Portal 2: What I was counting on
The sequel to Valve’s mini-game, Portal, Portal 2 picks up where the previous game left off, but now chock-full of more humour, story and insane puzzle solving than ever before.
As a huge fan of the first game, I played this game with a sense of joy, as I really do love Valve’s innovative ideas of developing games. Portal 2 stands as one of the best games of 2011, and will be hard-pressed to lose that title in my eyes.
Having said that, digging into Portal 2 is essential to understand just how good it is, and yet despite my cheerful, praising tone going into this review, I still think that the game has a few minor grievances, so without further stalling to fill my word cap…lets begin:
Portal 2 has two separate modes to it; the singleplayer, focusing of the protagonist of the first game; Chell, and her attempts to escape the Aperture Science testing facility and a co-op campaign, which consists of 35 test chambers that the player, and a friend, have to work together to get through. The protagonists in this section of the game are two robots, called Atlas and P-body, but we’ll get to them soon.
Single player focuses on a more diverse cast, now having more than one personality to deal with other the GLaDOS, in the form of Wheatley, voiced by Stephan Merchant. Wheatley is a personality core, and one of the most hilarious individuals I’ve seen in any game. He is portrayed as a naïve, good-natured individual, who just wants to help Chell out of the labs. Despite this, they re-awaken GLaDOS, and so they must work together to kill her once again, something that she doesn’t take too kindly too. The campaign is about six hours long, and focuses on a more story-driven plot, allowing the player to discover the history behind Aperture, while all the while attempting to survive the test chambers, which have some old, and some new additions to them. The character interactions have also been improved, providing some genuine laughs for the player. The difficulty has been increased, if not for the somewhat annoying new system of putting the player in a room where there is only on solution, that is difficult to figure out at the best of times. Some later test chambers have become more about finding Portal-able walls to use, than actually presenting a challenge. You’ll often tell yourself ‘that was pretty easy’ after you complete a puzzle, because the difficulty is not in the design of the puzzle itself. The difficulty is trying to find a wall to shoot a portal at. This is often something that can be overlooked, but on certain occasions, the player will find themselves thinking ‘that was more of an irritant, than a fun puzzle’. With the story change to a more plot-orientated game, the drive of the player doesn’t really come from the want to solve the test chambers, more than a need to solve them, to continue with the story. This can also be hindered by some dank and dark rooms, which are difficult to maneuver, as the player won’t be able to see where the next portal should go. Despite this, however, the puzzles still hold up, and the player will still attempt to find the answers to all of these puzzles no matter how awkward of difficult they may be. Perhaps they aren't all that bad, because despite the nature of some of these puzzles, the player will still want to solve them, which may point to the inherent genius of Portal 2 on its own, as it constantly engages the player.
The soundtrack, or lack thereof, really resonates throughout the game. Each area is quiet, with the silence only being broken by the sounds of the portal gun, turret fire, or the occasional witty quip from GLaDOS or Wheatley, with other sections of the game filled with the voice of authority, the man himself...Cave Johnson, who you'll hear later in the game. When the music does kick in, it usually means that the player is going to have to react fast, or die. This is an interesting idea, something that it's predecessor didn't get to expand upon given its short play time. This idea adds to the overall atmosphere of the game, not distracting the player, but adding to the situation that the player is in, immersing them in their current situation.
Despite these elements, the game still remains fun, with some of the more interesting chamber variants adapting to new mechanics in the game, such as a spring-board mechanism, different colours of, for want of a better word, Gel, with different properties, and light-bridges, along with new leg-braces that allow the player to survive long drops. Most of these chambers are well designed, and require the player to use their heads, along with excellent timing, in order to complete them. These mechanics make the game extremely enjoyable, and coupled with the hilarious characters of both Wheatley and GLaDOS, and an underlying story about the Aperture Science labs, showing the player the origin of the facility, with some nods to Half-Life thrown into the mix, make this game one of the finer puzzle titles I’ve played in a while.
The chambers themselves are divided up into specific tests, such as momentum. The portal gun is as fun as ever, if not a bit underused, as puzzles won’t require it all that much for completion. Now that doesn’t mean that the portal gun is pointless, but in some of the chambers, the portal gun only serves as a means to get item ‘A’ to point ‘B’ and then item ‘A’ becomes the only way to get out of the test chamber. It’s an odd system, and for a game that requires a player to ‘think with portals’, it doesn’t really make the portals the main focus of the puzzles. However, when it does, the game really shines.
Building momentum, followed by shooting yourself across a huge chasm, never gets old, and the player will feel the adrenaline pumping during the more timing-orientated puzzles. Overall, the puzzles in singleplayer are a mixed bag, ranging from the insanely fun, to the weird and confusing.
But in truth, the singleplayer is just a warm up for the real test…the Co-Op. Co-Op is where Portal 2 excels, showing the player just how much thought goes into every puzzle and chamber in the game. GLaDOS is again leading the tests, and is still as hilarious as ever, often times praising one player and scolding another depending on how well they are doing. These events take place after the main game’s story ends, so this makes for an interesting addition to the game as a whole. This is enjoyable, and adds a kind of deep-seated competitive nature to the game itself. The robots each player will control have their own portal gun, meaning that there are now a total of four portals to play with. And you’ll need them, as each and every chamber requires complete team synchronicity in order to pass through. There are 5 different test types, each testing the team’s skill. The D-pad has been assigned markers that players can use to point out specific places to look, shoot portals, and outline specific objects. Expressions have also been given to each player as they continue to complete chambers, which are a nice touch, allowing for some fun and light-hearted moments, in between being blown up and melted! The characters of this mode have some interesting traits too. Atlus, the bulky blue-eyed robot, is actually a lot more agile, and cool looking than P-body, the orange-eyed, lanky robot, as he can jump higher. This change in the flow of the game, as one player may be able to make it through a certain part of the level, but the other will not, which requires a different approach from both players is a small but interesting concept, something that is unexpected but fun. Unlike other Co-Op games though, this section of the game actually requires total team work, as the four-portal system is the only way of traversing the levels, and player interaction is often the only way for both to survive.
Portal 2 looks simply amazing. The pristine white rooms are still present from the previous game…at least some of them are, while other areas are covered in overgrown plant life, broken panels and all manners of crap. Each level of the facility is different to the next, with the mid levels having little to no natural light, the lower levels existing in caves, and the higher levels giving sunlight and views of the outside world to the player. Clearly, time and effort was placed into making each area look unique, which is an excellent idea, and something the player can appreciate as they dodge around lasers, cute turrets that will rip them to shreds, and toxic waste.
Perhaps trying to review Portal 2 is impossible, because it’s such an interesting and fun game that it simply has to be played for the full effect of the game to be enjoyed.
Granted, the few issues with the game are exclusively single-player based, but the game shines like no other, and the Co-Op is top-notch. There really isn’t anything more to say about Portal 2, and words cannot do this game justice. Never has such a simple concept made itself into such a large, and quite frankly epic, game that really works so well with the concepts it’s given. My only other issue would be that it doesn’t really give the player any incentive to play through it again, unless they are looking for Easter-eggs or achievement points.
Final Verdict: 5/5
Pros:
- Fun and innovative puzzles
- Hilarious characters/voice actors
- Excellent and diverse level and chamber designs
- Graphically beautiful
- Co-Op as an extension of the main game is a fresh and impressive idea
- Character interactions are humourous and plentiful
Cons:
- Some chambers boil down to finding portal-able walls.
- Some of the danker levels make it difficult to figure out the next step in the puzzle
- Lack of replay value is a downside.
Overall, Portal 2, despite its flaws, is an excellent title, a game that does almost everything right, and improves upon everything from its predecessor.
WTF? Moment: Wheatley asking you politely to come back and jump into a chasm…
