Our staff at Level Up Video Games loved Portal 2 so much we actually have two reviews for the game; Twice The Portals, Twice The Reviews!
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I never really got into the first Portal, and wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. What I saw was a free 3 hour title that was more of a test of technology than a serious attempt at a game. With this in mind, when Portal 2 came out I wasn't expecting much. I really didn't expect them to be able to pull off a 60 dollar, full sized game. The quote "The cake is a lie" is certainly applicable here, because I'm eating nothing but a piece of humble pie. The single player game starts off with some of the best twists in humor I've ever seen, and the gameplay throughout the entire game is clever and beautiful. This isn't Call of Duty (although I have to admit, I traded in Black Ops to buy it). Instead of the fast paced fragging that is normal FPS fare, Portal 2 pits you instead against the environment, requiring use of teleportation and gravity to escape from an absolutely mad AI (who rightly deserved her award as the most awesome villain ever from IGN). The campaign never has a lull, and you'll be almost more motivated to move from environment to environment to hear the hilarious dialogue than by the looming threat of death from your sarcastic and passive-aggressive antagonist.
The learning curve for the game is excellently paced. The first few levels are extremely easy; the game uses this slight lull to teach beginners the basics and give Portal veterans a chance to hunt for Easter eggs. The mechanics are pretty basic; with the portal gun, you can create two portals on certain types of walls and floors. Go into one hole, and you come out the other. These basic mechanics get very complex later in a variety of different ways, when you move on to using your momentum from a portal to fling you across a room, or drop a box from the ceiling to crush a turret. Once you learn to think in portals the levels get truly mind-bending.
The game is also a stunning example of how a 2 player co-op should run (through either split screen or online play). Cooperation is absolutely vital to solve the various puzzles, and it's a very easy game to find yourself saying "just one more level" at 2am. The humor doesn't stop just because 2 people are playing either. The computer will constantly taunt the two of you, and every once in a while you won't be able to resist the urge to portal your teammate off a cliff, into a laser, or in front of a firing squad of turrets (Sometimes you'll do it on accident for results that are just as hilarious).
The game isn't completely without problems. For example, despite being completely epic and awesome in every way, some still will be leery to give the game a shot because of the low body count. Actually that's the only fault I could find for it. You should buy it. Now. 5 stars, 10/10, A+, Anna Paquin, Jim Lee X-men. It's THAT good.
Submitted By: Daniel Dewey (Employee)
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Portal 2 is the much anticipated sequel to the smash hit featured on Valve's “The Orange Box” collection. The game is a First Person Puzzle game, in which players must solve a series of tests using a collection of devices and tactics which grow rapidly in difficulty. The main character, Chell, returns from the original game after many years of being in stasis, having been snagged by a “Party Escort Bot”after the end of the first game. Upon awakening, Chell finds herself back in the Aperture labs, greeted by newcomer Wheatley (voiced by Stephen Merchant). Thrust back into testing by a plot twist, Chell is now forced to test all of GlaDos' dangerously devious experiments to its satisfaction. This game was well worth the wait, and will be fan service to anyone who enjoyed the first offering of the series.
First of all, the game looks gorgeous. Level design is varying, using similar colorations for the testing facility but with a slight “world in ruin” twist. The inclusion of new tools such as hard light bridges and propulsion gel will aid, and hinder, players throughout their stay at the labs. The learning curve on this game was perfectly crafted, never once giving me the sense of helplessness that some games can instill; rather I was challenged but never once found myself giving up for longer than around a half an hour. The controls are tight and well maintained, even in the most difficult of tests. Portal 2 features not only a campaign mode clocking in around 10 or 12 hours in length, it also features a fairly in depth co-op mode, and director commentary to pique fanboy's interest on the replay of the campaign.
Co-op mode offers up a separate story, yet it finds itself intertwined with the campaign story at times, which warrants me to inform you to try the campaign all the way through before going too far in Co-Op. New characters Atlus and P-body are testing robots used in place of humans for GlaDos to constantly put through the ropes. Using similar tools as in campaign, Co-op players have two portals each, which has added an edge of complication to this mode. The Cooperative mode is around six hours which brings the game up to around 18 hours in total.
All in all, this game left me feeling extremely satisfied and not necessarily craving more. I felt the game was long enough to satisfy my urge, and provided me with a sufficient challenge, but did not push me beyond my desire to play. This game is by far the best game I have played in a very long time, and will be full of humor and challenging level design for any player. The story mode had several twists and some fan service which will make you glad you bought this title. My only complaint is that there was not even one cake reference in this entire game. Portal 2 is a buy in my opinion. No matter which platform you are playing it on, I would strongly recommend it.
Submitted By: Corey Hall (Employee)
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