Probably the first thing you'll want to know about OtRPoDE2 is, Is it still funny? The answer is a resounding yes, but it's not precisely the same kind of humor that informed the first game. Don't misunderstand -- it's still goofy as you'd expect, but the sheer volume of goofiness has scaled back somewhat. Part of this is due to there being noticeably fewer incidental environmental descriptions, which is where a lot of the silliness lived in the first episode.

The other part is that, with the setting and characters now firmly established, there's more of an emphasis on a cohesive plot. There's even a little character development thrown in, and this helps make the game feel even more like it knows what it's doing, and less like an exercise in pure slapstick. To be sure, Tycho is still the stolid, dry-witted scholar of the arcane, and Gabriel is still played for laughs as the slightly simple brawler who loves hitting things. But there is more to their professional relationship than might have been apparent, and I hope this plays out in the upcoming two sequels.

At launch, you have the option to create a new character or continue with your previous one, with all of its upgrades in place. You'll even have the opportunity to redesign your character's appearance, though there are still far fewer choices than might be hoped. Interestingly, although you keep your basic upgraded stats, the special attacks from the first game are gone, replaced by all new attacks with all new mini-games. Your character gets an arrow that bounces back and forth between two strike zones, rather than the clock-like test from before. Gabe's mini eschews the frenetic button-mashing for a DDR-like rhythm game. Tycho activates his special attack by performing a whack-a-mole-style target shooter that's easily the hardest of the three to pull off successfully. The special attacks each have three stages, with the third not only doing the most damage, but also affecting the entire enemy group at the same time, with yours and Gabe's attacks dealing status effects as well.

The additional, secondary characters are different this time around, save for Ann, your tech wizard backup. Gone are T. Kemper and the special-issue Fruit F*#$er; in their places are Mr. Tails, and a surprise guest that I'll leave for you to discover.

New to the series is a Block indicator that helps you determine the best timing for a button press to preempt an enemy's attack. The action in Episode 2 does seem to come faster than in the previous iteration, and this ramps up when you've completed the game and unlock the Insane difficulty mode. In this mode, not only are there more enemies, but the Block indicator is removed, forcing you to rely strictly on observance and memory to get your blocks and counterattacks in.