As in Homestar Ruiner, Strong Badia the Free comes with mini-games— Snake Boxer 5 has been replaced on Strong Bad’s console by Math Kickers Featuring the Algebros, a Kung Fu parody with equations. Meanwhile, The Teen Girl Squad is back for more punishment, but this time they won’t be readily available on Strong Bad’s drawing desk. You’ll have to hunt for some pages first, and then find some way to unlock the game. The Trogdor arcade game is still unavailable, but I suspect that Telltale is saving it for the last episode.

Like the first episode, the game is available as an individual download on the PC for $8.95, or you can purchase the whole series for $34.95. If you were like me and bought just the first episode as a precaution, but have since decided to go whole hog and buy the whole set, don’t think that you missed out on the discount. There’s a special upgrade price of $26, and when you add the $8.95 you spent on the first episode, this comes to the discounted total of $34.95. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

Strong Badia the Free is a great follow-up to Homestar Ruiner. The storyline is easier to follow, the jokes are tighter, and the puzzles are more challenging and intriguing. I wish something could have been done to fix the dialogue trees so that you know when a conversation is over, but since you can click to fast forward the conversations, it’s a minor issue. I look forward to the third episode: Baddest of the Bands.

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