Thank you Four Horses for sending us this game to review!

Miles and his trusty dog Kilo were happily flying in their plane until it got off course and ran into some nasty weather. As a result, their plane crashed on a mysterious set of islands and a specter, along with his troublesome friends, ran off with some of the plane’s pieces. If Miles & Kilo want to go back home they’ll need to explore these islands and get their parts back from the fiends that took them.

While challenging, Miles & Kilo isn’t as brutal as Four Horses’ previous game, Kid Tripp. Though I still died a lot, and wished for checkpoints, this retro themed 2D platformer and sometimes runner game is quite fun and worth sticking it out.

There are two play modes depending on which character you’re controlling. Some of the levels have just Miles and play like your typical platformer where you’ll have to time your jumps and attacks with precision. Miles can throw fruit at enemies; however, he can only carry a few pieces on him at a time. Many foes can be stomped on or even avoided altogether. Only hurl fruit at the enemies that are unavoidable. Thankfully, there are plenty of pieces of fruit scattered in the levels to replenish Miles' inventory. Along with throwing fruit, Miles can also bust through some crumbling rocks.

The levels with Miles' dog are much faster paced since Kilo does not stop running. Both Miles and Kilo have two different kinds of jumps and you’ll have to master both to succeed in this game. While holding onto Kilo’s leash, Miles will sometimes have to duck under obstacles to clear them. When enemies are present, Kilo will have to lock onto them and then attack them. This locking on process is essential for reaching otherwise inaccessible areas.

In total, there are thirty-six levels and five boss battles. You have to complete the levels in order and you cannot advance to the next island without taking down the boss of the previous one. Though the levels are short, they are equally fun and challenging. I was impressed by the variety of levels and fresh gameplay techniques. Along with your typical running, jumping, and bouncing off of floating balloons, Miles will spend some of the levels surfing or riding in mine carts.

At the end of each level you’ll be graded on several factors. Depending on how long it took you to complete a level, how many coins you collected, and how much unused fruit you have, you’ll get a letter grade based on your performance. If you’re unhappy with your score you can improve upon it, but the death counter will not reset. In fact, you can see how much you have died in total in the stats menu. The stats section will also show you how many coins and how much fruit you have collected as well as how long you’ve been playing the game. I like how it also shows the distance traveled in both miles and kilometers.

If you’re good at speed runner games you’ll beat this game in less than three hours. The only replayability is improving upon your score or completion time. I was happy enough to complete some of the more challenging levels and had no desire to revisit them.

If you like retro style platform and/or runner games you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for Miles & Kilo. If you enjoy brutally difficult titles you should also consider picking up Kid Tripp. The only moral concerns in this title are the cartoon violence and undead/Halloween themed characters. I look forward to more family friendly games from Four Horses.