Leaf Bound: Mecha Monkey Mayhem is PapiJump on steroids!

[THE STUD]

This review was written by Palfince and as it's so good I have posted it here for you all to see... Hope you don't mind Palfince

Leaf Bound: Mecha Monkey Mayhem - Pixel Stream
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Price: $0.99
Lite Version: Here
Played On: 2nd Gen iPod Touch
Rating: 4.5/5
Discussion Thread: Here

I beta tested this app and I'm really happy to finally see it on the App Store. The developer kindly gave me a promo code for the game and as the developer said before they put a lot of work into this game and it really shows. Below is my review and hopefully you won't think it is too bias just because I beta tested the game (although bear in mind the beta I tested only had the first 2 levels in so I only really got a feel for the game).

Leaf Bound: Mecha Monkey Mayhem can be described in just a few words; PapiJump on Steroids. The game follows the same basic mechanic as games like PapiJump, Doodle Jump and Winter Bells but it has more depth, extremely good artwork, great music and an amazing quirky feel to it.

There are two modes in Leaf Bound; Campaign and Arcade. In Campaign mode you play through all 8 levels from the start. If you die while playing this you get the option to retry the level from the start with your ongoing score from the previous levels. In Arcade mode you can play each level individually (which are all unlocked from the start). You can submit your score to the online highscores (which can be viewed here) which gives you a big challenge to beat other peoples scores around the world and gives some replayability once you complete all 8 levels.

Gameplay wise I think the game is very fun. Your character is always jumping and you have to jump from leaf to leaf, once you jump on one leaf it disappears like in Winter Bells but unlike Winter Bells you don't die by falling down. Instead you die by losing all of your 5 lives. You lose lives by getting hit by coconuts... which are thrown at you by... Mecha Monkeys!! There are a lot of different enemies in Leaf Bound from Heli Mecha Monkeys to Mecha Monkeys in Christmas Stockings. Then there are the bosses at the end of each level. These vary from Mecha Monkeys in a banana ship to Santa to a Space Ship firing lazers. It's the wackiness that makes Leaf Bound what it is. The developers video below shows some of the gameplay:

Youtube link | Pop Up

The graphics for Leaf Bound are top-notch and are similar in look to those in must.eat.birds. They have a slight manga style to them and really look amazing. The animations are also really good (the blowing up monkeys!). There is also kind of a feeling of depth in each level because of the multiple layer background which is also good. The controls for Leaf Bound are also very simple and effective. All you do if move your finger along the bottom of the screen and your character moves with you, it's that simple.

One thing I haven't talked about yet is the music and sounds in Leaf Bound and the developers have really worked hard on these. There is a different soundtrack for each level and the soundtrack changes when the boss appears. The SFX are also good. I did find that the music took a few seconds to start at the start of each level but that isn't too much of a problem.

The only other bad things that this game has is the slight lack of levels (only 8 at the moment) and the lack of visibility in some levels because so much is going on (as mentioned by some other people). These things aren't too bad though since you play to beat your own (and others) highscores (like in PapiJump) and the lack of visibility adds to the challenge of the game.

Overall this is a game that has brought something unique to the PapiJump type genre and is well worth $0.99. I'd give this a 4.5/5, there are just a couple of things that need to be changed/added to make Leaf Bound a 5/5.



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