Garfield 2: Royal Adventure is a mobile title from Nostromo. Loosely based on the second Garfield film (A Tale of Two Kitties), A Royal Adventure takes the titular feline to London, where he becomes mistaken for a member of British royalty and is whisked away to the lap of luxury. In the castle you explore the inner depths and secret passageways, scaring off bugs, pests and monsters that get in your way. From the cartoony look to the simple gameplay, the game is obviously geared at kids, but the RPG-style element adds a bit more depth than you’d expect. Garfield 2 is a pretty fun game that will take you a while to finish.

The gameplay is standard turn-based RPG fare, where you and your canine helper must proceed through the castle while frightening pests that stand in your way. You can do so in a variety of ways, from hitting them with a newspaper (which evolves into a Sunday paper, stack of catalogs, and so on), barking or, ahem, letting out a noxious fart. Each of the different enemies have a certain degree of susceptibility to the moves you perform. For example, Garfield’s meow attack is good for damaging large groups of enemies but actually heals Darkwings, so you’ll have to be careful when using it against large groups with darkwings in the party.

One other gameplay element is Garfield 2 is the Arena mode. Once you complete the game, you can then play all the way thought the Arena mode, which is basically a survival battle. It's completely skill-based, since it starts you out at level one, so you won't be able to take your abilities from the main game and apply them here. As you progress, you'll gain levels, fight more enemies and gain special extras.

One big problem with the gameplay in Garfield 2: Royal Adventure is the pacing. The game loads constantly, stopping for every new screen, before and after every battle and item pick-up. As a result, the game feels extremely sluggish.

Another gripe that I had was the fact that every time you die, you are sent back to the very beginning of the dungeon, requiring you to then fight your way back through the enemies that you faced off against before, so by the time you get to where you were the last time you died, you’re about to keel over again.

Graphically, Garfield 2 looks good, but not terribly mind-blowing. The character models sport a cartoony look, which works well for the game and its target audience. There isn’t much in the way of animation, and aside from the short little moves that Garfield and his companion perform before they attack, I’m hard-pressed to think of anything else that the game does involving animation. The environments look pretty good, albeit a tad repetitious.

The sound effects are pretty good, the game has a great soundtrack that sets the mood for much of the gameplay.

Garfield 2 is a great idea and can be very engaging adventure. Were it not for the constant loading times, this game would certainly be one to check out for any mobile-gaming Garfield fan.

Gameplay: 7.5
Garfield 2 has some nice RPG elements that would be easy to pick up for any casual gamer, and will take you a while to complete. However, the constant load times are definitely a bummer, and interrupt the flow of the game a lot.

Graphics: 7.0
The character models are bright and colorful, and the environments look really nice, albeit repetitive. There isn’t much in the way of animation at all, aside from a few move animations in battle.

Sound: 8.0
The soundtrack sounds great, with music between areas setting up the mood very nicely.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 7.5
An RPG starring Garfield exploring his castle is a fun idea, even if the execution is a bit off.

Overall: 7.5
Garfield 2 is a fun game that fits well with the casual gaming idea behind the mobile phone. While there are a few issues that hinder this game from truly excelling, it’s still fun and should work for younger gamers.