Story:
Leah has been kidnapped and Leo has to rescue her. Chance is that you heard about it before. The story has a few things going for it though.

The game injects a lot of flavor into the story. Most of it is small details like anything that has with Darwin to do, black cats serving as save points in the hope that people will associate them with something good instead of bad luck, and a penguin who sets up his shop at the most awful of places, but stays in business thanks to Leo buying a lot of healing items. There's a lot of thought put into the details.

There's also a lot of bigger things going on in the background as well. Leo isn't the only one having a problem, pretty much any sentiment creature (as well as some creatures which shouldn't be sentiment) has it's own problems. Usually Leo won't actually solve those problems. He may get involved, but more often than not he will eventually leave those creatures behind to fend for themselves. Sometimes his involvement even worsens things. This makes it feel like there's a lot more to the world than Leo and his quest.

Finally, there's a sharp contrast between lighthearted and serious in the story. In one scene, you're giving a Santa Claus hat to a penguin. In another scene, a cute character is brutally murdered. Some scenes depict some really messed up stuff and Leo just keeps going.

The author calls this a love story, but personally, I think the story is about everything else going on in the background. This works out well since that everything else is much more interesting than the love between Leo and Leah.

Characters:
First we have Leo. He's a silent protagonist and the only defining trait he has is that he'd go trough anything to find Leah. Then there's Daisy, the second character and equally silent. She shows even less personality than Leo and her reason for being there isn't explained for a long time. Also, let's not forget about Leah, damsel in distress extraordinary and always in another castle.

Fortunately, all the other characters are more interesting. Even throwaway NPCs are well-written. It goes back to there being a lot of things going on in the background that isn't really related to the main quest. The NPCs has their own problems and desires and aren't slaves to the purpose of making the hero and his quest seem as important as possible.

The main villain, a psychotic girl with a shotgun, is especially memorable. She has some rather strong cut-scenes and she comes of as a credible threat. Once the game progress to the point where you'd think Leo should be able to take her on, the game takes advantage of that fact and switched gear instead of in vain trying to keep portraying her as a threat. What this new gear is I won't say, but it's awesome.

Gameplay:
Leo & Leah offers a lot of gameplay features, but little of which you haven't seen before.

You will see enemies on the map before you encounter them. There are some tricks you can use to your advantage though. If you hold shift, you will run much faster than them, but they will home in on you. If you don't hold shift, you will move slower, but enemies will move around randomly instead of homing in on you. You can also press 3 to dash forward quickly and if you hit an enemy that way, you get the first strike.

The best part is that there's a few tricks you can use to your advantage. For example, you can hold shift to manipulate enemies into moving to positions where they are easier to avoid and then let go of shift to walk past them, or you could manipulate them into hugging a wall where it will be easier to dash into them. It's fairly easy to either avoid them or get the first strike, but the system is involving enough to keep the on screen enemies interesting.

You can find some nice things by exploring, like new skills, items that let's you do something on the map (swimming, better dash) and stat ups. Mostly you just find junk you can buy in a shop though. Still, it pays to explore the map.

Combat is the standard 2k3 fare with some flavor added. Each character can equip three optional skills out of a pool of six. Unfortunately, they are equipped as equipment, meaning each skill has a specific slot it has to go to and each slot only has two skills which can be equipped there. This limits the character customization quite a bit and the game doesn't have much of it to begin with. There's also only two characters, unless you count Plush who can't enter any commands and is only useful as a meat shield. On the bright side, most skills are rather useful and full of flavor.

The balance is rather labile. If you ever get ahead of the enemies, battles becomes a free ride which can last all the way until the end.

It's easy enough to get the first strike on enemies and you can expect to fight 90% of the battles that way. While it's more fun to got the first strike, this means that the difference between killing all enemies in two turns and needing three turns to do so, is them only having one chance to do something instead of two. This amplifies the advantage of being at a higher level. The game also have a reward system for finishing battles with a high amount of SP (survival points, this games version of MP) left, something that becomes easier to do if you're overleveled. One reward you can get is healing, meaning you don't need to use any items.

Unlike most other RPGs, items heals a certain percentage instead of a set amount. This means that they never become outdated. Items you get in chapter 1 are just as useful in chapter 5. If you're overleveled, you will not need to use any of them, but will still accumulate money. Even if you then start skipping more fights, chance is the extra wealth you accumulated will carry you trough the rest of the game since the items remain relevant trough he whole game.

Graphics and sound:
Maps are very SNES stylish and looks great. Outdoor maps are lush and colorful. Indoor maps are less so, but are usually good looking anyway. There's very few landmarks though, meaning that while the forest you're in may look great, one place in the forest will look just like any other.

The music is good and has been chosen with great care so that it amplifies the atmosphere at hand. Sound effects are also great, especially the monkey laugh.

Overall:
The story is hardly groundbreaking and battles are mostly the standard 2k3 fare, but the game has a ton of style and is well written. A lot of work has been put into the small details which, in this game at least, really paid off. Also, you gotta love a game which managed to switch between "cute and cuddly" and "bloody murder" without missing a beat.