It's rare in our sequel filled world that anything equals the original, let alone surpasses it. Portal 2 accomplishes this without losing sight of what made the original great, an even rarer feat.Portal 2 puts you back in the shoes of the original speechless protagonist from the first game. For those that didn't have the patched PC version that explained a bit more of the ending from the last one, you were recaptured at the end of the game, setting up the beginning of Portal 2.
You're greeted by a friendly AI core named Wheatley as the place is falling down around you. After making your escape from danger, you and Wheatley set out to find a way out of the facility. Much like GLaDOS from the first game, the game is absolutely made by the interaction between you and this character. The voicing of this character couldn't be more appropriate. The dialog at the ends of levels, as well as some of the little quips in between were on occasion laugh out loud funny. Of course, GLaDOS makes her appearance in this game as well, and is every bit as hilarious and sadistic as the previous game. The story is very intriguing, and you'll get to learn a lot of the background behind Aperture Science. For a game that in it's first incarnation started with no story at all, they've managed to wrap a great piece of fiction around the brilliant game mechanic that gave life to the series. Whoever is doing the writing for this series is worth every penny that Valve pays them.
The gameplay differs very little from the first game until roughly half way through the game. The same two portal mechanic is still used to solve puzzles, but a curveball from a mechanic standpoint as well as a story standpoint gets thrown at the player with the introduction of gels. There are three different types of gel that it turns out Aperture was working on: a bounce gel, an acceleration gel, and a portal gel. The first two are pretty self explanatory. The third though, allows you to place a portal on any surface. This is a very interesting twist to the game mechanic, especially given how the gels are dispensed. I was worried in early previews when the gel was revealed that this would change the game drastically, and not for the better. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. The gel mechanics add another layer to the puzzles, but are never the absolute focal point of the puzzle. Every puzzle still maintains the portal mechanic as the primary means of getting the job done. I like to maintain my reviews as spoiler free, so I'll leave it to you to see what I'm talking about. Suffice to say, it's a welcome addition to the game.
The only criticism I can level at the game are the load times. This seems to be more distracting later in the game than earlier. (Trying to avoid spoilers here) You'll find that the game will stop suddenly and take significant amounts of time to load the next section. I'm not a programmer, nor do I play one on TV, but I would think at this point that programmers should be able to find an intelligent way to seamlessly load the next section of a game unbeknownst to the player.
This edition of the game introduces a co-operative experience with it's own stand alone story as well. I would strongly recommend finishing the single player version of the game before beginning the co-op. There's two reasons for this. First, completing all the puzzles in the single player mode will prepare you for the challenge of co-op. Co-op is a different beast entirely when it comes to difficulty. Though I only have about three hours in the co-op at this point, I would say that it is more difficult than single player. Secondly, the co-op contains a very minor spoiler for the single player game right out of the gate. It's not much, but if you like to be surprised as much as possible by story elements, you'll want to finish the single player first.
Co-op gives you and your partner each a portal gun and sends you off to do some "testing" for GLaDOS. Though you're able to fire four portals into the world at once, you cannot link your portals to your partner's portals. This certainly plays into a few of the puzzles you'll run into. There's a nice tutorial before beginning the meat of the experience to get you familiar with some of the ways you'll need to work with your partner to complete puzzles. A "portal target" mechanic has been added to the game for the co-op mode, as well as a countdown timer. Both are very welcome additions. The portal target feature is an absolute must. This allows you to show your partner where you would like them to place one of their portals. I've only played this in split screen mode, and even when your partner is on the same couch as you it's a very useful feature. I couldn't imagine not having it in the networked version of the mode. The countdown timer allows you to begin an on screen timer to synchronize your actions with your partner. This is useful if your partner is connected to you by network and doesn't have a headset, but otherwise can easily be handled by voice chat.
Portal 2 keeps the spirit of the original game, and expands upon it well. Nothing was added that doesn't seem to fit with the world that was originally created, and nothing really was removed at all. This game is a shining example of what sequels should be, and is a must own for any gamer that enjoys a good puzzle.
Pros:
- More of the same great puzzles
- Voice acting is outstanding, and the story is both engaging and laugh out loud funny in some instances
- Enough new mechanics added to keep the game from feeling stale, while keeping the focus on using portals to solve puzzles
- Co-op mode extends the play time of the game and gives a completely new experience, complete with its own stand alone story
- Load screens between sequences can take you out of the flow of the game
Score: 5 out of 5 stars - Must Own
Review System - PS3
Time Played - 18 hours, three of which were spent in co-op.
Completion: Single player campaign completed and all single player trophies earned. Co-op campaign completed three out of five sections in the hub world.
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