Bone 2: The Great Cow Race Review (PC)

Second outing in the bone series

Follow on to the first in the episodic series of BONE? games produced by telltale. This episode focuses on the 3 bone cousins’ individual tasks in the town of Barrelhaven. The bone’s travel there for an annual cow race, in which the fastest racing cows compete against Grandma Ben to win a large number of eggs, which are used as currency in the town. Phoney bone hatches a plot to enter Smiley bone in the race, dressed up as a cow, and convince all of the local residents to bet on this ‘mystery cow’. Meanwhile, Fone Bone tries his hardest to win back the friendship of Thorn, who has ran off due to an argument between Fone and a flirtatious honey salesman.

This game is still well scripted and animated, but doesn’t seem as organised and structured as the first. This can be seen as a good thing however, as you can choose between characters at any time. Some of the minigames are also quite novel, such as the classic camel race game, where the object is to throw balls at a target to get your camel (or cow in this case) to beat all of the others to the finish line. This is just one of many minigames that keep the player involved at all times.

Gameplay
As I have mentioned, it is not as organised and linear as the previous episode, and runs three separate branches of the story simultaneously, and after one branch is completed, the option to play that character is removed. The amount of dialogue involved in convincing pub patrons to bet on the mystery cow can get tedious, but the game overall is generally entertaining.

Graphics
Well animated, no glitches or bugs to my knowledge, cartoon style, which is befitting of the story.

Sound
Well voiced and scripted, good soundtrack, outstanding quality. Suits the game style, quite bouncy and fun.

Overall
Not as entertaining as the first in my opinion, but still worth a play. Well written, scripted and animated. One of my criticisms is that you will not understand this game if you haven’t played the previous episode, and it may leave you confused. Some of the long dialogue sections can get tedious but the game is overall worth playing for all ages, but is ideally suited to children and early teens.

Gold Y Award

4.5 / 5