Lep's World 3 is a relatively new Windows Phone game where evil trolls have stolen a Leprechaun village's stash of gold, along with kidnapping the residents. The platformer game has 120 levels to navigate, plenty of monsters to avoid as you recover your gold and rescue the villagers.
Available for low-memory Windows Phones, we stumbled upon Lep's World 3 the other day while searching the Store's aisles. Seeing that it pulls down a solid 4.5 star rating, we took Lep's World 3 out for a test drive to see what all the excitement is about.
Lep's World 3's main menu presents you with options to jump into game play, rate the game, log into the game with your Facebook account (optional) and access the game's settings.
Settings cover the basic options that include sound/music levels, language options and the credits. Lep's World 3 has three saved game slots, which is nice when you want to share the game without screwing up your game progress.
The 120 levels of play are scattered across six worlds that range from the Highlands to the desert to a spook forest. You also have a game store that is accessible throughout the game (the shopping cart icon) with in-app purchases for additional characters and bonus items. Keep in mind that the bonus items will be available during game play but if you feel the need to stock up, the gaming store is where to go.
The individual levels are progressively unlocked and can be replayed to improve your score. Lep's game screen has your vital statistics running across the top of the screen that includes your lives, a game timer, coins collected and pine cones collected.
Gaming controls are on-screen buttons that control your left/right direction, jumping and pine cone tossing (to take out enemies). Game play starts out in the Highlands and reminds me a lot of the classic Super Mario games. Additional worlds include rotating and moving platforms, underwater worlds and winter wonderlands. Regardless of the environment, you will need to guide Lep across each platform from the starting line to the finish line.
You jump to collect coins, bash clover bricks, bash monsters and navigate over cliffs. Double tapping the jump button will make Lep jump higher to clear the larger gaps in the platform or reach the higher ledges to collect more gold.
I haven't stumbled upon any hidden areas like those that you would find in Super Mario but there are walkways you can jump on that will give way to treasure buried beneath.
While Lep's has a casual feel, the challenge comes into play with the game timer. The goal is to collect as much gold as possible, avoid the dangers and make it to the finish line before the timer hits zero. You also have the bosses you will eventually face and have to destroy. Bonus items include magnets to attract the coins, helmets to protect Lep and more. Again, these bonus items can be picked up in the gaming store with the gold you collect or picked up as you work your way across the platforms.
Overall Impression
While Lep's World 1 and 2 flew under our radar, I'm glad to have stumbled upon Lep's World 3. Graphics are nicely drawn up, controls easy to handle and while the game isn't overly difficult, it holds enough challenge to keep the game from growing stale too quickly.
There is one slight annoyance with the game design in that full-page ads appear randomly between levels. You'll have to close them out to advance to the next level of game play. The full-page ads aren't as oppressive as we've seen in other gaming titles but irritating nonetheless.
Overall, if you like the Super Mario styled platformers you should like Lep's World 3. Is it worth the 4.5 star rating in the Windows Phone Store? It's a close call and while we'd dial things down a bit we wouldn't quibble over half a star.
If you give Lep's World 3 a try, let us know in the comments what you think of the game. Also, remember to rate Lep's World 3 in the Windows Phone Store. It is the easiest way to offer a little feedback to the developer.
Download Lep's World 3 for Windows Phone (Free)
