LEGO Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge - PC Games

Boasting a whopping 18 subgames scattered throughout an intricate realm of islands, undersea worlds, deserts and space, LEGO Island 2 focuses more on adventure and less on construction than previous LEGO titles. Players assume the identity of renaissance dude Pepper: pizza delivery, deep sea diving, astronaut training and jousting are just a handful of the well-rendered experiences that await adventurers. The arrow keys get quite a workout as the game progresses, as they control everything from speedboats to parachutes as Pepper changes modes of transport. Pepper churns through this world fending off the Brickster's henchmen robots, collecting pages of a "Constructopedia" and mastering various challenges in order to progress.

The charm of this impressive Windows-only program lies in the attention paid to detail, dialogue and creative fun. The undersea game doesn't just have fish--it has narwhals and rowdy pirate skeletons growling curses. A knight straight out of Monty Python intones "Nay, nay, nay, one-who's-name-is-a-spice" when Pepper asks for help. Creators also put a skateboard park on the island just for the heck of it. LEGO Island 2 provides both great game play and ample opportunity to freestyle. Also, the fluid detail of this program belies the chunky origins of LEGO life as we know it.

That detail comes with a price: it takes some time to load the subgames and scene changes even if your system meets the game's requirements. If LEGO Island 2 were one of Pepper's pizzas, it'd be an ultra mega deluxe, piled high with mummies, pterodactyls and renegade robots. It'd also take a longer time to bake than your plain cheese, but the wait would be worth it. (Ages 6 to 99) --Anne Erickson, Amazon.com