Leander (Third Review)


Title           Leander (Third Review)
Game Type       General Action
Publisher       Psygnosis
Players         1
Compatibility   OCS/AGA
HD Installable  Yes, with patch
Submission      William Payne

Review
Typical of Psygnosis’ Amiga  games, Leander was a side-viewed action game
with a strong stylistic element to the graphics and sound, and perhaps
lacking a little in depth of gameplay. A natural successor to the likes of
Shadow of the Beast and The Killing Game Show, Leander's visuals were more
anime-influenced (despite an Ancient Greek setting) and the game slightly
more mentally taxing, although not exactly Civilization by any stretch of
the imagination.

Each stage required you to steer your little knight-in-shining-armour
either all the way to the left of the large, scrolling level to collect a
key, then unlock the gate at the right, or vice-versa. Enemies you met
along the way were large, colourful and well-animated, and the game had
more of a console look-and-feel than a typical Amiga game, even to the
point of being compatible with 2-button Sega joypads. Coins collected on
your travels could be traded in at the shops that appeared sporadically
through the world, for bigger swords and different coloured armour. The
music was of the usual Psygnosis quality, strangely eerie synthetic
panpipes which would be awful anywhere but in an early 90's Psygnosis
Amiga platformer.

Leander was an enjoyable game, but probably not worth playing through
twice. Fans of the Shadow of the Beast games will almost certainly love it.





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