Saturday, August 6, 2011

Review: Portal 2

Portal 2 (PC, PS3, X360)

Do I really need an introduction for this one? It's Portal 2, sequel to the stupidly popular Portal that was included in the Orange Box. I'm writing this assuming you have played Portal, so if you haven't and are worried about spoilers, get out now. And go play Portal. It's incredible. Portal 2 at its core is a puzzle game with a truly immersive story over top it. You play as Chell, returning from the first game after being put into some kind of stasis by the bots serving GLADoS, the first game's antagonist. You are awoken several hundred years after the first game and are immediately dropped back into the test chambers with your trusty Portal Gun. This game is atmospherically very different from the first game. The chambers return, but are overrun by plant life in the beginning and show an obvious advancement in technology deeper inside from what was previously seen before this game. GLADoS also returns with her trademark dark humor centering mostly around killing Chell. That's about as far as I'll go with plot, so I don't ruin anything.

This game takes the gameplay from the first game and adds several new additions. The cubes return, but have a redesigned look to reflect the hundreds of years worth of technological advancement. Those big red buttons are back, too. Some new additions are laser beams that need redirected into a certain receptacle to unlock or open something. These seem to be based around those energy orbs from the first game, but instead of bouncing around, this game has steady beams that can be redirected with a new type of block.

As far as music goes, I have no real complaints. Everything fits, but doesn't really stand out. Aside from the ending song, of course. Not quite as epic as Still Alive, but still good. Voice acting is almost perfect. The two main voices you hear in this game are GLADoS and a new character, Wheatley. Both voices are perfect fits for the characters.

Last, but DEFINITELY not least, co-op. Portal 2 features several cooperative levels that require a second player to play through. These levels are where the real challenge of the game lies. Each player controls one of two little bots that each has a portal gun. With double the portal guns comes double the portals. Each player has 2 matching portals, making a combined total of 4 usable portals to solve puzzles with. As epic as the single player campaign is, you simply HAVE to play the co-op levels.

Portal 2 can be found on the Steam store Here.

This game is a definite candidate for my GotY. 10/10

Wow, two perfect scores in a row. This will probably never happen again...

No comments:

Post a Comment