While it never has so many of the timed challenges that you become numb from nervousness, it also tends to throw them at you when you least expect them. Though, at other times, you have to make split-second decisions or Leo will be killed, and the game does a good job balancing these moments. What also makes Leo’s Fortune a lot of fun is how, when dealing with those contraptions, you often have as much time as you need to figure out how they work. Sure, that person would need a really nice tool set, a lot of wood, a bunch of nails, some pulleys, and maybe a degree in engineering, but they’re still devices that could be built for real. Especially since these puzzles are always ones that could be made by someone in the real world. In fact, what really sets Leo’s Fortune apart - and makes it so much fun - is when Leo has to use his skills to make some contraption work. But he can also puff up when he’s in an enclosed area to lift objects or work switches to open doors. Also, when he goes to jump, and sucks in air, he grows about twice his normal size. Being a puffy ball, Leo can squeeze into some tight spots, though he still has enough weight that he can jump up and slam his body downward to work a switch or cause a level to move. While Leo’s Fortune often recalls other games, it does have a lot of its own clever mechanics. Once airborne, Leo can even change direction mid-flight or, if he holds his breath, float over great distances. Though it’s more because, when Leo jumps, he does so by sucking air into his little lungs, and the resulting expansion of his body sends him flying. The jumping in Leo’s Fortune also feels somewhat LittleBigPlanet-esque in the looseness of the controls. Even all of the contraptions you have to deal with - be they levers, switches, or drawbridges - look as if they were made by a magical sprite that lives in your backyard. In part, that’s due to the visuals, which are borderline photorealistic and have you running around in the cheap showiness of nature. Not only are there times when you have to move forward at just the right moment to avoid being crushed, but there’s some swimming parts, as well as moments where you ride in a cart like Mario’s monkey pal did when he got his own country.īut while Leo’s Fortune is a classic-style, 2D, side-scrolling platformer like so many of Mario’s best games - and the Donkey Kong Country games, and the Crash Bandicoot games… - it actually feels more like LittleBigPlanet than anything Ron Jeremy’s second cousin twice removed has ever done. Having lost all of his money, Leo sets out into the world, where someone just happened to leave a bunch of gold coins lying around where any bit of fuzz can just grab them.Īs you might imagine, a lot of Leo’s Fortune will remind you of Mario’s better games, and not just because Leo has a bushy mustache and a bad European accent (though he sounds more like Antonio Banderas in those Nasonex commercials than Mario). In Leo’s Fortune, you plays a little ball of green fuzz with big eyes and a bigger mustache. And though it took a year to make the trip, it seems that it was time well spent.
#LEOS FORTUNE WINDOWS WINDOWS#
But while few mobile games ever make that transition, the 2D, side-scrolling, puzzle-driven platformer Leo’s Fortune is bucking this trend by bringing this iOS, Android, Windows phone, and Amazon Fire game to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac.
Matilda, thankful for his kindness, walks home with Leo.Since the explosion of mobile games began, there’s been a bunch that seem like they’d work just as well, if not better, on a game console, and with a controller. Leo makes the decision to give his gold to the machine, thus losing his fortune again. She led him to his gold, but on the way Leo discovers the apparatus has no more liquid metal to be able to continue functioning. There, Leo encounters his wife Matilda, who had left years ago without Leo noticing, and had taken his gold because she believed it 'took his decency'. After travelling through trails, harbors, desert ruins and mountains, he encounters his relatives who turn out to not be the thieves and lead him to a snowy landscape where Leo finds the steam apparatus's facility. Leo sets out to find the thief, and is followed by the steaming apparatus, the machine that keeps the world in order, who is seemingly faltering at its job as thorns and traps keep appearing all over the land. Recounting past experiences, Leo suspects his relatives Cousin Victor, Aunt Olga, and Uncle Sergej, who also lost their fortunes in tragic accidents, of being the culprits. Leo is a famous Engineer who comes from a rich family, until one day his entire fortune is stolen.