In 2007, a game called “Portal” came out on the PC. It was a success. Now, in good ol’ 2011, Portal makes a huge comeback. And when I mean huge, I’m not kidding around. Portal 2 comes back as the classic shooter puzzle game for all ages. Personally, this game HAD to be on the top of the market when it first came out. I’ve never played the original I must confess, but that just adds to the fun of the second one.
The game was a potential mind-blower when I first tried the game out for myself. Each and every puzzle was unique and fun in its own right. From staggering heights to racing against the clock, Portal 2 seemed to have everything…and possibly more. The game gives you two choices to start with. First, you can play by yourself in the single-player mode. The single-player mode makes you the classic portal-shootin’, rapid-fire-testin’, heroine as in the last game.
Now, you guys out there may be asking , “Hey, what’s the problem here? We can’t play a chick! What’s wrong with you people?!” I had the same sort of problem. But, the whole game is in a first-person point-of-view, so you don’t see the hero “chick” the whole time anyways. The only time you see her is when your portals are at a perspective that you see yourself walking in to the portal you made. Almost like mirrors that you can walk through. The synopsis follows. Don’t worry I won’t give you too much information. Basically, your character slept for a long while, in a coma, and the test facility you work in is in a pretty bad shape. Your arch-nemesis, although she’s not much of one, GLaDOS, wakes up after your first encounter with her. She wakes up and decides to work with you instead of trying to get the revenge on you for “murdering” her. Testing through different puzzles, or “chambers”, along the way, your robot friend, Wheatley tries to break you out. I can’t tell you the end part, because it’s just really cool, and you have to see it for yourself.
Whew, that’s a lot for a single-player mode, if I do say so myself. And yet that’s not the end of the game! My goodness, these people came up with just everything didn’t they!? Portal 2, the clue is that the “2”. Give up? Well, get ready for "2" times the fun. It also ihas a “2” player mode as well as a single player mode. I loved the fact that they did more than a one player mode. And the best part is the story is different than the single-player mode. So in science terms, 2 x story = more fun than before!
I played the game with my father and he loved it! The game really made you think, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. To be honest, there are more pros than there are cons to this game. GLaDOS’ wry humor is fun to hear in every chamber. She’s so mean, but the funny thing is she’s so nice about it. The irony just makes you chuckle. And Wheatley, he’s as funny as GLaDOS! His stupidity and loyalty to our nameless heroine is what makes the game special. There are a few tidbits in there as well. Some turrets, GLaDOS’ henchmen I suppose, are malfunctioning and makes a funny thing for a gamer to see and hear. For example, turrets that go through a reaction test have to respond to a “template”. When one turret responds, “Hello”, the good ones make the same response, “Hello”, but when a bad turret comes up…well it goes like this.
Template
“Hello”
Response
“Hi, howya doin?”
That response catapults the malfunctioning turret to the incinerator room, with few responses such as, “Wait…wait…waitwaitwaitwaitWAIT!!!” or “This is RIDICUOULOUS!” This made me cackle loudly with laughter when I heard those tones of disbelief. The puzzles I couldn’t get enough of either. The mind-bending physics to the game were so unreal and looked so real that I was at a loss for words except for, “WAHOO!”
There are a few drawbacks though. The puzzles are fun and challenging at the same time, but after doing it so many times, it gets too easy to do. But, thanks to the different story modes, you might forget how to do one chamber and then go on trying to figure it out again. There were a few language problems I could see. A few d—ns, h—ls, c—ps, and oh my G—s are in the picture, and the thing is, this a rated E10 game for crying out loud! Anyway, the puzzles fun and the comedy in this game cover up pretty much all of the language anyways. Other than that the only critique is there’s nothing really bad about this game!
I have to be honest the best part, that was nice and funny was when (SPOILER WARNING, I think) GLaDOS sang a song of goodbye to our heroine. It was very nice to hear. I remember one lyric that reminded me of the people who loved and will love this game. “Go ahead and make some new disaster/That’s what I’m counting on”. To be honest, that’s what I’m counting on as well. Either that or we’ll be missing our robotic friends and tester at Aperture Laboratories. $60, for me is no reason for me to stop and think about this. If you’re a puzzle fan of any kind, this is your game. I can’t stress this enough, BUY IT! Why are you still reading this? GO! Portal 2 gets 5 portals out of 5, no questions asked.
