Refreshing a Classic Formula – The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 Review

<p>Earlier this month I reviewed <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;old-school-charm-broken-sword-5-review&sol;">Broken Sword 5<&sol;a>&comma;<&sol;em> which is a sequel in an old school style adventure franchise that I have quite a fondness for&period;  This week I’ve played <em>The Book of Unwritten Tales 2<&sol;em>&comma; which is a sequel in an old school style adventure franchise&comma; only this time around I have no prior knowledge of the series as I never had the opportunity to play the original&period; After a playthrough however&comma; I can safely say that whether you are a newcomer or an old fan&comma; if you like classic style adventure games then you’re going to find plenty to love here&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Things apparently pick up right where the original left off and if you missed the first game &lpar;like me&rpar; then you may find yourself feeling a little bit lost&period; Fortunately&comma; the game doesn’t spend too much time on exposition and instead drops you right into the middle of a puzzle&period; In true adventure game style&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;re tasked with clicking on anything and everything you can to collect strange and obscure items and solve puzzles&period; Whether this is a good or bad thing is entirely dependent on how much you enjoy the genre&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you’re a fan&comma; then you&&num;8217&semi;re going to be in heaven as <em>The Book of Unwritten Takes 2<&sol;em> keeps things as old school as possible&period; It actually took me about an hour to learn the nuances of the puzzle system but after a bit of trial and error&comma; I was able to discern what kind of mindset this game requires of the player&comma; and as long as you’re willing to think outside of the box on occasion&comma; this game’s puzzles shouldn’t leave you stumped for too long&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;92094" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-92094" style&equals;"width&colon; 761px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;refreshing-classic-formula-book-unwritten-tales-2-review&sol;5b646af41ba14906d9dd7969b9b9271a&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-92094"><img class&equals;"wp-image-92094" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04133302&sol;5b646af41ba14906d9dd7969b9b9271a-1024x574&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"That monster back there looks vaguely familiar&period; So does that sword&comma; for that matter&period;" width&equals;"761" height&equals;"427" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-92094" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">That monster back there looks vaguely familiar&period; So does that sword&comma; for that matter&period; &lpar;Book Of Unwritten Tales 2&comma; Nordic Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>That isn’t to say that everything goes smooth for the player 100 percent of the time&period; There were a few puzzles that left me scratching my head for longer than I was happy with&period; I like to think that I&&num;8217&semi;m pretty good at these kinds of games&comma; but a few of the combinations and implementation of items left me befuddled even after I was able to stumble upon the solution&period; Most of the solutions make sense&comma; but when I’m supposed to do things like read a storybook to a tree in order to get its branches to grow out of fear&comma; I have to wonder if seeking out a walkthrough was the developer’s intention for me&period; These puzzles are the exception however&comma; and not the rule&period; Most of your time will be spent cracking puzzles and feeling like a genius for it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even if you don’t love the puzzles though&comma; the story is worth the price of admission&period; The story&&num;8217&semi;s constructed in a manner that assumes you have played the first game&period; Many characters and plot points are touched upon and it’s easy to feel like you’re missing out on something if you’re not familiar with the world already&period; That said&comma; once the story kicks into gear&comma; it takes on an identity of its own and you&&num;8217&semi;ll get swept up in a great story filled with rich environments and entertaining characters&period; Of course&comma; it still all boils down to a bunch of friends teaming up to prevent the end of the world&comma; but even a set-up this clichéd is easy to swallow when the writing is this sharp and the characters are so likeable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;92095" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-92095" style&equals;"width&colon; 783px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;refreshing-classic-formula-book-unwritten-tales-2-review&sol;766205-the-book-of-unwritten-tales-2-windows-screenshot-going-back&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-92095"><img class&equals;" wp-image-92095" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04133245&sol;766205-the-book-of-unwritten-tales-2-windows-screenshot-going-back-1024x640&period;jpg" alt&equals;"At one point you are required to travel back to a 16 bit&comma; 8 bit&comma; and even text based version of the game&period;" width&equals;"783" height&equals;"489" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-92095" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">At one point you are required to travel back to a 16 bit&comma; 8 bit&comma; and even text based version of the game&period; &lpar;Book Of Unwritten Tales 2&comma; Nordic Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Humor also plays a huge role in this game and I don’t mean you get just a few chuckles either&period; This is easily one of the funniest games I have ever played&comma; and I found myself laughing out loud a number of different times&period; The voice acting is spot-on and every actor gives their character everything that they’ve got&period; From the major characters to the smallest of bit players&comma; every character is brought to life for hilarious results&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There’s also a staggering amount of pop culture references&period; Just off the top of my head&comma; I can recall references to <em>Minecraft&comma; He-Man&comma; Final Fantasy&comma; Lord of the Rings&comma; Harry Potter&comma; The X-Files&comma; Monty Python&comma; Gremlins&comma; Wall-E&comma; <&sol;em>and plenty more&period; Most of these references are cleverly implemented and funny&comma; but every once in a while they feel a little ham-fisted&period; These moments aren’t nearly as enjoyable as when the references come about organically&comma; but thankfully&comma; most of the time they are implemented well&period; This is important when a game reaches into the pop culture as often as <em>The Book of Unwritten Tales 2<&sol;em> does&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Book of Unwritten Tales 2<&sol;em> is high fantasy adventure gaming at its finest and the perfect example of a game clinging tightly to old-school roots while still finding ways to be fresh and fun&period; I was consistently impressed by the amount of humor and creativity peppered throughout the lengthy experience that this game provides&comma; and I’m glad that the Unwritten Tales didn’t stay that way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>A PS4 review code for Book Of Unwritten Tales 2 was provided by Nordic Games for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;