The single player Portal 2 experience has been highly refined since its predecessor. This time, Valve puts a heavy emphasis on the story that was vaguely set up in the first game. Starting almost exactly where the first game leaves off, although hundreds of years later, players once again find themselves in the role of Chell, making her way through the test chambers of Aperture Science.
The story in Portal 2 is spectacular. It’s not just you and GlaDOS in the facility now. Wheatley, a new robot, provides aid as players continue their quest to escape from the laboratories. Through various twists and turns in the story, as well as providing a lot of really interesting back story to Aperture Science, Valve manages to tell an exciting and interesting story of man’s struggle against machine, and about the hubris of the scientific mind. The story is told not through cutscenes or even speaking from your character, but through GlaDOS and Wheatley, as well as another new character, Cave Johnson, the founder of Aperture Science. While this is an out of style storytelling method in games nowadays, this method works perfectly for Portal 2, but succeeds only due to fantastic voice acting.
British actor Stephen Merchant steals the show as Wheatley. His performance is charming and funny, as well as being very convincing. J.K. Simmons also does a fantastic job playing Cave Johnson, although a role not too different than many of his previous roles (J. Jonah Jamison from Spider-Man being most notable). He has some of the best one liners in the whole game, and despite his instant auditory familiarity, really makes the character come alive. Finally Ellen McLain returns as GlaDOS, and provides another brilliant job bringing the homicidal A.I. to life.
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| One of the many new gels. |
Keeping with the same formula as the previous game, players in Portal 2 still wield the portal gun, with the ability to shoot a blue portal and an orange portal to pass through. Like the first game, the controls are very tight, and easy to work with. Valve did a great job of giving players a lot of freedom, while still keeping it simple. With much of the gameplay in Portal 2 staying the same, there have been a few new twists added that really add a lot to the experience. Most notably are the new gels that players uncover in Aperture Labs. The blue gel, repulsion gel, provides a bouncy surface allowing you to spring and bounce to new heights. The orange gel, propulsion gel, reduces the friction on surfaces allowing you to slide across and gain momentum. The final type is conversion gel, the white gel. This allows for portals to be placed on surfaces coated with it. The way the gel moves through the air and splatters on the ground is very convincing. Valve did an excellent job incorporating these new elements into the puzzles to create a fresh new experience, while keeping the feel of the game the same.
Graphically, Portal 2 is leaps beyond what Portal could do. The environment is constantly changing, and bits of this and that fall and move realistically. Plants busting through the walls look and sway convincingly, as well as the way surfaces react. Wheatley and GlaDOS also look fantastic, with so many animated parts. I was particularly impressed at one point in the game, a turret can be seen being assembled and boxed. Everything was fully animated and detailed, and it was very convincing of a real piece of machinery being assembled. This is the level of detail that is in every aspect of the game.
Portal 2 is one of those special games that only come along every so often. From start to finish of the single player campaign, it was an entertaining, humorous ride. The story was fantastically told, and the characters, while only machines, felt like they were real. The puzzles were challenging, but never too hard, and the gameplay never got old. Portal 2 is a game I highly recommend to everyone, even if you passed up the first (which you shouldn’t have.) Go out and buy it today.
The co-op campaign in Portal 2 was a blast. Each player plays as one of two robots, P-Body or Atlas. The robots were really funny, and their behavior was unexpected from the typical robots in the Portal games. They were very human like in their behavior. Even though the two robots just met, they acted like they had been best friends forever. They don’t have voices, but they make some of the funniest noises throughout the game. You can make your robot do a gesture, and some even interact with your co-op partner, such as giving a hug. You can even do things like rock, paper, scissors to determine who was going to go first on some of the more deadly puzzle elements in the game.
I really enjoyed the puzzles in Portal 2’s co-op. They were challenging, but not impossible. No matter how tough a puzzle seemed, Matt and I eventually figured it out. And when we did, there was a real sense of accomplishment. We would get so excited we’d high five each other (as well as make the robots high five each other in the game). What really helped solve puzzles was the ping tool Portal 2 adds. A click of the button and it places a marker for your partner to see exactly where you want them to put that portal or where to stand. Another great thing about Portal 2’s co-op was the way it introduced new puzzle elements. Whenever a new element was added, such as repulsion gel, it would be introduced with an easy puzzle to get players accustomed to the way it worked. Later, they would add this new component into more challenging puzzles, creating a really manageable learning curve. If you’ve never played Portal before, don’t worry. You don’t have to be a seasoned player to figure out the puzzles in Portal 2’s co-op. The game actually makes it fairly simple for newcomers to get adjusted to the gameplay.
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| Enviornments are much more interesting. |
The co-op in Portal 2 also has a great story. The way GlaDOS interacts with the robots is really funny and she narrates your gameplay perfectly. I hadn’t played the single player game when I played co-op, and while the story takes place after the single player game, it didn’t spoil anything for me.
The co-op in Portal 2 was fantastic, and put a great emphasis on teamwork. The game never forces a player into a specific situation instead of the other, which was great. We were able to choose who would do what incredibly dangerous thing, and I love freedom like that in co-op games. If you are a fan of the portal franchise, you will definitely enjoy the co-op. But, if you have yet to enjoy Portal, this is a great way to get into the franchise and get your feet wet.
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