I held off on touching Portal's sequel in part because I really wasn't in the mood to part with sixty bucks, in part because I hadn't actually finished the first game myself due to my laptop's lagging. I changed my mind for another two reasons: Amazon had it at $39.99... and spoilers are everywhere. For those of you who want to wait for a Game of the Year edition in two years, best of luck to you, but I suggest you save up for it in the here and now -- unless you don't mind having to worry about possible spoilers on nearly every website you wander to. Besides, there are much worse recent games to be spending your money on right now. Might as well go back a couple of months for a good time.
Almost all the elements walked on this fine line between too little and too much; one small slip in either direction could ruin it. The difficulty, for instance, varies. There are many, many levels that take little to no thought because the portalable walls are lined up just so. There are also levels that I'd wander around for five minutes yelling "Where the heck am I even supposed to start?" before consulting GameFAQs in a huff. I didn't even feel accomplished on the times I happened to stumble across just the right portal combination, especially on ones that involve the blue jumping goo. The colored goo in general involved many leaps of faith, praying that jumping off them just so would propel Chell across the chasm without dropping her into the bottomless pits of Aperture's facilities.
Sometimes the strength of the goo seemed to depend on whether it was meant to be the puzzle solution: If I was supposed to hit some button to make a bridge a little longer before I tried jumping to it, the goo wouldn't fly me two feet. If the bridge was as far as it would go, the goo would have thrown me over the Grand Canyon. It made it difficult to feel confident in trying out possible puzzle solutions, as what may have worked in one room will send you plunging to your death in another. In that respect, the simpler puzzles felt much more satisfying. A simple solution could be accompanied with a tricky maneuver that involved shooting portals at just the right moment, and pulling that off was far funner than wondering whether you're supposed to run past the turrets or find a way to kill them first.
The game is a great deal lengthier than the first game and has three big "sections" where the game takes a different turn in setting. The first and last are fairly straight forward testing chambers with portal puzzles to unlock a door like in the last game, but the middle section has a habit of dragging. It has the standard test chamber puzzles, but the chambers are no longer connected by elevator and instead you must find your own way to the next one, which often involves searching for the one tiny portalable wall high, high above. I found it easily one of the least satisfying aspects of the game, as there was too much empty land to explore when all I wanted was that one portalable surface so I could get back to the actual gameplay. It did break up the pace a bit, but the game shines far more when it throws test chambers at you one after the other with no time to catch your breath.
I really can't divulge many plot details, seeing as it's near impossible to be vague about twists in a story with only three characters, but it takes a very different turn about halfway through the game. I think most of us will see the fake-out ending coming a mile away, but the results from the rather predictable twist do lead to far more interesting plotlines.
What can be said about the plot is that it covers a lot of backstory I was not expecting to see for Aperture Science and GLaDOS. In some ways it was unappreciated backstory, as it ruins the mystery of Aperture, but overall it was handled well and didn't feel unbelievable or shoehorned. That said, the best aspects were probably the least "twist"-like elements, like the small background details and all of the robot banter. The giant epiphanies tend to be fairly easy to predict.
As is not unusual for Valve, most of the cutscenes are done in real time, meaning you can look away from GLaDOS or newcomer robot Wheatley as they're talking to you, even run off if it's allowed. It's refreshing, but also makes it easy to miss important dialogue. Wheatley in particular can talk your ear off if you don't cut him short sometimes and jump off a ledge before he finishes an explanation. It will be hard not to discover something new on replays, especially for the patient player.
The graphics are sharp and detailed, making the portal gun even shinier than before. The game still maintains the simple and clean aesthetic of the first game, save for the earlier test chambers that have become overrun with plant life. About halfway through the game, the test chambers take a very sudden turn in style, showing off a darker, rustier, dirtier side to the usually spic-and-span style of the game, which is a marvel to behold but, as discussed above, also slows the game's pace to a crawl.
Similar to the last game, there is very little music in the game. It crops up from time to time -- a radio here, a dramatic riff during a tense sense there -- but the majority of the sound comes from the swooshes of flying through the air and the chiding voices of robots insulting your weight. The moments with music are made all the stronger by the fact their intrusions are so rare, to the point music almost sounds out of place. The ending song is not quite the earworm masterpiece of the previous game, but it's catchy and has a stronger robotic feel to it that I appreciated. The acting is, of course, brilliant.
One of the most striking differences between this game and the first is the inclusion of a co-op mode. It's hyped to the point the co-op characters even rule the game's cover. Sadly, it suffers from the same problem every multi-player game does: You need friends. Gaming friends, preferably. There is a mode for online play, but playing in the same room (or at least with a headset) is far preferable, especially if your partner is thick and can't take a hint on where to place the next portal.
On that note, it's pretty important that your partner is someone who is pretty clever and already familiar with the game mechanics. I played it with someone who was constantly jumping off ledges just to see what would happen, only to die, reset his portals, and start us all over at the beginning of the level. In the later levels, this type of behavior is excruciating, so make sure you don't play with a "leap before you look" type of gamer.
If you can wrangle this elusive cooperative and quick-thinking friend the game was made for, the co-op is quite fun. Four portals allows for much trickier puzzles and thinking outside the box. It's doubly hard to process what power you hold with four portals after playing single mode recently. I found solving the puzzles often involved brainstorming with the other individual constantly, which makes it a strong teamwork-oriented play. The big downside is that, if you happen to have two friends who want to play with you, the person who's beaten it tends to spout orders and drag the newcomer along, which takes a lot of the fun out of it. Given a bit of time away from the game and it becomes harder to remember the solutions to the later, harder puzzles at least, but the first eight or so test chambers might be permanently dull on replay.
The mode even includes a bit of a plot, though it's not a fourth as strong as the main game's story -- more of a sticky substance to hold the testing chambers together, rather than a "plot," really. It's not quite as long as the main game, but it can kill a few hours.
Portal 2 is an enjoyable, sometimes frustrating, and gorgeous romp through Aperture. It definitely isn't aimed at new fans, but the first game is short enough that there's not too much backstory to fill. Newcomers should probably consult a Wiki before playing, but either you'll catch the references to the last game or you won't (such as the radio that plays "Still Alive").
I may nitpick, but the bottom line is, this game is really fun. There are a lot of ways this game could have been a disaster as the follow-up to one of the most popular video games, but I'm not sure how Valve could have done it any better.
If you haven't played this game yet and plan on picking it up, do yourself a favor and read the webcomic that links the two games first. It fills in a few minor plotholes otherwise present in the sequel and I wish I'd known about it before I went scouring TV Tropes minutes after completing single player mode.
Pros:
+ Almost lived up to the hype (a near impossible feat)
+ Witty dialogue
+ All sound involved, ever, is wonderful
+ Puzzles prove to be a sufficient challenge
+ Aperture's past is fleshed out satisfactorily
+ Multiplayer actually has a storyline, albeit a minor one
Cons:
- Mid-game lag
- Some puzzles hinge on trying dangerous moves and hoping they don't throw you in a pit
- The retail price is a little high for someone who's only going to use single player
- Wheatley can get annoying if his brand of humor isn't your cuppa
9.1/10
