Supreme League of Patriots Issue 2 - Patriot Frames (PC) Review

The action picks up where the previous outing left off, however any choices made during the concluding moments of Issue 1 - A Patriot is Born do not seem to make any particular difference to the way every commences in what is by far a superior episode. Whatever the case, there is a clear structure to the way puzzles are laid out, with it even being impossible to leave the starting location before figuring out the best plan of action. Even comments from the lead duo of sloth-like American 'superhero wannabe' Kyle and sarcastic, British right-hand man, Mel, pertain to setting out a better plan of attack rather than jumping in blindly. Yes, a much improved opening, rather than the long-winded aimless wandering of the first release. Plus points already added right there.

Speaking of wandering, one of the largest amendments comes in the form of a speed boost for the character controls. Once a laboured pace now has been upped to a considerably less painful stroll. Whilst still not as swift as would have been desired, the improvement over the snail-like shuffle of the original game put out onto the digital market is a Godsend. It certainly helps gamers to be able to appreciate the rest of the effort put into the script and puzzles as Kyle and Mel work together to register the Purple Patriot as an official man of justice, rather than being some wacky guy in a pink lycra outfit parading around the city.

As before, there are two menus - one atop the right-hand side of the screen that gives access to a screen that allows for mixing together items collected during the adventure for potential use later on in solving puzzles, and the other being a 'quick access' feature at the bottom where clicking on an object directly makes it active, meaning that when starting a conversation with the appropriate person, or trying to interact with the relevant piece of scenery, said object will become one of the options, rather than the standard 'Speak,' 'Use,' or 'Examine' selections. It is still a convoluted way of working through conundrums and scenarios, but with the improved logic within Issue 2: Patriot Frames, the action seems to be smoother on the whole. The road to registering Kyle / The Purple Patriot as an official superhero just got a lot less rocky.

Other than the core gameplay aspects that have improved ten-fold, and on top of the same pleasing level of visuals from the first episode, complemented by the increased speed of character movement, the numerous locations that can be visited all come with some extremely fine soundtrack work from Jake Kauffman. For some reason, and it can only be put down to how painful the entire experience was, Kauffman's score failed to hit the mark and leave an outstanding impression in A Patriot is Born, yet here, especially in the new locations introduced, his work reaches the lofty levels expected by his faithful supporters. Playing through this second episode is a breath of fresh air after the stale disappointment of the first edition, and there are now high hopes for the concluding part of this first season, Issue 3 - Ice Cold in Ellis.