Leo's Fortune review - a grand furrytale adventure!

Leo's Fortune had been making its fortune on iOS for a while, before its Android version was shown off at this year's Google I/O. Obviously, it takes a special game to be worthy of a big-stage introduction. And Leo's Fortune is special in every way. It's equal parts game and art; a likely contender for mobile gaming's Hall of Fame. Put simply, it's a game you'll fondly remember spending $4.99 on. And such a breed of game is all too rare these days.

Leo's Fortune tells the adventure of Leopold, the Grand Inventor of Greatest Engineering (read in a faux English-Italian accent). He used to be rich and fortunate, but a clever thief stole his treasures and left all the coins on the road like breadcrumbs to follow. Leo is determined, as only a living ball of fur with a mustache can be, to get to the end of this mess and return his belongings. And that's how the fairy-tale begins.

Leopold might seem like a silly protagonist to play as, and the fairy tale tropes might not go down well with the Call Of Duty & Clash of Titans crowd. But the four-people team at 1337 & Senri has crafted a work of love and intimate attention to detail, while ending up with a supremely balanced game along the way. Leo's Fortune is as much about its vivid hand-drawn backdrops and impeccable soundtrack, as it's about fun, challenging platforming.

The introductory stage will get you to grips with the controls. Assuming you're right-handed, your left thumb controls Leo's horizontal movement, and your right thumb controls vertical movement. After playing around for a bit, you'll notice Leo is exceptionally agile for a mustache-donning fur-ball. He can handle running, jumping, and climbing with ease, while his special maneuver - inflating - lets him get around a variety of dangers and contraptions.

As Leo follows along the trail of gold, the beautiful forest from the beginning quickly becomes an underground lair full of all kinds of mechanical dangers, lava pits, shaking platforms, lifts, and a whole lot of deadly spikes! On your first playthroughs, you'll never know what's on your way forward, and most traps and puzzles will catch you completely unprepared!

Those "darn it!" moments, followed by figuring out how to proceed ahead, form the bulk of the game. It's the "simple, but challenging" mechanic that kept Flappy Bird players glued to the screen - but Leo's Fortune is a full-blown game, not a mere distraction. The gameplay's simplicity does let you play it as a quick distraction, if you wish. But we're afraid the game is too immersive and charming to let you get away with a couple of minutes of playing on the ride from work.

Leo's Fortune features 24 levels of much variety. And although we're yet to get through them all, we have no reason to believe any of them are of lower quality compared to the rest. In fact, they are so well designed, that if you happen to become a fan and play the game more than once, you'll get to know them by heart. That's the mark of a quality game.

We've sung our praises about Leo's Fortune's presentation qualities already. Once again, this is a visual and aural feast that should excite both grown-ups and adults. The experience is times better than contemporary cartoons and most CGI movies, anyway.

With all said and done, we're only going to say that Leo's Fortune launches on Android come July 10. Watch the new trailer and get this game.

Developer: 1337 & Senri / Tilting Point	Download: Android, iOS
Genre: Adventure	Price: $4.99