Pop Cap games, perhaps best known for classic puzzler Bejeweled, have been producing high quality web-browser games for a good while now, and they're developed a number of hits aimed at the casual gamer. Having a wide variety of small, downloadable puzzle games, you would be hard pressed to find someone who had not at least stumbled onto a Pop Cap classic at some time or another; it's so easy to spot them, as they are all full of charm, easy to pick up, and can last a couple of minutes during an office break or roll for hours into the night.

Even for those unfamiliar with Pop Cap may have come across their poster boy, Lex, in a little game called Bookworm, which requires a good vocabulary and fast thinking to chain together tiles on a grid to feed the hungry Lex. The catch is that your chained tiles must spell an actual word, with longer and more complex words earning you more points. More recently Lex has proven to be quite the capable adventurer and is now starring in a series where he is pulled into numerous books and must battle the baddies within them, armed with nothing but a dictionary of powerful words. Those who have played the first Bookworm Adventures will know exactly what to expect from Lex's second outing, Bookworm Adventures Volume 2. Lex has once again been zapped into the books stored in his vast library and the folks in Fairytale Land just wont behave; only his words and a few menacing stares can save his green posterior coming to a sticky end!

Much like the original Bookworm Adventures, Lex is drawn into various books that he must battle through to bring order to the chaos - and there are plenty of adversaries to stop him. The first Bookworm Adventures saw Lex traversing three books, and Volume Two is no different. The three books each have a number of chapters depicting its own story or a continuation of the story before it; for example, book four - Fractured Fairytales - sees you venturing through various fairy stories and folk tales, such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with some classic literature thrown in for good measure, such as Alice in Wonderland. The other two books - The Monkey King and Astounding Planet - are individually stylised too; each book has a unique flavour that depicts the characters and themes of each story in its own distinctive albeit slightly Burton-esque manner, and tells its story in short snippets during each battle with a corresponding fictitious felon. This is great for kids, who will be playfully creeped out by visuals but still recognise these characters, to draw them even further into the game. The game will also appeals to the child in any adult too, with its charming rendition of each character hitting that nostalgia button. It uses simple flash animation, but it doesn't need to anything more; Lex is animated well and has a lot of character, while the enemies feature a wide array of special effects for their numerous attacks, even if they move quite stiffly, their animation belying their 2D nature. The graphics suit the storybook concept with their pop-up style, but a little more detail with the enemies would have been appreciated.

Each stage is broken up into battles with characters relating to the different stories. The objective is to get Lex from the start to the finish by defeating each enemy in turn with nothing with words, powerful weapons in the Bookworm universe that can be quite deadly in the hands of a master wordsmith. Upon encountering an enemy, which is automatic as Lex traverses the levels, the words start to fly! Lex and his adversaries each have a set of hearts that take damage as they are attacked, and Lex deals damage by spelling words from the tiles onscreen by clicking each letter one by one to spell out a word of three letters or words - but names and expletives aren't accepted, so don't waste time trying them! The longer the word that you create, the more powerful it is, and each letter is given a ranking of bronze, silver or gold, which also increases the power of the word. Basic vowels and letters like A and S all come under the bronze ranking, whereas the more difficult letters such as X and Z are golden. You can tell the power of the attack by Lex's actions after a word is spelt; he morphs his body into objects and rushes the enemy, transforming into a fist or an extremely powerful pendulum (which kills enemies with a satisfying whomp!). If you can't find a word to spell then simply hit the scramble button and you'll miss a turn as the letters change.

Your enemies have their own set of attacks too, and the more powerful the foe, the more devastating they become. Attacks can deal damage or place a number of negative effects on you, ranging from poisoning effects that hurt you each turn to weakening your own attacks. The most annoying one is the stun attack, as it causes you to miss a turn, which can make a battle much more tense and can even come between you and victory! Defeating enemies earns experience and eventually levels you up, earning you more defence, extra hearts and more offensive power.

It's not just the enemies that have access to these powers though; Letter tiles may randomly become Gem tiles, whose colours denote their special effect. Amethyst (purple) tiles for example poison your foe while others may burn, diminish your foe's power and so on. To use these effects you simply put the gem tiles in a word, with nice little indicators that log what effects are currently in action. These gem tiles are generated randomly and some appear a lot more often than others. Green gem tiles add a healing bonus to words, but they hardly ever appear, whereas poison tiles come up way too often. They do add extra strategy to battles, but as random as they are, they feel more like a bonus than a tactic that you can rely upon. Potions are a much more reliable source of help; you can carry up to ten of each of the three types available, and you can use them at any time to restore your health, enhance your attacks and instantly remove the negative effects on Lex, a particular lifesaver when enemies fling multiple attacks at you later on in the game.

The bosses that you face at the end of every story also drop treasures that are activated by equipping them or spelling a word from a certain category; the MacFarmers Almanac, for example, adds extra damage to adjectives. The treasures are useful but not essential for victory - you can carry two at a time, swapping them in and out between each story. You also have companions, helpful characters who you meet during your travels through the various stories. They perform their own individual actions once every three turns and are far more beneficial than the treasure, such as Mother Goose who generates health potions for you. You can have one companion with him and switch between companions for each story. These are all unlocked as the story progresses and there are plenty to find. Some treasures and companions are much better than others, but their inclusion is a good one, adding a slight RPG element to the proceedings and offering a good reward for winning some of the tougher battles. The mini-games from the original make a return too, all of them based around word games as you might imagine, but this time the emphasis is on speed rather than word length. Moxie's Minigame Hut appears periodically during the game and allows you to play one game against Moxie to win gem tiles and potions. Eventually these mini-games are unlocked to play whenever you choose from the main menu.

Bookworm Adventures: Volume 2 is a lengthy game that can be easily played in short bursts, but might become tedious during prolonged sessions - although progressing through the bizarre story and unlocking new treasures can be pretty addictive. It's a safe assumption that this game is aimed at a younger audience who can enjoy the simplicity of the story and brush up on their spelling skills, but you don't have to be the best speller in the world to enjoy the game. It's a great way for children to develop their vocabulary while playing through familiar (and new) stories, and undoubtedly they will have a blast, especially with the myriad of things to unlock. For the rest of us, Bookworm Adventures is best enjoyed in sips rather than gulps, a great little title with a bargain price tag that's a little different to the norm.

Reviewed by Oliver Dearn for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).