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Portal 2 PC Review April 27, 2011 |
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Summary: When Portal was released as a part of The Orange Box back in 2007, not even Valve knew it would be the phenomenon it turned out to be. They even had the gall to try to create a follow-up without portals! Lucky for us, they listened to playtesters and decided to bring back the old blue and orange wonders. That doesn't mean they left it at that, though, no sirree. Portal 2 introduces a whole bunch of new stuff, including additional voiced characters and a separate cooperative campaign. Does this full-sized, stand-alone sequel have what it takes to make you fall in love with portals again? Read today's review and find out!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 5 ) |
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture Science
We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us,
except the ones who are dead.
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Little-known development studio Nuclear Monkey Software was responsible for a similarly obscure PC game called Narbacular Drop. Released in 2005, it was created as a senior project for the Digipen school of game design, and its innovative portal mechanic won several awards. Valve took notice of this, hired every one of those graduates, and Portal was born. The first game was a short but sweet bonus game, unassumingly packed in with The Orange Box bundle that also included Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2. Its sequel, however, is a full-fledged, stand-alone release that includes a full-length single-player campaign, as well as a separate two-player cooperative mode.
Contrary to the resolution of the first game, you’re once again playing the role of Chell, the unwilling test subject enlisted during Aperture Science’s “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.” Indeed, Portal 2 sees you return to the Enrichment Center for another round of puzzle-platforming that requires you think with portals . GLaDOS is very much alive, but quite upset over what you did to her last time. Luckily, you’ll find she’s a reasonable sentient AI, wanting to make amends for the sake of science. Newcomer Wheatley, a rogue personality core, needs your help to escape the facility, though, and shenanigans ensue. How well does it live up to expectations? Read on and find out!
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| Gameplay | Page:: ( 2 / 5 ) |
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Knowledge of the first Portal will certainly be of use to anyone playing the sequel, but it isn’t required. Both the single-player and cooperative campaigns start out relatively slow with easier levels meant to get you back into the mindset of using portals, then gradually ramp up the difficulty to challenge you more toward the end. Each puzzle is solved by reaching the exit of the test chamber, which may involve traversing obstacles or activating a switch or two first. Portals allow you to navigate the environment at will, but the trick lies with the need for a line of sight through which to project them and the fact that not all surfaces will support placement of these wormhole gateways. In addition, Material Emancipation Grids (force fields) will destroy any portals you have placed or objects you’re carrying when you walk through them, so many puzzles involve figuring out a way to work around those.
Eventually, Portal 2 introduces several new elements to the puzzles, such as a tractor beam-like device called an Excursion Funnel, Hard Light Bridges, and Thermal Discouragement Beams (lasers). All of these can be redirected and thus placed wherever needed to provide transportation or activate switches. For example, you might place a portal at the end of a bridge to create a mobile platform of sorts, capable of carrying you across gaps. The tractor beams can be used in a similar manner, but they will also pick up and carry other objects, perhaps a block, and carry it to wherever the beam ends. At that point, it could be pushing the block onto a button on the wall, or you could remove the beam and drop the block onto a switch that you couldn’t reach yourself. Laser beams can be redirected with portals and/or special mirrored cubes in order to focus them onto a particular kind of switch or even use them as a weapon. There are also three different kinds of liquid gel that apply unique properties to surfaces they are “painted” onto. Repulsion Gel (blue) causes a surface to act like rubber for bouncing off of, Propulsion Gel (orange) greatly enhances your speed as you run across it, and Conversion Gel (white) allows for the placement of a portal on any surface it covers. As you might imagine, these gels act alone or in combination with each other to open up possibilities for many new and unique puzzles.
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However people felt about Portal’s puzzle-platforming gameplay, there is no doubt that its unique setting combined with the hilarious and memorable dialogue proved a winning combination in the hearts and minds of most people who played it. Despite there being only one main character aside from the mute protagonist the player controls (GLaDOS), her detached, computerized delivery of routine praise and vengeful threats laced with sarcasm made for an unforgettable listening experience. The sequel proves there’s a lot more where that came from and also introduces two more colorful characters: hyperactively moronic personality core Wheatley and boisterous Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson. Wheatley’s breathless one-sided conversations carry you through most of the first act, with his British accent only compounding the side-splitting funniness. Johnson’s voice is only heard by way of pre-recorded messages, but each one is just as entertaining as those featured in the pre-release trailers. Performances from all three actors are outstanding and each is thoroughly backed by the shrewd, ingenious scripts provided by Valve’s writing team. Whether you like solving puzzles or not, you should play through the game at least once to experience the pinnacle of video game voice work.
Even though the Portal 2 cooperative campaign takes place after the events of the single-player story have unfolded, there’s no real risk of spoiling anything if you decide to jump into multiplayer right off the bat. You will end up having to figure out how to use some of the new puzzle elements -- such as the tractor beams and colored gels -- without a formal introduction, but I suppose that would make sense in the context of the crash-test robots you play as. Atlas and P-body (the round one and the tall one, respectively) were designed by GLaDOS specifically to team up and solve puzzles that are too complicated for one set of portals alone. You each have your own portal gun and will be subjected to ever more of her harsh wit and backhanded compliments as you work together to figure out some of the hardest puzzles in the game. Communication is key, so while you can type, place marker icons, and even hold TAB to view things through your partner’s eyes, it is best to have a microphone and play with someone you’re comfortable talking to. The good news is, robots are easily replaceable, so you can die as much as you want and not have to re-load a checkpoint like in single-player. Most of the fun of co-op is in figuring out how the puzzles work for the first time (usually the hard way), so it’s also a good idea to play with someone who hasn’t done it before.
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| Graphics | Page:: ( 3 / 5 ) |
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Even though the Source engine is nigh on seven years old, Portal 2’s graphics do not disappoint. They’re not the greatest ever, either, but it is rather impressive how Valve has managed to update it enough to remain relevant for so long. As always, they’ve done a fantastic job with the art style, so even if the visuals aren’t technically stunning, they’re among the most pleasant to look at in any game. For instance, the use of lighting is superb and does rival anything the CryEngines or Unreal Engines are capable of. There is one sequence in the first act of the game where you’re running along catwalks behind the scenes of the test chambers, and the only source of light is from Wheatley’s eye… Seriously, the dynamic shadow effect will blow your mind, especially if you consider how shallow the system requirements are.
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Another feat of Valve engineering is the appearance and behavior of the colored gels introduced in the second act of the game. Source was known for its realistic standing water used to such excellent effect in Half-Life 2, but now they’ve managed to create a 3D liquid that forms droplets and undulates realistically as it shoots out of its originating pipeline. Several puzzles involve redirecting the flow of the gels with portals, which usually results in a wondrous fountain of liquid that often distracted me from what I was doing. Still other solutions involve capturing flowing gel in a tractor beam, and watching it float to its destination is an equally awe-inspiring sight. It is in that situation that a limitation of the engine becomes apparent, though; it’s possible to capture so much liquid gel in a tractor beam that the calculations required to animate all of it will slow even an otherwise buttery-smooth framerate to a crawl.
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If I had to pinpoint one aspect of Portal 2 that annoyed me the most, it would be the sheer abundance of loading screens. Now, of course all previous Source engine games have had loading screens, but they were brief pauses in a hallway or airlock room, not full-blown cut-aways with progress bars and static images that may or may not have anything to do with where you’re currently located. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were few and far between, but loading occurs at the end of every test chamber (after boarding the elevator) and there is more than one instance of loading screens sandwiching a 45-second “cutscene” that consists of you seeing and hearing stuff, yet not actually doing anything. Some insist that this is a sign of the Source engine’s obsolescence, but I would venture to guess that making the levels smaller and more segmented was for the benefit of the consoles.
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| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 4 / 5 ) |
Pros
Characters and dialogue are top notch. The voice work was extremely well done, too. If video games can get Grammys, why not Oscars?
It’s genuinely funny. Few games succeed in making you laugh out loud; this one does it effortlessly and often.
Some puzzles are proper head-scratchers. New elements up the complexity and difficulty somewhat, without making it too hard.
Visual presentation is impressive. Who says the Source engine needs to be replaced?
Cons
Too many loading screens. They may be a necessary evil, but the PC version should have taken advantage of the extra resources available to minimize them.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 5 / 5 ) |
It would appear Valve has another winner on their hands with Portal 2, sequel to the sleeper hit of 2007 that generated just as much buzz as the Half-Life game it piggy-backed on. (Jeez, it’s been a while… where the hell is Episode 3?) The writing is without peer and its execution brilliant, with the voice-over performances and details in visuals/animations rivaling anything Pixar has done on film. On top of all that, it’s hilarious! By continuing the same story of Chell and GLaDOS, the plot is of an entirely different flavor than that of its predecessor, but you do get an in-depth look at the history of Aperture Science. Maybe it’s the tint of my nostalgia glasses, but I miss that sterile, clinical atmosphere that Portal used to make you feel like a cog in the machine, rather than the superheroine you are now. I couldn’t really enjoy this new end-credits theme song they have either (I kept thinking about all the ways “Still Alive” was better), but perhaps it will grow on me. I’ll be going back to replay that now…
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Since I’m a veteran of the first game and some of the amazing custom maps people have created, I found most of the puzzles to be pretty straightforward, as will anyone else who has already learned to think with portals. They have fixed some of the exploits advanced players were used to, however, as well as ramped up the complexity with the introduction of new elements and the occasional red herring. The latter is something I found especially interesting about the puzzle design -- ordinary elements or other objects that seemed to indicate a solution but actually had nothing to do with anything. Maybe some weren’t even intentional, who knows. The cooperative campaign is where the real challenges lie, which is what you would expect from having to use two sets of portals in a coordinated manner. The solutions for many of those puzzles are so intricate that your mouth will be left agape even as you execute them.
A major complaint people are having with the game is the length of the campaign, but the disparity as to how much play time people are getting out of it is astounding. Some say it took them only 4 hours to complete the single-player portion of Portal 2, while others say it lasted upwards of 8-10 and refuse to believe it could’ve been done any faster than 6. I finished in about 5 hours, and while I didn’t spend excess time poking around for easter eggs, I wasn’t rushing at all and enjoyed it immensely. The co-op levels were great fun, as well, offering 3 hours of diversion for myself and a capable partner. Just don’t expect much of a story from the co-op, or any real reason to play through that again until you forget how to solve the puzzles. Not only is Portal 2 well worth the price of admission, it’s the best game released so far this year and a serious contender for GOTY 2011. Just steer clear of the in-game storefront that wants to charge you $5 for a hat or $7.50 for glasses to wear on your co-op robot.
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