by Tirzah Hawkins

Created on: April 23, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2008

Runes of Avalon 2 by Anawiki is set in the times of Merlin when the evil sorceress Marganna La Fey has set a terrible curse over the land of Avalon. Now Avalon's protector Evelyne must work towards cleansing the land of the curse. You help by matching runes that help Evelyne complete her mission and make her way home.

With each level you are making your way through the land as you play a matching game similar to Bejeweled and Tetris. Colored runes are on the board and you place new pieces or clusters of runes to create rows of three or four. You can rotate the new pieces before you place them in order to make the best pairing. Each time you create a row of four, you are granted a spell that you can use in order to clear stones from the screen.

As you progress through each level, the rune settings are a little more intricate and there are more stones or stones placed strategically in your way.

Gameplay: With a left click of the mouse you place new rune pieces on the board to best clear other runes. With a right click, you are able to rotate the rune piece around to place it as strategically as possible.

Sound: The music and sounds was the best part of the game. The music was an epic fantasy style that I could sit and listen to forever whether I was playing the game or not. When you matched the runes, they created a pleasant cymbal-like sound not unlike other games where you match jewels or such.

Creativity: When I started reading the story-line, I had high hopes for the game. I really like the background, but was surprised when I found out that it was a strategy matching game. Beside the cool scenes and characters, when you really get right down and play the game, there isn't much creativity at all. You match runes and get rewarded with spells when you make a good match. There really isn't much new there.

Innovation: I really don't think this game required anything new out of the creators. They were probably able to easily build on the templates of all the other games like this out there and felt it necessary to give you a story-line in order to make you want to play the game more. This way there is an actual goal to all the matching besides just succeeding to the next level.

Runes of Avalon 2 scores a three out of five for me. I was rather disappointed after the storyline to really find out what the game was about.

I would not buy the full version as I only used about half of my demo time when playing the game. It didn't intrigue me enough to make me want to keep playing.

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