As promised in my last review, I stated before I reviewed Portal that I would review Portal 2, since I got it at the same time as Portal 1. However, this review will be a bit difficult. Generally when a review is done by me, I try to leave out the spoilers as best as I can, rather it be of the current subject matter, or on prequels/sequels. The only exception was in the case of Metroid: Other M, where the beginning of the game comes straight out and show a highly cinematic of the ending of Super Metroid, a game that came out over fifteen years prior, where more than likely everyone and their grandmother has probably played it and there's a bit of leeway......God, I feel old now. If I spoil anything from the first Portal game because you have yet to get to it or so on, I apologize, because, chances are, I can't figure out any way around it. So, let's get right to it.
Shocked that such a puzzler got the following it did back in 2007, Valve made their work of art into a much more grand one, come 2011, going from a over-elaborate tech demo to fully fleshed out full-length game. With such a overhaul to not only graphics, but a more detailed back story of Glados, Aperture Science, and plenty of unfortunate implications of either the spoken or visual sorts, does this game hold true to its predecessor? Find out.
If you are allergic to animal dander, plastic, pollen or anti-matter, like wise are prone to vertigo or any form of motion sickness, that is not part of the review. We're sorry.
Story:
The story takes place in a left-to-be guessed length of time after the events of the first Portal. I'm left in a position that since there is a good deal of stuff, while ruined, is still intact for the most part, yet long enough for plants to overrun the place, its probably a matter of decades. You find yourself waking up at first what turns out to be a pleasant setting, only for you to go to sleep once more, and wake up in a living hell. Say hello to your handiwork from the first game (providing you have played it of course). You go through what's left of the old testing chambers, reuniting yourself with the trusted Portal gun and go tour the remains of the Aperture Science facility to get the hell out with the aid of a rather eccentric artificial intelligence (or lack there-of) known as Wheatley.
God, you really made a mess of the place, haven't you?
Unfortunately, the both of you find out soon enough that the computerized demon known as GLaDOS apparently isn't quite dead like one would hope and sure enough, while you may not be too happy seeing her back up and running again, she has a mutual feeling about you.
Oh Crap doesn't even begin to describe this
Ending up in GLaDOS's computerized clutches once again, you end up going through the facility, at first to humor her, but soon enough get to shut her down once again and in the meantime, take a tour of the place to learn how the place functions, in hoping to shut her down for good. Unfortunately, doing so, as one will find out, will lead to greater consequences for you and GLaDOS, which in turn will end up having you to team up....per se.
The story, is indeed more fleshed out than the original Portal. You get to learn plenty of the back story of Aperture Science, and the geniuses (and in plenty of cases, the lack thereof) who ran it at one time before GLaDOS had her way with all of them with deadly neurotoxin.
Maybe they didn't follow their evacuation protocols?
Going from something very simplistic from the first Portal to something rather elaborate in Portal 2 was very interesting to say the least. Neither current happenings or back story would clash on one another that much for limelight, if at all, and it was fun to listen in to and watch everything interact with each other as the story played out. However, Valve apparently kept in mind, while yes, story is important, they wanted to keep the simplicity that the original Portal provided, so in essence, while the story is grand, there's not too much reading into it. It is what it is and that's all that it is, though that isn't to say you wouldn't find a few horrors if you pay close attention to the lines provided. There is a balance, it feels like, that comes with the story makes me astounded actually, in a good way. Not too often do you see games nowadays pull that off.
And to make the story all the better, the dark humor that was present in the first game makes a triumphant return to this game as well. All sorts of cracks, stealth based insults, and things of the like come back full force and to say the least, it continues to make you no longer take the Half-Life series seriously anymore, if the first Portal hadn't done it already.
Gameplay:
The gameplay remains fully in tact from the first game. Once again, WASD for movement, E for picking up stuff or interaction with objects, and Mouse to control your Portal gun, with this time, the added option to zoom in on an area by means of your middle mouse button or scroll wheel (whatever mouse you have).
Also once again, you are left to think with Portals, even more so than ever. With new objects to manipulate with portals for that matter, such as lasers, solid bridges made of sunlight and different kinds of gels:
Propulsion Gel, Repulsion Gel, and......not even going to comment what the third one looks like...
Using what the environment provides, you make your way through the areas, making it from one destination to the next; one difficult puzzle after the next, just exactly like what the first Portal game did. However, the game gives you more liberty, unlike the first Portal, to explore around a bit to actually get the feel for the area. Actually experiment quite a bit, instead of making it glaringly obvious at first as to what needs to be done. I find it a bit of a weird change at first, being fairly used to the narrow corridors of black and white test chambers in the first Portal game, but I very quickly grew into it.
There isn't too much to say on it though, admittingly, that I hadn't said already with the first Portal game. With its easily understandable game mechanics, and the means to get you to use your wits instead of brute forcing your way through like plenty of games do, allows this game to remain fun from start to finish.
Audio/Visual:
As mentioned in previous reviews of mine, I don't grade too highly on visuals. If the story is good, the game play is good, then visuals usually may be forgiven fairly easily...unless you're playing the Virtual Boy. Safe to say though, they don't have to be forgiven in this game. The game looks nothing short of stunning. Plenty of the areas look vast and set the mood just as it did in the first game.
I think they let this place go quite a bit. Maybe they need to lay off the combustible fruits...
The audio is just as great as before, if not better than Portal. Music and the voice-overs for that matter, has been known to change on all occasions. From the creepy underground areas, to frantic rushes for survival, there seems to be a track and comment for everything that will immerse one deep into this game. That, or realize just how screwed up a lot of the characters are for that matter.
Extras:
There is more going for this game in the extras department than there was in the first Portal. Namely, more achievements to go after, for starters, which that would be a given, but what sets it truly apart is the fact that in Portal, you have only six chambers to play around in different ways. In Portal 2, however, you got yourself the Co-op mode. Going online with a friend who also has Portal 2, or if it suits you, find a random someone on the Steam servers who has Portal 2, go undertake many more test chambers together. And for that matter, a lot more difficult ones. With two more portals (those being with your partner) to work with, those at Valve decided they should be down right sadistic when it comes down to working the puzzles, and for that matter, making the achievements for that mode as well.
However, that said, Co-op is ONLY for the two player experience. There's no option for a CPU controlled ally or anything of that sort. So if you are the unfortunate sap that just suddenly ended up without internet, the Co-op is useless to you.
Apart from the Co-op mode, you have the trailers that you may have already seen on the internet, as well as being able to see the Online Comic of "Lab Rat", the story of a scientist known as Rattman, that ties the two Portal games together as to how the main protagonist ends up in the events of Portal 2 and maybe answer a few other questions.
Apart from what was just mentioned in the extras department, there's nothing much more there. At least you aren't going through the same solo player areas like in the first Portal. That said, it would have been nice to have seen something a bit similar to what the first Portal had. I'm not saying to re-use test chambers, oh hell no, but actually make a challenge mode similar to how they did in the first Portal, instead of just relying on the Co-op mode and a comic book for a fix. I paid 50 dollars and waited 16 hours for downloading this thing, mind giving me just a bit more to this game?
Additional notes:
If you read that last paragraph in my extras section then you may have realized a gripe that I did have about this game. While this game, by no means, is as short as Portal, Portal 2 still felt it was just...short. Like. Almost Sonic Colors short, which could be ran through in a mere few hours. I honestly felt that they could have added some more to this game, and not have beaten a dead horse in the story department, or game play department for that matter. To be frank, though, it isn't THAT big of a deal considering everything else going for this game, but I was deep down in a position of "Aw, its over already? But it was real good!" It's probably me nitpicking a bit, but I digress.
The final say:
Portal 2 is truly a work of art. Valve has shown me that they truly know how to take a concept and run with it, to say the least. The dark humor, the various settings the game provided, while keeping simple from start to finish, and the added bonus of a fleshed out co-op mode, makes this game highly memorable. While general length is to be desired more, I can't complain too much. Mark this down, everyone...while its not flawless, like any game, its good enough to be the first game that I review to be a 10 out of 10.
Now, back to torturing more turrets. Boingy, boingy, boingy...
