You wouldn't know it from looking at the short little 13 year-old with thick Coke bottle glasses, but Tony's last name is actually "Tough" – as in Tony Tough 2: A Rake's Progress. Set as a prequel before the first game, learn how Tony Tough got to where he is today, as you explore the world in this adventure game, ultimately hoping you can solve the mystery plaguing Tony.

"Washington, a small town somewhere on the dusty plains of New Mexico. A sleepy village, where suddenly rainfall can be the most exciting even for weeks. Until one day a mysterious burglar breaks into the house of an old lady, Florence Cook. Apparently the burglar was looking for something special, but didn't find it. He is arrested, but manages to escape. Florence is affected by this so gravely that she dies of a heart attack soon after.

Tony Tough, a 13-year-old rake, doesn't care much about these events, even though Cornelia, Florence's niece, is the housemaid of his parents. But after some initial adventures, Tony learns that Cornelia has been kidnapped during the day – and some ancient artifacts she just inherited from Florence have disappeared with her. With the help of his dog Pantagruel and his friend Seymour, he sets out to track down the mysterious gangster…"

Featuring a brand new 2.5D engine that allows for 3D characters to interact with static 2D backgrounds scattered with some animated background features (like possibly running water, moving clouds, etc.), Tony Tough 2 features 30 different locations with more than 100 screens of puzzling good times. The game features a gritty, film grain-esque style to give you the appearance that the game is taking place in the 50s, and though the environments are rendered accurately to make them seem very lifelike (even featuring realtime shadows and dynamic realtime weather), the characters feature less realistic standards, as characters such as Tony feature an oblong sized head that look like someone enlarged a jellybean and placed it on his neck.

One of the biggest selling points – as in the first game – is the sense of humor Tony Tough 2 carries about, as the game features jet black humor, and outlandish storylines about aliens, American Natives, wigs and tapirs. In a town where only about 20 people live, you can expect them all to have some quirk or another, and the way in which you go about solving the puzzles also happen in a comedic way.

Tony Tough 2 all takes place during exactly one day and everything you do affects the environment and game in one way or another. Now, this isn't the failed promises of a Fable we are talking here, where you were supposed to be able to cut a tree and it grows with a scar, but rather your actions impact the way in which the linear story progresses. For instance, one man might have a flat tire on his car, and you need to help him fix it so that you can advance to the next area. So you steal the tire from a nearby bike, give it to the guy, and he is off. But the problem comes, in that later on, the person you stole the tire from will need to fix their situation, and so you'll have to do something to help that person in much the same way as the guy with the flat tire to begin with, so the game follows a very A to B to C to D format in that way.

Though the game is a comedic adventure and was made more accessible so it wasn't as frustrating as the first game, the developers are quick to point out this is not a game for little kids, as the subject matter and humor is very adult. And don't go expecting that you'll be able to breeze through this game in one sitting or a couple hours, as it is said, to fully complete the game, it would take someone roughly 30 hours to go through all the brain-teasing puzzle gameplay.

If you are a point and click adventure game fan and/or you love a game with a sense of humor that never takes itself too seriously, then Tony Tough 2: A Rake's Progress might just be the game for you when it is released. Besides, who doesn't love a loveable loser, and Tony Tough looks to fit that bill nicely as well.