Harold

Harold is for me the most beautiful game made on Unity!!!
Graphics in this game is a marvel, hand-drawn locations - very large!
Each element of the entire board is drawn from start to finish; and nothing here is repeated - on top of that, each race takes place in a different climate and location - from winter - to deserts through jungles.
On top of that there are funny and imaginative character animations - and those wonderful particle effects - explosions,crackles,sparks etc!
And cartoon animations as movie inserts before each race - in a cool style drawn <lightly manga-like :D>.
Plot.
Before I get to the gameplay I'll write what the story is about - the whole game takes place in heaven where young guardian angels in the local gymnasium study and train.
A pair of opponents appears here - a pit laugher aka Prankster and a miracle deity blonde from a noble family.
Laughing Man does everything right, he easily succeeds in everything, while Miracle Goddess Blonde, despite trying with all her might, is always inferior, and even when she is not, the hero Prankster annoys her.
Here is where the gameplay begins - our guardian angels get a protégé from the ground who runs in a race and they have to help him so that he doesn't kill himself (all for ratings!).
Gameplay.
In the game, we play our own guardian angel who, with the help of divine powers, can move and manipulate specific objects on the map and crack the main character with lightning - then he starts running faster.
The entire race board is divided into segments in which there are several traps - the moment Harold reaches it we get the opportunity to interact with objects on the board - and so on in turn until the finish line.
Harold himself can only jump up and down and speed him up with the help of lightning (for this you need to collect special halos scattered around the board).
However, in the race we do not run alone, there are also representatives of other angels whom we must unfairly interfere when possible - and watch out for them because when we run with someone at an equal pace; believe me, but two people on one liana is not her very good idea.
Control is based 100% on the pad. WITHOUT a pad you CANNOT OPERATE THIS GAME.
You use the pad to unscrew taps or move up and down the controls. On the keyboard there wouldn't really be a way to implement this; this interaction with objects.
Modes of play we have three - the first is a tutorial. Before we approach the game we have to play each segment of a given map in the tutorial to learn what we need to do at a given point - just for example, move the board to the left, cut the line and lift the saw up.
Later we have a proper run in which if we die twice we have to play from scratch - you have to finish at least third place.
The third mode is challenge - where Harold runs constantly fast, we have one life and a bunch of stars to collect.
Music - it's here Superb!
All songs are such played African melodies from the bush - Hawaiian rhythms and some others that are hard to categorize - For me the music is MEGA!!! (check yourself on youtube WORTH IT)
It's hard for me to find a downside - as for me it's too difficult - I admit I could not pass it, it's very demanding but it's mainly because of the control unfortunately, harold runs so slowly that it's hard to get used to it and measure the jump - especially that you have to jump a millimeter before the edge otherwise you will not jump.
You should be able to choose the difficulty level on easy where it does not matter which place you take.
AND ATTENTION THIS GAME CAN NOT BE RUN WITHOUT A PAD!
For me, this game is another marvel to the list - a graphic masterpiece with an interesting storyline and enjoyable sometimes annoying gameplay.
I give a dyche! A WHAT!

Harold is a challenging, high quality hand-drawn 2D platforming racing game where you play as a guardian angel in learning, trying to graduate from school into a prestige academy, you have to at least win 3rd place in all (I think all) races. The twist is, you mainly control the environment of the race, with only a jump action you can do with the character that's in the race.
The hand drawn graphics are really high quality, and it looks gorgeous along side the animations and the music too. At first glance one could say it's a game that came out of a Disney movie, the 2D classic kind, not the CGI kind.
The story is cheerful one, and the characters are nice and likable, accompanied with great voice acting. And just the whole presentation of the game is almost spotless, with the right fine touches being applied. The music is just damn awesome and 'magical' if one could say, it reminded me the awesome music from Lilo & Stitch.
The gameplay is you racing with having control mainly of the environment rather than the character, where you have to interact with certain parts of the environment, and little character control, which is only jumping and enabling a speed bost, to be able to finish a race.
The game itself is really challenging, even from the beginning, which is why they always have a practice session before every new race in a new level for you to get an idea of how you manage and finish the level. It was also a good thing for me that they didn't make it mandatory that you have to finish first place, and they made it where you have to finish at least at third place.
Along the way you will learn new techniques every now and then regarding a level, that will introduce something new you will have to cope with, in order to finish the level in most cases, or learn how to better use them and finishing the level in the fastest possible way at first place.
There's a decent amount of content for you to go through and finish, with a challenge mode for each level that's even changed up a bit in a different way where you have to finish the race with speed bost on and not failing once, and that mode helps add more replayability.
The bad thing is that it's sometimes it's hard to tell where the character you play as is standing, especially in speed mode, which results in fuzzy knowledge of when to jump. The other problem is on PC, there's no keyboard and mouse support, only controller support, and that's not a good thing. To those who say that it isn't a big deal, sure, but imagine for a moment that a game on console gets released, and it only has keyboard and mouse support, no controller support. Bad right?
The game's presentation is just spot on amazing, with the art, animations, special effects, voice acting, the beginning to the ending, the story, all of which one would think they developers hired a director from Disney movies. That plus the good challenging and different type of gameplay. I went to have another look, and actually the game is inspired by classic Disney animation, with Hollywood animation veterans that have worked on it, so no wonder this game looks great.
Shameless link to original post.

***Written using a key provided by the Developer for review purposes***
Harold is a very challenging, action-packed, platformer running/racing game which is currently available through Early Access on Steam. You take control of a guardian angel in training and you have to watch over Harold, the underdog of the competition, as he takes part in practices, races and challenges while making sure he stays ahead of the competition. Taking place across 12 stages you must first complete a practice mode where you familiarise yourself with the stage, then you take part in a race against five other competitors each controlled by another angel in training and after the race you can take part in an incredibly difficult challenge mode where you have to run the whole course without dying while collecting stars.
+Absolutely beautiful design, in particular the background scenery
+A very likeable main character (Harold) who is also well designed, as are the other competitors
+Despite only having 12 stages the different game modes, and the difficulty of the game, Harold provides hours of entertainment
+Great story behind the game
+Entertaining cartoon style cutscenes
+Great humour, I laughed out loud a fair few times while playing
+Wonderful voice acting
+Interaction with the level itself is well thought out, fun and at times challenging
+You only need to finish in third place to unlock the next event which makes it great for all players
+Each stage introduces a new mechanic/obstacle
+Great animation
+Great soundtrack
+Very nice special effects
+/-You fail a lot in this game, personally I enjoyed retrying certain sections until I got it just right but some people may find it irritating, it really just depends on how much failing numerous times bothers you
-It doesn't have keyboard and mouse controls so the only way to play is with a controller which seems strange for a PC only game
-The controls for interacting with the environment are quite difficult to get used to in my opinion
Verdict:
9
An outstanding platform racing game with wonderful design and challenging gameplay, I cannot recommend this game enough especially to those who like a challenge.
El K.

As much as we love it, we can at least admit that Harold isn’t necessarily for everyone. Loris said himself that each person’s tolerance for failure varies quite a bit so it’s difficult to say whether or not everyone can deal with the game's challenges. That said, we don’t especially enjoy indie games focused solely on difficult platforming, but in the case of Harold, we just couldn’t put it down. What is certain is that, for 15 Euro, you’ll never feel robbed by the game or the developers, who are truly committed to pleasing players. Visually stunning, musically brilliant, Gamersyde strongly advise you to jump on this one rather than waiting for the “inevitable Steam sale in a few months”. We can’t wait to see what this ten person team can accomplish in the future and we’ll be eagerly awaiting their next projects whatever they may be. In the meantime, we’re heading back to the races.
Full review here:
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Emballés et dithyrambiques que nous sommes, il faut comprendre qu'un jeu comme Harold ne s'adresse pas à tout le monde. Loris le disait lui-même, le seuil de tolérance à l'échec étant très différent d'une personne à l'autre, difficile de vous promettre que vous garderez un calme olympien en toutes circonstances en jouant au titre de Moon Spider. Ceci étant dit, n'étant pas spécialement des hardcore gamers prêts à passer des heures et des heures sur certains jeux indépendants reconnus pour leur difficulté, nous avons énormément de mal à décrocher de ce jeu de plateforme à l'envers. La marge de progression est impressionnante, la profondeur de jeu beaucoup plus grande qu'il n'y paraît lorsqu'on le regarde en vidéo, et c'est réellement en l'essayant que vous pourrez savoir de quoi il retourne. Ce qui est certain, c'est que pour 15€, vous en aurez pour votre argent si vous accrochez au concept, et que vous ne vous sentirez jamais volé, ni par le jeu, ni les développeurs qui se sont vraiment attachés à nous faire plaisir. Visuellement superbe, musicalement génial, Gamersyde vous conseille fortement de vous y mettre et de ne surtout pas ranger Harold dans la catégorie des "jeux à prendre en soldes sur Steam d'ici quelques mois". Quand on voit ce qu'a réussi à accomplir ce petit studio de 10 personnes, on se prend à rêver de leurs prochains projets, qu'il s'agisse d'une probable suite ou de courses supplémentaires à ce premier épisode. On croise les doigts pour eux donc, et en attendant, on y retourne !
Test complet ici :
French:

One of my favorite game! The gameplay is fresh, creative. The 2D graphics is nice, like Rayman. Music is nice, also in in-game sound. Harold is about a school in heaven, where students have their own human racer, and they have to compete to other students with their racers. They use the tablets on heaven to control them! Funny!
Harold has 10 stages taking place in various locations, like the beach or desert, etc.... Each stage has 3 sections: Practice, Race and Challenge. In Practice, you will play some levels to improve your skills (collect 3 stars each level) and then you will race in "Race", with 5 others opponents. After finishing the race, you will be able to play "Challenge", which is collecting as many stars as you can during the racetrack. This is a like a race game so you have to be very quick to make ways for your buddy to run and set traps to another racers.
To sum up. this is a must-buy game!

I just received Harold as a present and I didn't know the game at all.
But I have to say that I am really impressed by the gameplay, the graphics and the music at the same time!
The gameplay is really unique. It's quiet hard but they give you all the tools to succeed! So if you fail a race you wil be angry after you but not the game.
The animation is like a Disney cartoon, have just a look at the waves in the background of the beach level and you will understand what I am talking about.
The music is discret at the begining of the race but get more loud when you increase the speed of Harold. And it's a great idea because you feel like having a crowd encouraging you and it's a great feeling.
You should try it if you like challenges!
Harold is a great indie game!

Harold in its self is a very cute game. The character Harold' adorable, the storyline's silly, and is a very bright game. I've only played the few first levels, but I can see myself playing more in the future. The only complaint I have so far is it is a strictly controller based game, and for a person who uses a keyboard most the time playing games, it is something I have to get used to. Other than that, it's a lovely game, with a very cutesty personality. So worth the $20.