Portal 2

PUBLISHER: Valve
DEVELOPER: Valve
Played on: PS3
Initial impression: Hoping it's not a rehash, but then... SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Liked:
- Story
- New Gameplay Elements

Disliked:
- Some Puzzle Ambiguity
- Graphic Anachronism

On The Fence:
- Replayability
- Multiplayer

Oh, Valve - How I love your story-driven games. The original Portal, released as a tech demo for the most part, was among the best games I had ever played, both from a technical and story perspective. I was very enthused to play the follow-up title and I was not disappointed in the least. I'm just sorry it took me so long to get to it.

In case you're not familiar, Portal 2 is a direct sequel to Portal 1 (Valve even changed the ending to Portal 1 via an update to make it work). You play as silent protagonist and Aperture Science test subject Chell, awoken from stasis in order to help a rogue personality core escape the establishment before it decays into ruin. Things don't quite work out so smoothly. You're eventually flung into the bowels of the facility, left to explore the original offices built in the 50's, then the 70's, and again to the locations from Portal. You'll get to hear commentary from the charismatic founder of Aperture, Cave Johnson. His pre-recorded messages were hilarious and the look of the early areas as well as his descent into madness were thoroughly entertaining.

The new storyline was entertaining and informative, with enough callbacks to the original to make it gel nicely. Those who have played it can see what I did there. I made a self-referencing joke to a gameplay element. I've marked your reaction in your file. I'm sure you'll be rewarded, as well as the talk of [SUBJECT HOME TOWN].

This leads me to the gels - Repulsion, Propulsion and Conversion gels, specifically. For those new to the game, they are explained and utilized rather nicely without shoving too much info at you at once. Repulsion is bouncy. Propulsion makes you move faster. Conversion turns any surface into a Portal-friendly surface.

On to the only two things I didn't like about the game:

Some puzzles were just too ambiguous. Maybe it was me, trying to solve these on too little sleep in the middle of the night that kept me from figuring them out. Maybe it really was that obscure. I had to look up a solution to two specific spots, and I'm kind of angry that I felt I was forced into it. I'll admit that I was frustrated by some puzzles in the first game too, so I'm going to chalk it up to my occasionally un-clever mind.

The other issue is a bit of an anachronism. There's a time in the game when you go back to areas you saw in the first game. These areas are nearly identical, except for the "new" graphic for the doors. I don't know how much time passed between 1 and 2, but I do know that the facility was more or less dormant for that amount of time. Who came along and replaced all the doors? The turrets? A slight screw up there in my book. If it's explained in some hidden room diary, well, that's fine I suppose. Would have been nice for them to acknowledge or explain the change with some character dialog (GLaDOS or Wheatley).

I'm sure at some point I'll replay the game just for the trophies and to look around at the environment some more. I'm not itching to get back there.

The multiplayer element is a stand-alone co-op storyline that weaves back and forth through the single player experience. I've not yet played it but I am looking forward to it. The hard part is finding someone who can play it well enough. (I have a standing offer from a fellow FPS veteran, so Whenever I can get to it...)

Overall I find Portal 2 about as good as the original. It felt like a longer game, and the new mechanics made for a nice spin on the old game. I'd say this one is worth playing even if you didn't play the first one, but honestly you'd need to play the first one to catch all the nuances of the plot.