very simple to solve, but add periodic clever touches. I really like how Leo grunts, “Ha ha!” and other non-verbal sounds as you make it across a jump or make a mistake… Strangely satisfying. The only complaint is that the gameplay is a single motif, meaning that you’re basically slidinging along a path, timing jumps the whole time, with occassional needs to balance on a beam or bump into a lever/switch. It would be a richer experience if the game had additional modes of play for the character, maybe flying or swimming. In summary, it’s a pretty and clever side-scroller game.

I liked this game at first. The art work is fantastic and the story line is quite cute and I liked the claver puzzle one has to salve. However close to the end of the game. some of the levels are almost impossible to see because they are so dark. One has to guess and most of the time one is wrong. Also I ended up trying to start over and over again. It got boring quick. I did finish the game however by pure luck.
Now if you like art work and clever puzzles this is a cute game to play, Otherwise, its the same thing over and over again.

This is everything I want a game to be. It’s astoundingly beautiful, fun, whimsical and inventive. It’s an adventure game, but there are no bad guys to fight, just pits and spikes and spinning blades to avoid, and unique, engaging puzzles to solve, all of which are integrated into their settings splendidly. There are plenty of of parts that are about timing, jumping, or getting the right motion, but a lot of it is hitting levers or tilting platforms or rolling a boulder where you need it to get past an obstacle. It’s a perfect mix of exhilaration and mechanical cognition. I only wish there were more levels, but it’s a very satisfying length as it is, and I wouldn’t want more levels at the expense of quality. For the price of admission, you get an absolutely astounding experience. They made no compromises on the graphics, or really any aspect from storyline to voice acting to game dynamics. So I guess I don’t want more levels, so much as I want to keep playing. I know the creator isn’t wild about sequels, but I hope he keeps making more games of similarly lighthearted spirit, where adventure and wonderment abound. I feel like a kid again playing this game.