Portal 2. The sequel to the surprise hit game Portal, which won us over with its gritty humor and amazing puzzle gameplay. Is the sequel a good follow up? Read on to find out.

OVERVIEW

In Portal 2, you resume the role of Chell once more. Many people may be asking, “What could this game be about if I beat the first one?” (For those who haven’t beaten the first one, I won’t spoil it for you, the rest of you know what I’m talking about.) Well, the game reveals that pretty quickly. NOTE: I’m going to be talking about the first 15 minutes or so of the game from here on, skip this section if you don’t want to see the very beginning.
BEGINNING OF FIRST 15 MINS You wake up as Chell in what appears to be a hotel room, which is dubbed a “Relaxation chamber.” After going through the basic movements, you go back to sleep.. and wake up about a hundred years later, to the sound of someone knocking on your door. That someone turns out to be Wheatley, a little robot who was the manager of the relaxation chambers. He wants to get out of Aperture Labratories, and you’re going to help him.
END OF FIRST 15 MINS. Throughout the game, you’ll encounter so many memorable parts that you’ll remember them for a long time to come. Great puzzles, great jokes (they actually made me laugh.. a lot.) and great characters show that this game truly wanted to be a worthy sequel. There’ll be a lot of great times in the game. A few frustrating times, but they’re insignificant and the great times make up for them in a big way.

GAMEPLAY

Portal’s original puzzle style gameplay combined with an ingenious portal gun turned out to be a game changer in the first game. Although it was limited to little boxes where you couldn’t see much from other than the white colored walls that kept you in as a lab rat. This time around, it’s been a long time since the first game, and the lab has changed. You’re no longer confined to one little box, and you’re moving around so much that it feels like you’re actually getting somewhere. It’s like towards the end of the first game, but a lot better. The portal gun concept didn’t change, but it didn’t need to. You can’t fix something that is near perfect.

ENVIRONMENT

Like I said, it’s been a long time since the first game, and the lab hasn’t fared so well. Years have taken its toll on the complex, and you’ll encounter foliage, crumbling walls, rusted metal and so on. It adds to the effect. This isn’t a pristine kept place anymore, and it shows. You’ll truly feel like you’re in this place, every little detail was meticulously hammered in. It’s amazing how much the change affects how you feel about the game.

GRAPHICS

The engine from the first game was impressive, and this game took the engine and tweaked it and updated it into 2011. The details are hammered in to a style that makes them pop, and the ever-changing landscape is really cool. You’ll be amongst run down places at one point and a better looking place at another. It truly is a beautiful game.

WHAT’S GOOD

Portal 2 is an excellent game. The puzzles are challenging, but not too hard. The humor is witty and well executed, and the gameplay and characters we all know and love come out swinging, with a few extra surprises that add onto the game. The multiplayer is hilarious when played with a friend, and you’ll be having a blast with it in many places, laughing and yelling at each other make it oh so sweet. Truly, this is a worthy sequel.

WHAT’S CRAP

There’s only one part of the game I didn’t like, and for the sake of not spoiling anything I won’t say much about it. It provided excellent looks into the story, and was well worth going through but I felt it was too long and drawn out. The multiplayer is only fun if you’re playing it for the first time with a friend who is playing it for the first time and doesn’t know what to do. I’m sure there will be DLC, but it’s not replayable once you beat it. The ending song wasn’t (in my opinion) as good as the first, but still a lot of work went into it.

All in all, Portal 2 is a great game, and it’s a giant leap forward in every direction from the first. Definitely worth a buy.