Play as cat pair Leo or Mia as they rescue animals in this 3D adventure game.  Go out on missions in the savannah, jungle, and mountain regions as you rescue and take care of animals as well as fight off poachers.  Supposedly this is a sequel/spinoff game where in the first one you played as Leo the firefighter.  I never played that game so I don’t know how different this one is.  But anyway, Leo and Mia: Animal Rescue is available on all current consoles but reviewed on Switch here.

After a tutorial mission where you reclaim a poachers’ base as your own, you’ll start out by selecting a mission (15 in all).  These usually involve tracking down a herd of animals, fighting off poachers, and then taking the animals back to camp.  To do this, you’ll travel through vast 3D areas, and luckily they have guides telling you exactly where to go.  Leo and Mia can walk and run, as well as jump, swing a stun stick at poachers, shoot them with a bee gun, use a hang glider, and more.  You can also pet the animals when you are close, as well as throw food at them to feed them.

This game looks like it could’ve been done during the PS2’s early days, and that’s being generous.  Plus the game has awkward camera angles and controls, and just feels janky overall.  This game was clearly designed for younger players, and they may not mind all the performance issues and bad graphics.  But I still think kid gamers deserve better than this.

Kid Factor:

Leo & Mia: Animal Rescue is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You can hit poachers (who happen to be cartoony lizards) with a stun stick and bee gun, and when they’re defeated they inflate like a balloon and fly away.  If you run out of energy, you just start back nearby where you lost, so hardly any penalties there.  Reading skill is a must as the game is all text based, and younger gamers may need help with some of the tougher missions.

Tags: Game Reviews