There is a moment, a few hours into Portal 2, and it feels like the end. The story is wrapping itself up at an all to quick pace, the action coming thick and fast. And I was really disappointed. Not because I hadn't been enjoying it, but because I had been. I thought I would have to come on here and slate a great game for charging full price for a mere handful of hours gameplay. Then something brilliant happened. It didn't end, the plot twisted, and it was revealed that this wasn't the finish, it was barely even the beginning!
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| For Science, You Monster |
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| Merchant-Bot in all his glory! |
As the sequel opens you are the same test subject, awoken from stasis abruptly by a helpful AI voiced by Stephen Merchant. The test centre seems to have fallen into disrepair after the loss of GLaDOS and now you have another chance to escape. Usually a sequel would rely on the fact that the player is familiar with the game world, but Portal 2 has no such luck as there was very little world building in the original. So the first time you see the vastness of the test centre as you escape your stasis pod you realise that Valve is trying to hint at something immense. Your pod is one of thousands going up and down for miles. The sheer scope of it is very impressive. Merchant-bot tries to help you leave the test centre, but in the attempt you re-awaken GLaDOS, and she is not best pleased. That's how I thought it would go. The obvious frame of the how the game could've gone became apparent to me. You and Merchant-Bot would have to overcome GLaDOS once and for all. But that's not how it went, not even close. I won't ruin the plot line for anyone, but it is refreshing to see a game that shies away from the easy plot lines, and avoids obvious cliches.
And talking of writing, the voice acting in Portal 2 is top class. The casting of Steven Merchant as one of the centres AI is very good. In contrast with GLaDOS and her cold, passionless sarcasm, Merchant-bot is excitable and erratic. It will make you laugh at every opportunity with a quick line. The surprise stand out for me, however, was the voice of Cave Johnson, CEO of Aperture Science. You don't hear from him until late in the game, and his parts are just recorded messages for the test subjects that had inhabited the areas you now find yourself in, but his rough encouragements or warnings are genuinely brilliant. Getting such life from a character that you never see or even interact with is really remarkable.
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| The scale of Aperture Science |
Of course, being a sequel, you expect Portal 2 to bring something new to the table, gameplay wise, and you're not disappointed. As the game ticks along, you are slowly introduced to some of the mechanics that Aperture science have invented. At first you are given the Portal Gun, the core of the game, and the weighted cubes of the original make a return. As do the automated turrets. But really adding a new element are the 3 "gels". The first blue gel makes the surface it is spread on bouncy, allowing you to reach new heights. Of course, the higher you jump onto it from, the higher you bounce off. Secondly, the orange gel acts as an accelerant, allowing you to reach new levels of speed and fling yourself around the map. Lastly, the white gel lets you place a portal on any surface that the gel has hit, giving you the chance to explore more of the areas than ever before. Once you have all 3 gels in play at the same time the puzzles become really complex. The gels are not the only new feature however. There is also an anti gravity beam that allows you to float across the map in it's wake, and the direction of the flow is often reversible. The maps in Portal 2 seem a lot larger and more expansive than the original. Even the test rooms you come across in your travels seem bigger, and you really get a sense that the Aperture Science lab stretches out for miles and miles in all directions around you.
As I've noted, I've only played through the single-player campaign as yet. There is probably about 8 hours of gameplay depending on how quickly you can deduce some of the puzzles. I can happily say that I've only had to fall back on a "How-To" guide on 3 or 4 occasions! Also, if it's your thing, then there are 50 achievements to be won. From completing the singleplayer mode I was able to unlock 17 of them so have missed out on a few of the more obscure ones! There is a full co-op campaign online as well. With 2 players and 4 available portals it suggests that the puzzles will be even trickier to solve. The old adage of "two heads are better than one" must come into play, and there are tools at your disposal to help you communicate your ideas with your team mate, allowing you to ping and tag walls where you think portals should sit.
The most impressive thing about Portal 2 for me is that for a game with only 3 or 4 characters, and housed in only one environment, the game is so vibrantly alive. The world that Valve has built is immediately interesting to explore, and so full of detail at every turn. From the posters that adorn the walls, the recorded messages that pipe over the loudspeakers, it's all entertaining and more often than not, amusing. Considering that the original Portal was so brief, to have taken it and built a world this good around it, is to be congratulated.
