Portal 2 is an odd game to review, mainly because of how its predecessor left us. In 2007, when the original Portal was released, it was heralded by many to be a near perfect game. Without sounding too much like a review within a review, the original Portal encapsulated a clever game-play mechanic, an intriguing story, and a wonderful atmosphere in a compact game. It was enjoyable on the first and second play-through and it's not hard to see why Valve were convinced to release a fully fledged sequel. But can Portal 2 truly live up to Portals greatness?
Portal 2 throws you back into the 'Long Fall Boots' of Chell, the voiceless protagonist from the first game. After the events of the first game, where she survived merciless testing and escaped aperture science testing facility, she's been dragged back into stasis and kept for a seemingly unknown amount of time. Chell is abruptly awoken from this stasis by Wheatley. An amazingly bizarre robot voiced perfectly by Stephen Merchant, who's own humour blends seamlessly with the humour we've come to know from Valve. Wheatley then continues to help Chell escape by moving the whole stasis chamber and suddenly casting you back into the old, decaying rooms of the Aperture science test chambers; Ready to begin a new adventure. It's from this moment you know Valve have a story worth telling and have a beautifully realised world, with wonderful characters, that they are about to show off. From start to finish you are fully immersed in Valves' world and are ready to believe anything they tell you. If you're a returning Portal Player you'll find questions you had left over from the first game are believably explained in this one. If you've never touched the original then you won't be at too much of a loss. The history and future of Aperture Science are all nicely explained by the characters, voice-overs, and just the environment that Valve have set out for you.
While Valve have done a wonderful job capturing the atmosphere, the graphics, and the aesthetics of Portal 2, it wouldn't stand up half as well without its brillaint and hillarious voice-acting and script-work. What truly brings the game to life is that every line is delivered in an almost perfect manner. There is no excess script that could be cut, or speech you'll want to skip past. Ellen McLain does a wonderful job reprising the role of GLaDOS, taking her to to new emotional depths, but you're also bound to enjoy the characters voiced by Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons. As almost a contrast to the harsh tones of GLaDOS, Stephen Merchant portrays Wheatley as a loveable, slightly baffled, idiot, who somehow manages to help you excape from Aperture Science unharmed. This contrast of voices and characters is what really captures you at the start of the game and, in a way, they're the reason you keep playing till the end as they're what really makes traversing the chambers of Portal 2 truly memorable. You'll find yourself even stopping just to listen to the end of each script, or stopping just to watch how emotive Wheatley can be despite being one lone orb. It's evident from the Developer commentary just how much time, effort, and love that Valve have put into crafting the experience of Portal 2 and how smoothly everything fits together.
Wheatley is a great addition and a truly memorable character.
The gameplay of Portal 2 is much the same as the first game. You're handed an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, or Portal gun, and left to solve puzzles with it. The basic principle of the gun is that you can open two portals anywhere in the room and move yourself, or objects, easily through the room to reach new areas. While a difficult process to explain the game makes it easy to understand and, as clear from Valves developer commentary, a great deal of beta-testing went in to make it perfectly understandable and incredibly easy to just 'pick up and play'.
However, this is one of Portal 2's biggest, and most apparent, downfalls. Portal 2 has a habit of feeling like a tutorial for something bigger. Whether its the context of the test environments, or the brief use of some of the more creative 'gels' later on in the game, there always seems to be something more that you're building up to, but never ultimately see. Portal 2 also has a nasty habit of holding your hand through the whole game and doesn't really open itself up for anything challenging. Many of the puzzles are quickly overcome, and even have markings on the wall that easily point to the answer. Often its apparent that you're meant to be taking in the story instead and in these instances there is very little to do but keep an eye out for that one wall you can use and continue onwards. Luckily these sections have the wonderful atmosphere and dialogue to keep from being too dull and you'll still be fully immersed in the game world, but part of you will be aching to solve something, or at least jump through a portal or two.
Taking on the roles of Atlas and Pea-Body with a friend is one of Portal 2's greatest strengths.
Where Portal 2's gameplay truly shines is in the Co-Op, where Valve seem to have worked their hardest on creating new and fun puzzles. Unlike many Co-Ops where a single character can do all the work, leaving their partner lagging behind, the Co-Op campaign of Portal 2 really forces you to work together with your robot buddy, be them sat right next to you, or across the world online. It also makes it easy to talk, chat, and communicate, by being able to place signals right where you want your partner to look or shoot. Many of these puzzles offer a great deal more challenge than the single player counterpart, and sometimes having two heads will only confuse the matter, but this is part of the fun. This is the kind of gameplay that won the original portal so many fans, and it's odd that Valve have input so much cleverness into the Co-op and allowed the single-player to focus too heavily on the story. Where Co-Op falls flat is that is very much a one play-through experience and anyone who has previously completed it may be reluctant to try again with a friend who hasn't. After all there's only one correct way to complete the puzzles and knowing the answer takes away all the charm. That said though, the first play-through will take up enough of your time to leave you feeling satisfied at the end.
In conclusion Portal 2 is a wonderful experience to have. It'll take longer to finish then the original game and its packed full of atmosphere and witty dialogue that will actually have you laughing from the start. You'll be hard-pressed not to love the journey it takes you on and the new characters it introduces you to, and you're bound to take away some fond moments. However those returning purely to sample the clever gameplay from the original game better come partnered up, as the single-player game is just that little bit too easy and that little bit too empty at times. While the Co-Op game introduces many new and quirky puzzles that will leave you perplexed for awhile, the single-player is just that little bit too easy and has too many underdeveloped areas.
Authors Comment: Portal 2 is a brilliant game and truly worth playing, but its by no means flawless. I found it incredibly charming and immersive and was quickly addicted to it from the off, but there were many moments where it was just that little bit too much story and not enough gameplay. What really stood out to me, personally, was the Co-Op. I thought it would be horribly tacked on and, favouring Singleplayer over Co-Op tenfold, I thought I'd dislike it. I couldn't have been more wrong, it was the best bit of gameplay. I am sure my issues with the game will be fixed with the coming (free) DLC, and make me favour it as one of the best games of the year, but at the moment it just needs a little bit more something to be heralded as an amazing game...
