The penultimate chapter of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is upon us, and it has a lot to live up to following the fantastic third chapter. Fortunately, it does manage to do just that and brings with it some subtle game play additions that are quite welcome.
Chapter four follows the elf princess Ivo as she tries to find a way to fix the magic that have placed our heroes in so much trouble. She ends up in a location that was visited in previous chapters and learns that she needs the help of Nate and Critter, which brings our crew back together to work towards saving the world once again. The task that is ahead of them is difficult, and requires travelling to several different locations to accomplish it, with the help of Nate's trusty air ship, Mary.
The locations can be visited at will, once you discover them, which is one of the best new game play additions to this chapter. Nate has a map in his captain's quarters, and uses it to choose the destination. Luckily, you don't have to visit the captain's quarters each time, or even be on-board the Mary, to do so. All you have to do is select the map from the inventory, and select a location from there. The second game play addition that this chapter brings is due to the fact that there are now three active characters. All three characters won't be together at the same time, and there are some puzzles that require rescuing the other characters, but when they are together, they sometimes need work together to solve puzzles as a team. The puzzles that required teamwork were my favorite of the previous chapters, and now they're even better as a threesome. There aren't too many like this however, but such puzzles that are here are done quite well.
The art style continues to be excellent. Most of the locations that are visited are new, and are treated with the same level of detail as the rest. Some of the places that we have seen previously do get a restyle. Even the locations that we have seen before are used excellently for the story, and since they came in early on, don't feel overused. The music style continues to be excellent, and is varied here to fit the varied locations that we visit in this chapter. The voice work continues to be great as well, with the returning characters giving excellent performances and the new characters delivering performances to match. There is also a returning character from a previous game, who is quirky, and voiced to match.
The fourth chapter of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is another fantastic entry in this fantastic fantasy saga. The art style, music, and voices continue to be excellent. The new locations are fun, and the previously visited locations are used well. The gameplay additions that are new to this chapter, multiple locations that can be visited at will, and three character puzzles, are a welcome change. The best part of this game has been the story, and that trend continues here. The story hit a high note with it's dark overtones of the last chapter, and that high note continues here. Our heroes are reaching the end of their journey, and the stakes continue to be high. The story weaves between light and dark as well as the last, and like the preceeding chapter, it leaves a lasting impression, and gives you a strong desire to see how the story concludes.
5 out of 5
|Chapter Three Review||Chapter Five Review|