Review: Portal 2

After I played Portal I was in love. I was more than excited to play Portal 2 knowing that it would be amazing. Little did I know that it would exceed me expectations tenfold. It was OUTSTANDING! Because the first Portal was so short I was expecting the second to be equally brief. Therefore, while I was playing Portal 2 I kept expecting it to end, but it didn’t. It just kept going and revealing more surprises, more humour, and more excitement. So let’s get into it…

Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle platform game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was released in 2011 for Windows, Mac OS X, PS3, and Xbox 360.

In the first Portal you are GLaDOS’ test subject, forced to complete dangerous life threatening tests for the sake of science. In Portal 2, you wake up in a room where a core named Wheatley greets you and helps you try to escape. Unfortunately, you and GLaDOS are reunited and another round of testing begins where she will insult your weight and your orphan status. This story goes much further than the previous one however. You will learn about the previous owner of Aperture Laboratories, Cave Johnson via pre recorded audio announcements. And there will be a twist that will force you and GLaDOS (in potato form) to work together to survive. Not to mention this game is about 5 times longer than the first.

There’s also a co-op option where you will play as two testing robots to solve a multitude of new tests built for co-op play. You can play split screen with a friend, play with friends online or the less popular option, play with some random, which is what I did. The co-op play develops your teamwork skills and co-operation. Completing tests with a second person can be more satisfying but also more nerve racking for fear of screwing up or pissing the other person off with your lack of brain capacity. Nevertheless, it is very interesting to see how another person operates in the test chambers. The option to do cute little gestures like: high-five, wave, dance, laugh etc. will make for a hilarious time. Or seeing your partner blow up and then respawn will be equally as entertaining.

As for the test chambers themselves, they are bigger, harder, and just better than the previous ones. Portal 2 takes test chambers to a whole new level. Some tests aren’t even in the chambers; some will be outside in the wreckage or on the catwalk of the Aperture Science Building or alternative rooms inside. There are brand new ways to test as well. You’ll be introduced to new devices such as repulsion gels, aerial faith plates, laser beams, hard light bridges and much more.

There’s about 400% more dialogue in this game than the previous and it’s about 200% funnier. The introduction of the Wheatley character was exactly what this game needed. Just adding one character to make a grand total of three characters (even though Chell doesn’t speak) in this game is enough to create a ton more storyline and dialogue.

In the end, I HAVE to give Portal 2, 10 exploding test robots out of 10. Basically this game is too good for my words. So stop reading and just go play it.