Whenever I think back to all of the casual games I've played over the last year or so, Runes of Avalon still remains one of the most unique and freshest ones to come to mind whenever I think of the quality and entertainment that is possible with a good casual game. Imagine my excitement then when I heard Runes of Avalon 2 was finished and ready to be released. I quickly downloaded the game and found myself once again falling in love with the franchise once again.

Runes of Avalon 2 is a direct continuation of the last game's story, which had the player taking on the role of one of Merlin's young apprentices as she was forced to learn the secrets of rune magic in order to save Merlin and drive away the evil that took him away. You don't need to be familiar with the last game's story, however, as the game's story is told in a way where prior acknowledgment is not needed.

Runes of Avalon 2 is a member of the "match three" casual game genre, which will have you trying to position random blocks on a stage to match three rune colors and add their power to your game board total. In order to complete a level you must make enough matches of each color on the board until their pool totals are filled. If you find your red rune pool total is only half full, for example, and you're running out of time, the best thing to do is quickly focus your attention on making only red rune matches.

The first unique thing about Runes of Avalon 2 is that the runes aren't automatically placed on the board by the computer, but are instead placed by the player on the board in a Tetris-like manner. The game will randomly give you various shaped pieces, ranging from single block pieces to other weirdly designed shapes. In order to make matches of the colored runes you must twist and turn the shapes as they are presented to you and place them so at least three of a color are touching. It's easy to move the pieces as a right click of the mouse will rotate them and a left mouse click will place them on the board.

The game also features a series of powerup spells that will randomly be placed on the board as you make rune matches of more than at least three at a time. Powerups include bombs to explode all the runes in a short section, fire that will spread out in the design of a cross and destroy all runes in its way, spells to change a group into whatever color you want, and spells to activate other spells already on the board. Besides only being able to use powerups already on the board, you can use ordinary rune matches of certain colors to power those same spells in your repertoire and use them at your liking whenever you want. If you've placed pieces in a haphazard way and have limited your board placement options, you can always use a spell like a bomb to explode that area and open it back up to you.

The game still remains quite the challenge as you must not only compete against the timer of the board but the board itself. In the beginning your main challenge concern will be worrying about whether you'll gather all the rune pieces you need in time before the timer completely winds down. As you move along through the game, however, the challenges come more from not running out of usable area to place pieces on the board.

Besides the "match three" boards that make up the bulk of the gameplay, the game will also occasionally throw at you other challenges, such as needing to find rune letters quick enough to power a spell or either needing to move picture pieces around until all the pieces are in their proper place. The other gameplay changes aren't that hard at all since there isn't a timer to challenge yourself with – you just need to complete the puzzles and that is all. Besides the Quest Mode that makes up the bulk of the gameplay, you've also got Quick Play options in the way of Time Attack and Endless modes. In the Time Attack mode the idea is to score as many points as you can before time runs out. In the Endless mode you try to score as many points as you can before you accidentally place the rune pieces so that you can't position any more runes.

Graphically the game looks like it did the last time around, but that's far from a bad thing as the original Runes of Avalon was already a nice looking game. The CG created characters of the story are really well-done. The background images of the boards and the rune pieces are eye pleasing and pleasant. The game's visual effects also look nice as the extra sparkle really shines and breathes magic into the gameplay. In terms of audio there isn't much in the way of voice acting, but what is there is done good enough. The game handles background music and sound effects much better, however, as everything sounds quite lovely and overall soothing.

If you were a fan of the original game then you'll be right at home with Runes of Avalon 2 and find just as much to enjoy this time around. Runes of Avalon 2 is a great casual game that offers the "match three" gameplay that players are still familiar with while including some new tweaks to make the game anything but your average "match three" game. You definitely should gives Runes of Avalon 2 a try and see just what makes this casual game so special.

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