I swear I’m not an adrenaline junky, but the rush you get from just barely making gold time in the new resource management game New Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 2 is addicting.

This game is amazingly challenging, teeming with frenetic gameplay that will have you poised on the edge of your seat for the endless hours you’ll certainly spend fighting your way through 40 levels with seemingly impossible goals.

It’s enough to make you leap from your chair and do an impromptu victory dance every time you see that gold cup appear, shouting at the top of your lungs “I am the best! I am the best!” Not that I did that or anything…

Seriously… this game rocks hardcore. If you are a time management fanatic like I am, you are not going to want to miss New Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 2. It’s everything the first game was and more.

This time, there’s plenty of obstacles standing in your way. Whether you’re surrounded by gorgeous succubae tempting your workers with their seductive glances, or skeletons off in the distance working a ritual that will lead to the death of your workers if you're not quick enough, you know you’re in for it if you jump in without a plan. To make matters even more swelteringly sticky, they’ve added in shooting enemy towers and tanks that will thwart your every move, and only with the help of a few well-timed spells from Mary or a ring of the alarm bell will you be able to pass unharmed.

Around every corner, there was something new and exciting to plan for, to fight against, and the strategist in me was in my glory. Although, I admit, I wasn’t happy that each level just made you jump right in to gameplay, with the clock ticking away as soon as you clicked out of the banter between John and his wife that happened at the beginning of every level.

I began to use the first time I saw the level as my strategy time. I desperately tried to ignore the clock as I took note of my goals, my resources, and any enemies or obstacles that could slow me down. Then I would hit replay and initiate my plan with frenzied clicks, quickly getting my workers going.

I also had a bit of a problem with the chaining of commands. I tend to click ahead of my workers, planning out their second, third, or even fourth task, which the game let me do, however, if say ice witches appeared and I had to go run and light the fires to kill them… I couldn’t tell my chained up workers to stop doing what they were doing and get that fire lit now!

Needless to say this added a level of difficulty I hadn’t planned on, and I was forced to rethink my gameplay a little bit. I’m not saying this was a bad thing… I actually think I enjoyed it once I got over the fact that I died and had to start the level over.

The graphics of New Yankee 2 are definitely dressed to impress… at least as far as a time management game goes. We’re not looking for the jaw-dropping artistry that you can find in the top-notch hidden object games, but I have to say, the colorful cartoony world of New Yankee 2 was extremely well done… even the tiniest detail was taken care of… the shadows on the stone wells of the mana pools… the rivets in the wooden barrels that held the food… it was actually pretty amazing considering the genre. Most of the time, the graphics of time management games tend to be an afterthought, taking a back seat to the gameplay, but the developer of New Yankee 2 definitely took the time to make sure the game looked as good as it played.

The music was a jaunty little adventure tune, filled with birdsong and cheer. Again nothing like what you’d find from some of the really well put together hidden object games, but certainly nothing that stood out as annoying or grating. It was a happy tune that accompanied the sound of my clicking and drowned out some of my cries of anguish if I didn’t come up gold or worse… totally failed the level.

The story you ask? Honestly… I don’t really have any idea… something about trying to find the Fountain of Living Water and the only way to track it down was to find a missing advisor… whatever, it didn’t really matter what the game was about… as long as I understood the goals of each level, that was good enough for me. Again, I’m not looking for anything too epic of a plotline from a time management game.

Overall, New Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 2 was a smashing success and a sequel that lives up to its predecessor. If you loved the first one, if you love time management games, than this game is sure to have you swooning in delight from the moment you hit play.