"Well, You're a Good Jumper"
Back in 2007, Valve released The Orange Box. It contained all of Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and "the little game that could", Portal. Portal was a small game developed by a team within Valve to be included as a bonus for The Orange Box. To everyone's surprise, it became a huge phenomenon that almost overshadowed the two great games that shared its disc. Since a tiny, four-hour-long game could be such a huge hit, Valve decided to put all of their efforts into a sequel. The result is one of the finest efforts of video game development that I have had the pleasure of playing.
Portal 2 takes place far into the future after the events of Portal where the protagonist, Chell, has been held in stasis. She is woken up and has to escape from the ruined remains of Aperture Science. Portal 2 adds many new devices and items to use when solving test chambers that end up creating some incredibly creative puzzles. The game makes use of all of the new features and nothing ever seems wasted. The single player mode is a hilarious, mind-bending story that is bigger and better than the original. The new characters, and the returning GLaDOS are all incredibly funny, and are portrayed wonderfully. The action and story are all well paced creating an experience that feels like a mix of Portal and Half-Life. The development team discarded all that made the previous game popular and made this story bigger and better.
The cooperative mode follows two bots who try to help GLaDOS find a hidden vault full of in-stasis test subjects. The co-op mode shows off the incredible creativity that is put into these puzzles the most. Adding two portals and one extra person to the mix creates some of the most challenging, complex, and elaborate challenges that I have ever seen in a game, and I've played a lot of hard games. My friend and I spent what seemed like forever on two chambers toward then and were astounded that what we came up with was actually the solution to the test, and we felt like freaking geniuses afterward.
The only frustrating moments that occurred were during the single player mode, however minor they were. These moments were actually a testament to how large the environments can get. While there are impressively huge areas this time around, it became a little irritating when I couldn't find the tiny patch of wall I needed to shoot a portal. This is the only complaint that I found the entire time I was playing. Portal 2 is a hilarious and incredibly well made game that everyone should experience.
Final Verdict: 9.75/10
The cooperative mode follows two bots who try to help GLaDOS find a hidden vault full of in-stasis test subjects. The co-op mode shows off the incredible creativity that is put into these puzzles the most. Adding two portals and one extra person to the mix creates some of the most challenging, complex, and elaborate challenges that I have ever seen in a game, and I've played a lot of hard games. My friend and I spent what seemed like forever on two chambers toward then and were astounded that what we came up with was actually the solution to the test, and we felt like freaking geniuses afterward.
The only frustrating moments that occurred were during the single player mode, however minor they were. These moments were actually a testament to how large the environments can get. While there are impressively huge areas this time around, it became a little irritating when I couldn't find the tiny patch of wall I needed to shoot a portal. This is the only complaint that I found the entire time I was playing. Portal 2 is a hilarious and incredibly well made game that everyone should experience.
Final Verdict: 9.75/10
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