Review

Gameplay 86%

Leap Day  is a Jumper with simple controls and a retro arcade style. You little yellow character walks automatically left or right, and you only control it by tapping anywhere on the screen to jump, and tapping again for a second leap in the air. if you land on the wall, it will begin sliding down on it, and you can perform a wall jump. The objective of the game is to reach the top floor, and there are many dangers that will try to stop you, but you’ll encounter a CheckPoint to continue there when you lose.   Obstacles can be blade wheels, monsters, plants that shoot at you, dinosaurs, robots, and the good old spikes on platforms. If you land on an enemy, you’ll defeat it just like in classic 90’s platformers, just beware of the giant and spiky monsters. In the levels you collect fruits, which you use to unlock CheckPoints. You can trade 20 fruits to activate the checkpoint, or watch a video ad, but that option gets disabled once you reach the last ten floors. There’s a big fruit that’s worth 5, so look for it. Another noticable element on the levels, are portals. They can be blue or yellow, enter one, and come out of the other one. It adds variety and challenge aside from enviromental dangers and enemies, and it’s all about the right timing to take them, because there are always stuff waiting to kill you when you come out of the portal.

Graphics 92%

Leap Day features colorful Pixel Art Animation, in the style Nitrome is known for. The characters are bouncy and while they perform just a few actions, they’re pretty well animated, and really seem to be alive, reminding of the great 2D games in times of the Sega Saturn.   The backgrounds are great, you’ll see lots of different stuff, and each daily level has a unique setting. In one level you may see the space, with planets and satellites, and the next day you’ll be playing in a factory, with metal gears moving behing you. A nice detail is that about mid-way through the level, you’ll pass a home where someone is watching TV, and it’s showing a preview of next day level.

Production Quality 82%

Leap Day doesn’t have any Power Ups, Costumes, Items or Extras, like the ones you find in most Infinite Jumpers, instead the developers decided to focus on level design, and visual quality.   The levels are pretty long, and after each checkpoint you’ll find pretty different challenges, but still, you can only tap to jump. It would’ve been nice to get items like a jetpack, or a bomb, or a one time shot laser gun, or something like that, which is common in this kind of games, and really add to the overall experience and keep the gameplay fresh. Here, after playing for a while you may feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again.

Value for your Money 60%

Leap Day is free to download in Google Play and the Apple App Store, but you’ll see a banner ad everytime you lose, and also there’s the video ad you have to watch in every checkpoint if you don’t have the 20 fruits to trade in. There’s an Ad Free version, worth $3.99, which doesn’t feel like much since you’ll have a new level every day, but similar games are worth less, so it may seem a little expensive for some people.

Launch Video

Summary

Leap Day is a fun challenging Action Platformer with nice colorful retro style graphics, and you get to play a brand new level every single day. It’s classic charm may appeal to those fond of classic 90’s platformers, but the simple controls and gameplay may get a little repetitive after a while. Still, a good option for anyone that like a good jumper. Pros

• Great colorful Pixel Art animation
• Nice chiptune music

Cons

• It could have used extra items to give the gameplay more variety
• Even with new levels, gameplay gets repetitive after a while

Game Help Guru Rating 83%