Who says that word puzzle games can’t be fun? Certainly not the folks at PopCap games, who have successfully gotten legions of casual (and not so casual) gamers addicted to their adorable spelling game, Bookworm Adventures. Last Thursday they released the sequel, Bookworm Adventures Volume 2, their latest form of casual cocaine. Our bespectacled, no-legged hero Lex the Bookworm returns, though in a much bigger role than just a letter-chomping avatar. Similar to the first Bookworm Adventures, Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 is infused with RPG elements and yes, a story line.

Someone — or something — has tampered with the Great Library, causing literary characters to come to life and wreak havoc throughout the place. It’s up to Lex to get things back to normal by traveling through three books, each containing 10 levels. As Lex, you encounter enemies throughout your journey, which you must defeat by spelling words from a random selection of letters given to you. The longer your words and the more complex letters you use (e.g. X, Z, Qu), the stronger your attacks. You also level up quicker this way.

The enemies in return, retaliate by either injuring and immobilizing you, and sabotaging your letters. Fortunately, you have an arsenal of weapons at your disposal as well. Special jeweled letters can heal you or damage the enemy. You also can earn potions that heal, increase your damage, or remove enemy debuffs on you and your letters. In addition, every level you win a treasure, two of which you can use in the subsequent level to help defeat the enemies. For example, the Just Right Porridge allows you to withstand stun attacks, while the Monkey Paw can cause enemies to bleed. You eventually get 12 (13 after you beat the game) to choose from, but ultimately you’ll find that only four or five are actually helpful.

As if that’s not enough, after every few levels, a companion joins you in your cause, each of whom can also help you in battle. For example, Mother Goose gives you a health potion every four turns, while the Legendary Master stuns the enemy and powers you up every four turns. However, you can choose only one companion per level, so take note of the hints at the top of the screen as to what to expect from the enemy to help make your decision.

When you tire of the main story, you can take a break by playing one of the mini-games, which you unlock halfway through the game. There are six mini-games, which include forming as many words as possible from one long word; guessing a word in just five turns; and unscrambling a group of words before time runs out.

Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 is ridiculously easy during the first half or so of the game, especially if you have a large vocabulary and are used to playing word puzzle games. I was destroying enemies with words like ELUCIDATE, FOSSILIZE, MINUTIAE, and QUOTATION. However, as you get near the end of the game, your opponents have a lot more tricks up their sleeves, as they do things like steal your potions, freeze your companion, or reflect damage back to you. The final boss battle was actually quite difficult, and it took me a few tries to defeat it.

It’s amusing to see which words are acceptable in the game. Naturally, curse words such as SHITTY or FUCK aren’t allowed, but oddly, neither is WHORE. Sure it’s derogatory, but it’s not a “dirty” word. Imagine my surprise then, that PORN and SCROTUM were acceptable.

While the main game is very short and can be finished within a couple of days, replayability kicks in once you beat it. There are arena battles, achievements, and replaying the main game for trophies to keep you busy. Achievements include killing an enemy in one shot and using purple (poison) gems against the enemy four times. The arena battle is really intense and fun, but carpal tunnel-inducing. You’re pitted against the same bosses, but this time it’s not turn based. You must spell as quickly as possible before they attack. It’s one hell of a clickfest. As for replaying the main game, I was disappointed to find that you still have to complete the levels in a linear fashion. I would have liked to be able to hop around from level to level.

While Bookworm Adventures 2 is definitely kid-friendly with its extremely colorful, cartoony characters and easy game, the stronger enemies at later levels provide a formidable challenge even for adults with a healthy vocabulary. The RPG flavors introduced in this sequel are a welcomed addition to the game, making it more than just a word puzzle game with a cutesy background.

Grade: B+