We Play: Portal 2 Peer Review DLC

The newly released free downloadable content for Portal 2 includes nine new co-op levels, as well as a new Challenge mode and leaderboards. The levels reintroduce familiar features from the main game, including gels, lasers, and launch pads. Being the harmonious team that it is, the GameSpot crew jumped straight into co-op to see what dastardly designs Valve have devised. See below for gameplay clips from Art Therapy, the co-op portion of the DLC.

As seen above, the first level of Art Therapy pulls no punches, throwing turrets, lasers, and refraction boxes into the mix. Firstly, some turrets must be fried with a refraction box (tragically, some boxes were harmed in the making of this video). The second half of the level requires juggling and portal shifting to get a ball across the map.

Level four is the first of the DLC levels to use blue and orange gels. It combines these with the blue beam walkway (Hard Light Bridge) to great effect. We had to combine the blue gels and walkway to get across the ledges, which is always a fun way to cross chasms. Here's a quick tip: Make sure the walls are completely covered with gel. If any part is missed, poor Atlas or P-Body could become spare parts.

In the next room, blue and orange gels need to be combined with the walkway once again. The orange gel must be painted first to make you fast enough to jump up to the ledge using the blue gel. As you can see by our failed attempt, using only the blue gel doesn't work.

This level is reminiscent of a part of the campaign in which white gel is used to pretty much coat the entire level. In our first playthrough, we painted everything in white before solving the puzzle.

The co-op portion of the DLC will take a few hours to complete, depending on your puzzle-solving proficiency. Combined with the replay value added by the new Challenge mode and leaderboards, Peer Review is a great reason to revisit Portal 2.

Check out some more videos from Art Therapy below: