2011
02MAY
Portal 2
Title: Portal 2
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Genre: First-Person Puzzle Shooter
Semi-Spoiler Warning: While I won't outright spoil anything, I will be making vague generalizations on the plot as a whole. If you consider that a spoiler, just note my "Play" recommendation and move on. I hear they caught that bin Laden character. Go read about that for a while.
Portal 2 is the most refreshing, engrossing, and clever game I've played since, well, Portal.
It's not just "more of the same." It seems to start out that way, but the way new gameplay quirks are constantly being added even up until the final stages means a standalone product greater than the sum of its parts. The core mechanics are the same from the first title, but the shifted focus on physics puzzles and, at times, even modifying the environment itself creates a whole new element of lateral thinking. Hints are vague and incorporated into the game environment itself; you really need to keep your ears open and use that thinkalator, as blind guessing will only take you so far. Fortunately, the solutions are mostly straightforward and rewarding - the "One More Level" syndrome is in full force here, but don't be tempted to plow through the entire thing in one sitting like you did with the first Portal - this game easily pushes 15 hours for its single player campaign.
There are but a few flaws otherwise. The Source engine is definitely starting to show its age, though the artists and animators did amazing things with it otherwise. In addition, the sound design is mostly echoing mechanical noises, with little context-sensitive musical bits that accompany many of your actions - which get annoying as hell way too quickly. The actual scenes with full background music were greatly enhanced, and I kind of wish there were more of them. The voice acting, however, is out-fucking-standing on all parts, and makes for an amazing presentation of the story - it's too bad that the story itself was really one not worth telling. Call me crazy, but I much preferred the ambiguity of the first title - this time, we get a full posthumous view of the facility and its history, but the history itself is unfortunately incredibly generic and predictable. Maybe that adds to the appeal? Maybe it's all metaphorical? Or maybe all of the narrators are unreliable? Hard to say, but I was kind of let down, even though it was pure joy to actually hear and see it being played out.
The game itself is relatively long, as I mentioned, but some sequences are incredibly draining and border on "annoying" - I found myself looking forward to the next cutscene or plot point more often than not. Especially egregious are the very large, wide-open segments that pop up toward the middle of the game. They never seem to end, and the oppressive atmosphere didn't help matters either. Thankfully, the last third or so of the game is somewhat of a breather, culminating with a frenetic final encounter and absolutely amazing ending.
Of mention also is the multiplayer campaign, though since the Playstation Network is still down as of writing, I can't comment on it (I don't do a lot of multiplayer anyway). Like Uncharted 2, it is notably fleshed-out, and adds just another plus-mark to the package.
Forty bucks may be a bit much to swallow for some (I was able to beat it start to finish in a couple of days), so you would be fine with renting, but you must play it regardless. Valve rightly deserves the money, and with the split screen multiplayer option (which is sadly disappearing from many modern games), Portal 2 can promise a long, healthy life in your disc drive.
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Genre: First-Person Puzzle Shooter
Semi-Spoiler Warning: While I won't outright spoil anything, I will be making vague generalizations on the plot as a whole. If you consider that a spoiler, just note my "Play" recommendation and move on. I hear they caught that bin Laden character. Go read about that for a while.
Portal 2 is the most refreshing, engrossing, and clever game I've played since, well, Portal.
It's not just "more of the same." It seems to start out that way, but the way new gameplay quirks are constantly being added even up until the final stages means a standalone product greater than the sum of its parts. The core mechanics are the same from the first title, but the shifted focus on physics puzzles and, at times, even modifying the environment itself creates a whole new element of lateral thinking. Hints are vague and incorporated into the game environment itself; you really need to keep your ears open and use that thinkalator, as blind guessing will only take you so far. Fortunately, the solutions are mostly straightforward and rewarding - the "One More Level" syndrome is in full force here, but don't be tempted to plow through the entire thing in one sitting like you did with the first Portal - this game easily pushes 15 hours for its single player campaign.
There are but a few flaws otherwise. The Source engine is definitely starting to show its age, though the artists and animators did amazing things with it otherwise. In addition, the sound design is mostly echoing mechanical noises, with little context-sensitive musical bits that accompany many of your actions - which get annoying as hell way too quickly. The actual scenes with full background music were greatly enhanced, and I kind of wish there were more of them. The voice acting, however, is out-fucking-standing on all parts, and makes for an amazing presentation of the story - it's too bad that the story itself was really one not worth telling. Call me crazy, but I much preferred the ambiguity of the first title - this time, we get a full posthumous view of the facility and its history, but the history itself is unfortunately incredibly generic and predictable. Maybe that adds to the appeal? Maybe it's all metaphorical? Or maybe all of the narrators are unreliable? Hard to say, but I was kind of let down, even though it was pure joy to actually hear and see it being played out.
The game itself is relatively long, as I mentioned, but some sequences are incredibly draining and border on "annoying" - I found myself looking forward to the next cutscene or plot point more often than not. Especially egregious are the very large, wide-open segments that pop up toward the middle of the game. They never seem to end, and the oppressive atmosphere didn't help matters either. Thankfully, the last third or so of the game is somewhat of a breather, culminating with a frenetic final encounter and absolutely amazing ending.
Of mention also is the multiplayer campaign, though since the Playstation Network is still down as of writing, I can't comment on it (I don't do a lot of multiplayer anyway). Like Uncharted 2, it is notably fleshed-out, and adds just another plus-mark to the package.
Forty bucks may be a bit much to swallow for some (I was able to beat it start to finish in a couple of days), so you would be fine with renting, but you must play it regardless. Valve rightly deserves the money, and with the split screen multiplayer option (which is sadly disappearing from many modern games), Portal 2 can promise a long, healthy life in your disc drive.