Portal's unique concept is back again in number 2, shining more than ever.
When an adventure takes place in an disintegrated factory, that somehow is still under control of an living robot that makes tests with you, weird tests, with Portals, that's when games get unique. And that's why Portal 2 is such a special pleasure to play. Sure, we've seen some of it already in Portal 1, but there's enough new here to keep us entertained once again. Portal 2 is no doubt a worthy sequel to it's superb original.
Found those words above believable? Well, I'd better warn you, I never did play the first game before. Portal 2 is the first Portal game for me. But I don't think saying that Portal 2 is a worthy sequel and buy is a lie either, cause it's pretty much well known by now that Portal 2 is a game you don't wanna miss. From it's outstandingly unique story to the clever puzzle gameplay, Portal 2 gets barely any less than entertaining.
Portal 2 starts with you being in a decent looking room, with a bed, a closet, it pretty much looks like a 3 stars hotel room. A man's voice tells you through a speaker what you have to do, like looking up and down, and presenting art and music to you, as if you're a robot and it's just to check if you still work. And well, as it comes, you actually are a robot. A female one to be specific. The speaker sends you to bed again, and the next time you wake up, the whole room has been demolished. It seems like a totally different room at first, but you fast realize it's still the same one like before, just many, many years later, totally teared down. And that's where the story starts, you meet that floating eyeball robot who tells you that there has been a delay or something, and well, he actually talks too much. But that's where the charm of the game comes. The two characters in this game, the eyeball and the returning Glados, are no doubt one of the best parts in the game, as they are hilarious to listen to, and the way they act with each other is just wonderful to watch. It keeps the story entertaining until the very last bit.
Another bit of the story that keeps the game entertaining is the way the story flows and especially evolves. The game moves on in a great pace, things never get boring, thanks to the great way the story evolves. The interaction of story and gameplay is outstanding, one that never gets you confused and always seems to make sense in a particular way. The whole game has this great flow, as well. Things constantly keep going on, never having you get bored, except of course if you get stuck at a specific puzzle. It's just such a shame then that frequent loading times break down the flow a bit. After almost every single puzzle a loading screen appears for a few seconds, which seriously destroys a bit of the connectivity of the many impressive areas in the game.
Of course, Portal 2's outstanding story is only one of the entertainers of the game. Luckily for us, Portal 2 also boasts some very satisfying, intuitive and complex puzzles that always have you entertained. The game starts off with puzzles that are a cakewalk, but as you progress, you encounter more and more complex puzzles, the later ones testing the confines of your thinking skills. The portal concept not only makes the puzzles real brainteasers, but it also makes sure that you get an exceptionally unique experience out of the game. Place the portals in the right place at the right time and you succeed, otherwise try again. This is the games main impulsion. Some puzzles require especially a lot of thinking, while other require good searching as well as very good timing when in action. Nevertheless, these puzzles always have you doing something, never letting you get bored, and maybe most importantly, they always have you thinking in a new way. That's because, despite a rather limited amount on obstacles and objectives, the game still remains varied, with almost every single puzzle requiring a new thinking way.
Portal 2 does not everywhere stand out as particularly impressive. Both the graphics and the music don't go beyond and above anything. The graphics are perfectly fine, nothing outstanding by any means but far from bad. They are decent. Just like the music. It's nothing impressive but also nothing bad. Fair enough though the music can get a bit annoying at times, especially when getting stuck at a puzzle. This however is no bummer at all. The game still boasts some great environments and atmosphere, where you really get that demolished factory feel the game presents.
Playing Portal 2 alone is a blast. The game lasts about 10 hours, though I took a little longer to beat that game because I'm not very good at it. However, that's only half the portion Portal 2 offers. Portal 2 also offers a local and online co-op adventure that's totally separated from the single player campaign and adds another multiple hours of play time to the game. It offers plenty more new puzzles, and also very importantly, it requires some teamwork to pass through all of these puzzles. This fundamental makes for more creativity in the puzzles and more complexity as well. So what a shame that I suck at the game too much for anyone wanting to play the whole campaign with me. And even though I my self didn't play the cooperative campaign till the very end, I'm still very sure that saying it's just as solid as the single player campaign is no mistake.
On top of that Portal 2 also has got it's own shop where you can buy extras like outfits for your robots, emoticons for cooperative play, and other little extras that aren't very significant but do add a bit more to the game. However, buying these extras will cost you real money, except if they are free, which of course is a bit of a bummer. If they'd at least have more extras that would also be free, but most of them all cost real money.
In the end Portal 2 no doubt succeeds being worth a buy just as being a worthy sequel to it's predecessor. Portal 2's main adventure boasts about 8-10 hours of amusing, complex puzzles and a gripping, hilarious story that needs to be experienced, and then there's another coop adventure that adds another 5-7 hours of gameplay to experience. Portal 2 doesn't go above and beyond in it's presentation, limiting some of it's features, like a limited amount of obstacles and objectives, and the characters you face along the way are also a rather small number. However, it's the way the game uses these options, making an unique adventure in the middle of a broken down factory, that lets this game shine so much as it does. Portal 2 is pure enjoyment and entertainment once totally through, till the very end.
THE GOOD
+ the portal mechanic is once again used in a great way
+ complex, intuitive and unique puzzles that get more and more challenging the farther you move on
+ gripping, yet hilarious story that keeps you hooked
+ great atmosphere in that huge, demolished factory
+ another cooperative campaign adds further to the play time
THE BAD
- frequent loading times interrupt the otherwise exceptionally fluid flow of the game
Review Score: 8.5/10