Portal 2 Review

I have to be honest, I was a bit disappointed when Valve announced Portal 2 last year. I was really hoping for Episode 3 or Half-Life 3. The thought of, "come on guys where the hell is Episode 3 instead of Portal 2", came to mind when I heard Portal 2 was coming out. I almost came to the conclusion that I was going to skip this one when it releases because I was a bit mad nothing is being said about the Half-Life products. As the release date came near, I started to get excited about Portal 2. Valve knows how to make their fans happy, even if we are a little mad about Episode 3. They got me, Portal 2 is an awesome distraction to not getting Episode 3 or Half-Life 3.

Where do I begin? Portal 2 is a fine example of high quality craftsmanship in video games. I can't praise this game enough, I was extremely pleased from beginning to end. Portal 2 starts off where Portal 1 ended. You play as Chell, a test subject that survived and stopped the psycho AI named GLaDOS. After beating her, something drags you back into Aperture Science facilities and you are put into stasis. This is were Portal 2 begins and you meat a new character when you wake up from stasis. Wheatley is this new character's name and is voiced by Stephen Merchant. Wheatley is a personality core that will guide you through the first part of the game. Right from the get go you will be solving puzzles using a portal gun that allows you to open up two door ways or portals that you can go through. These door ways that you create will be used to solve all the puzzles in the game that are presented to you. It is not required to play Portal 1, but it is recommended. This is because the first half of the game will be played through test chambers that were used in Portal 1, but this time they look run down with plant growth and lack of maintenance. This is present through out the beginning of the game, and is most likely do to the fact that GLaDOS was shutdown and is unable to maintain the chambers. But things go back to normal once Wheatley and you turn GLaDOS back on, by mistake of course, and she takes over from here on out. I don't want to spoil any of the storyline from here, but it gets a lot better as you progress through the game and never stops to amuse you. Valve did an excellent job with the writing of the story in Portal 2 and you have to play it to understand the value it adds to the game.

Game play in Portal 2 is just like Portal. You use a gun that produces portals that you can pass through to solve puzzles, which I explained above. Valve did add new toys to play with through out the game to help solve the almost never ending puzzles. These new toys or objects are: Lasers, Gravity Beams, Light Beams (that allow you to walk on like a bridge of sorts), Jump Pedestals, and Gel. There are three types of Gel; Blue Gel which allows you to jump high if you jump on it, Red Gel which allows you to speed up as you run across it, and White Gel which allows you to force a surfice to produce portals once covered. These new objects allow for more variety in the puzzles you face and more challenging puzzles to solve. But even if the challenge rating went up a little, Valve still did a great job on making sure all the puzzles still had a solution that wasn't extremely hard. With my play through in the singleplayer I came across a few puzzles that I had to scratch my head at, but with time I was able to figure it out with ease. The new additions and characters to Portal 2 really makes the gameplay enjoyable and fun.

To add more icing to the cake, Valve added a Co-Op multiplayer to Portal 2. The Co-Op offers a separate story line from the singleplayer and is about the same in length as well. Unfortunately I have yet to play it...none of my friends have the game and a human player is required for the Co-Op missions. So I can't say much about it other then I have heard the Co-Op is worth it on it's own.

Portal 2 has to be one of the best games I have played thus far in 2011. It has easily blown away anything that has come out thus far. With a longer singleplayer then the first, added Co-Op missions, and top notch writing, Portal 2 is my first pick for Game of the Year in 2011.

I give Portal 2 a 5 out of 5, just go buy it and play it already. :-D

0 = Total Garbage (Don't waste your time)
1 = Crap (Maybe rent, maybe not)
2 = Ok (Rental only)
3 = Good (Buy it, rent if low on cash)
4 = Great (Buy this game)
5 = Amazing (Don't even think about it, just get it)