Portal 2 Review by: Uzar - 8.6/10
Portal 2: Scientific BoogalooPortal was an amazing game, no doubt about that. But six years went with literally no games from our lovely Valve. Until one day, the silence broke for one shining moment with...Portal 2. And now, we'll look at this fantastic game, is it a good sequel? Is it a good final game Valve made? All this and more will be answered...After you complete this next test. Another thing; the multiplayer campaign is literally nothing original gameplay-wise, or graphically. It's all reused elements, save for a few incredibily forgettable tracks, and a lot more GLaDOS dialogue. And only one thing of any note happens, so yeah. :P And for that reason all my critique is coming from the single player mode.
Graphics: 9/10
This game looks amazing! There are parts of the game where things all look the same. But you'll eventually reach a point where things look...a lot differently. And those bits are honestly my favorite parts of the game. Instead of the same grey panel and white panel forever. You're treated to huge rusted structures, conveyer belts, and a bunch of cool looking science stuff. It's a game where you can really tell what's just copy and paste, and what got a lot of detail. The robots, all [spoiler]6[/spoiler] of them look pretty nice, but are simplistic in overall design. Just a basic design, with a few cool pieces of depth that you don't often see. It's aged sort of well, but some of it didn't feel as amazing to me as it did the first time around.
Sound: 10/10
There is a lot in this game, music-wise. From start to finish there's an amazing
selection of music. Most of it being forms of techno/electronic sounding music. Which is actually rather pleasant when a game (or anything recent in general), in fact, NOT obnoxiously loud dubstep. Yes, you've heard it right. No obnoxious "drops" and dubstep. Just simple, catchy, atmospheric pieces of music. It even mixes in strings in some of the songs, which of which are my favorites. :P
The voices are pretty good. The oddly charming "aCent upOn the wronG syllaBle" trait GLaDOS had from the first game is now no more. And her voice isn't as computerized, which makes it a whole lot less painful to play using headphones. The Cores, (while admittedly kind of forced) all sound great as well.
Depth: 4/10
There is a bit more depth to this game then the last one. A lot more actually. But still...That's not saying a lot. I mean, sure, there are a couple of Rattman dens still laying around. Along with hidden tracks that play only in those locations. (Exile Vilify is actually pretty good). Anyways, besides hidden music scores there isn't really much outside the main path. Just a sneak peak at part of the ending sequence, and...That's actually it. And the Multiplayer mode, while really fun with friends, has even less than that.
Addictiveness: 7/10
This is probably the only area where Multiplayer surpasses the single player mode. Mainly because you can <strike>get each other killed</strike> solve things together. But even then, that mode is best with a pal by your side. But anyway, this is a pretty fun game. It'll keep you interested for the entire span of the game. You'll start getting an itch to complete just one more test. Just...one more....then I'll be done....yeah. >.> <.<
"But User, why would you rate such an addive game so low? WHY? I SHOULD HAVE YOUR JOB YOU TALENTLESS HACK" Well, that's a good question, Carl the Complainer. Go back into your holding cell while I explain. This game has a flaw I find almost all puzzle games have. There's very little replayability to this game. Just like with Professor Layton, or even maybe Ace Attorney; once you learn the solutions, you remember them. There is very little challenge to the levels all of a sudden, and the story isn't going to keep you guessing because you know it already. And there seems to be a lack of hard, or genuinely creative user-made puzzles in the workshop. So...There's the downfall to Valve's attempt to add more life to the game.
Story: 8/10
The story is pretty interesting. And what else is interesting is this may be the only game Valve made a coherent story for. :P Well, first of all they made a friggen COMIC tying the first and second games together. The comic brings us Portal's story, it gives us the prologue for Portal 2 as well. Some robot arms drag Chell back inside, our favorite Rattman gets into some whacky hyjinx, and Portal 2 picks up from there. You wake up for two minutes, then take a nap for 999999999. And then wake up to a knock on the door. And there your magical adventure through <strike>Japan</strike> er, <strike>Apple Store of doom</strike> um....Apreture Science? Yes! That's right, silly me. Anyway, the story feels almost like a movie, in a way. There are some interesting twists along the way also. All in all, it's one of the stories I've liked the most out of a video game. That and this was my first non-Nintendo game I ever played. So talk about blowing younger User's mind. :P
Difficulty: 7/10
Difficulty...Again, the difficulty is progressive. But the later levels can get very, very difficult. And I used to play a bunch of really good user-made levels also. Unfortunately they dropped in quality last time I tried to look through the workshop. But besides that jumble the single player levels in the story are actually pretty cool. And they all slowly challenge your brain more and more. About two thirds of the way in things start getting really hard, however.
This would also be the other thing Multiplayer has over the singleplayer mode. Each level has things both players need to do. So either double the brain power, or you die enough times until you find out what the other person is doing wrong. :P
Portal almost invented the first person puzzle genre. And it's one I totally love! It's a shame that only one other game followed this game's footsteps. (That being Quantum Conundrum, which isn't as portal clone as it looks, trust me.)
The gameplay and controls are basically the same as the first. The controls are still: WASD to move, spacebar to jump, left click for your orange portal and right for your blue one, and the E to pick things up. But now, you can press buttons also! There are a few other things that spice up the gameplay as well. But those are for you to find out. ;)
This is a all around fun, and intriguing game. The humor gets a bit dark in nature. Which I never had a problem with, but others might. There are about four instances that characters curse, which you wouldn't expect a computer to do...Odd. Well, if you're from the UK you could add a few more instances in with Wheatley. It never really takes away from the overall experience however. As long as you're not overly sensitive you'll get through just fine. :P
The only major downside to this game is that you'll need an at least semi-buff computer to play this on. While this DOES use the source engine, you can tell this is a bit more than just a Half-Life 2 mod. There's original designs and textures, and everything is presented in stunning detail. Then again, it ran on my laptop pretty well, so maybe it was just my super old bad one that had issues. Back on topic now, this game I found to be really fun. It's definitely worth playing! But maybe wait for it to go on sale first.
Overall: 8.6/10
Graphics
9 Sound
10 Addictive
6 Depth
4 Story
8 Difficulty
7
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