Leander

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Leander is a young warrior and sets off to save princess Lucanna from the evil hands of Lord Thanatos. His quest is very hard because he will have to avoid traps, kill more than 100 types of enemies and finally confront Thanatos himself. And this is not a walk in the park. The levels are not linear; they go in all 8 directions and need a lot of search and mapping before they can be explored with ease on a regular basis. Numerous assorted creatures are populating each level, from elves to dragons and huge spiders! And they keep on re-spawning as well! Fortunately, Leander has his trusty sword that can be upgraded by opening loads of chests and trunks littered around and find gold in order to be used for upgrades, such as armor improvements (and energy) on certain shops. Leander is definitely a serious action adventure game with platform elements and high difficulty. It's gorgeous to look at, and also a treat for your ears (at least on the Amiga).

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The ST version is cool although it looks and sounds inferior to the Amiga original (as expected) since the game was developed with the Amiga's Custom Chips in mind. Nevertheless, the ST game is good at its own rights. The visuals are nicely done, with 16 colors on-screen. Unfortunately, this version has no backgrounds apart from black screens. The sprites, the foreground and the items have fewer colors than the Amiga and when the screen is crowded, slowdowns are inevitable. The ST version's sound consists of sound effects only (and no in-game music). Comparisons with the Amiga aside, the ST Leander is really a cool and good looking game.