With Episode 2 of Telltale’s Strong Bad series, the team has found its stride. While the first episode served to introduce the interface, world and characters to a group that probably didn’t need any introductions, the second installment has a story with charm all its own and makes references that both fans of games and Homestar Runner aficionados will enjoy.
In Strongbadia the Free, Strong Bad is under house arrest due to a new law by the King of Town taxing emails. He then rallies the others to declare independence and siege the King’s castle. A large portion of the game spoofs the board game Risk, using a board for a game called “Maps and Minions” and taking over nearby nations. Newcomers will like that this installment features more jokes that don’t require knowledge of the site, and fans will enjoy the return of the quirky Homsar and more appearances by Strong Sad, Strong Bad’s depressed little brother.
The engine is identical to the first. Don’t expect any improvements or changes here, as Telltale left everything the same and focused on the story. It’s difficult to fault an episodic game for reusing resources. Instead, the team created a slightly longer adventure with essentially just one month of development time.
Other changes include a new retro-spoof minigame and a new Teen Girl Squad comic. And for those of you that played the first game: no, the Trogdor arcade machine isn’t fixed yet.
