While the first episode of Strong Bad’s point and click adventures through the Homestar Runner world was fun, it had minor problems. Episode 2, "Strong Badia the Free," clearly fixes them. It maintains the same basic premise as the earlier episode, letting you control the mean-spirited (yet hilarious) Strong Bad as he solves puzzles, causes trouble, and otherwise entertains you.
Without giving away too much of the plot, this time Strong Bad finds himself affected by the King of Town going on quite the power trip; between an unreasonable house arrest and insane taxes, Strong Bad has had enough and plans to secede... only to find that just about everyone else has the same idea, seconds after he does. Thus, most of the puzzles revolve around finding out what each of these new ’cultures’ respects, and getting them to join Strong Bad. It pokes a lot of fun at diplomacy and cultural stereotypes, and the main plot should keep you entertained for about three hours or so, much like the previous episode.
A lot of the problems from the first episode got much better this time around. Little audio glitches where Strong Bad would say things for no obvious reason have been fixed, and the puzzles tend to make more sense... or as close to ’sense’ as you get in the Homestar Runner world, at least. And things they got right the first time are done even better now, such as the little retrogame hidden in Strong Bad’s room being even more amusing and interactive.
As you might expect, it’s "more of the same." If you didn’t like the first episode, this won’t change your mind. But if you enjoyed it and still have an interest in point and click adventures, this one justifies its 1000 point price tag quite well and improves on the first episode in just about every way.
