Luno is a somewhat interesting Windows Phone game where you are called upon to help a young boy, Luno, find his way through the woods and safely home.
The challenge is that Luno is sleep walking and isn't being very careful where he steps. You have to protect him from bear traps, crows, thorny bushes and other dangers as he treks through the woods. The side scrolling game is available for low-memory Windows Phones and has nicely drawn up graphics, challenging game play and overall, a fun title to have in your Windows Phone gaming library.
The main menu for Luno has two gaming options, level based play and challenge based play (the skull button). The challenge based option defines the goals for your round of play (step on every mole, do not use a specific ability, etc.) and you will need to finish the first level of play to unlock the challenge based play. The mechanics are identical for both gaming modes.
Level play will start you out with a tutorial level that guides you through the ins and outs of game play. In a nutshell, Luno will begin walking across the screen and orbs will appear that are to be collected to activate his protective abilities. Tap on the orbs to collect them and the abilities are controlled by on-screen buttons that run along the left side of the gaming screen.
You have fire, earth and arcane defenses that can be combined to enhance the defenses. Tapping one of the buttons will reveal any options to combine an ability or any variations of its use. For example, the arcane ability can be used as a defense or to replenish Luno's dream meter.
Along the top of the screen you will find counters for the orbs you collect, a dream meter (health meter) and your coin count. Coins are collected as you destroy the dangers and can be used in the gaming store (accessible in between levels) to purchase items that will enhance Luno's defenses.
Game play has a slightly quick pace where you are constantly tapping the screen to collect the orbs, activating defensive abilities and taking out dangers. For example to protect Luno from a crow, you would tap the fire button and then on the crow to turn the bird into a ball of flames. The earth button would be used to stomp dangers found on the ground.
You will also be called upon to move items across hazards, which will allow Luno to safely navigate across them. Such as moving a tree limb across a creek.
Overall Impression
Luno can be a rather frustrating Windows Phone game until you get the hang of the gaming mechanics. Once you get the hang of things, it can still be frustrating but more so from the challenges the game presents.
The graphics are well drawn up but a little on the dark side. The game does take place during the night so a little dim lighting is expected but it makes some of the dangers hard to pick out of the background. This does add to the games challenge but may be a little frustrating to some.
Overall, I liked Luno and found it to be a challenging Windows Phone game that kept you on your toes. Luno is described as a casual side-scrolling game in the Windows Phone Store but with all the tapping required to keep Luno safe, I'm not sure I would use the word casual to describe things.
Luno is a free Windows Phone game with in-app purchase opportunities to buy gold or to unlock a strategy feature.
At last check, Luno is pulling down a 4.5 star rating in the Windows Phone Store, which is about right for this game. If you take try Luno, let us know what you think of the game in the comments below and remember to rate Luno in the Store to give the developer a little feedback.
Download Luno for Windows Phone (Free)
