Portal 2 Review

[Mahorfeus]

To think that Portal was almost called "Fantasy Hole." Heh. Welcome, friend...

 

[Iron Lightning]

Well, 2 more days for me to wait because for some reason the rest of the world still doesnt get theese games at least at the same time as America.

So they made the puzzles easier, eh, that statement alone has pretty well curbed my enthusiasm for this new installment.

Theres bound to be a challenge mode. Valve wouldnt leave that out would they?

They very well might do so in the name of increasing "accessibility." You know how companies are about that sort of thing nowadays.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

You use the term 'indie' a lot when describing Portal.

Portal isn't an indie game nor a 'pseudo-indie' game. In fact it was made by one of the largest studios in the PC market.

Valve doesn't have a publisher, that's what an independent studio is. A studio, that is not dependent on a publisher.

I thought the first portal was made by a college kid, then Valve backed/bought him. I'm pretty sure portal wasn't a Valve idea, but they made it better.

I would call it an Indie game backed by a Big company that isn't a mega corp. But that's just me.

EDIT: "Portal is Valve's spiritual successor to the freeware game Narbacular Drop, the 2005 independent game released by students of the DigiPen Institute of Technology; the original Narbacular Drop team is now employed at Valve"

Valve developed this game, they have no publisher, making them independent and the game an independently developed game.

Okay, I see what you're saying. Let us all stop and thank the Narbacular Drop team for the idea tho : )

Of course, I tip my hat to them!

 

[gigastar]

Well, 2 more days for me to wait because for some reason the rest of the world still doesnt get theese games at least at the same time as America.

So they made the puzzles easier, eh, that statement alone has pretty well curbed my enthusiasm for this new installment.

Theres bound to be a challenge mode. Valve wouldnt leave that out would they?

They very well might do so in the name of increasing "accessibility." You know how companies are about that sort of thing nowadays.

I think the rule was 'Bigger audience/Loyal audience'. Get used to it, or hunt down some certain pre-2007 Capcom games and enjoy the finger wrecking difficulty.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Well, 2 more days for me to wait because for some reason the rest of the world still doesnt get theese games at least at the same time as America.

So they made the puzzles easier, eh, that statement alone has pretty well curbed my enthusiasm for this new installment.

Theres bound to be a challenge mode. Valve wouldnt leave that out would they?

They very well might do so in the name of increasing "accessibility." You know how companies are about that sort of thing nowadays.

Queue immediate complaints that you 'didn't really play it' because this was the 360 version.

I must ask, why review the 360 version of the game when its a primarily PC version, or even the new PS3 version to see how it stacks up?

OT: I expected the loading times thing because it happens with every Valve game

it begins

what's wrong with accessibility? i couldn't get into portal 1 because i just couldn't wrap my head around the way the physics and whatever worked. Besides, is anything wrong with more people just having fun with something?

 

[Alex Berry]

whats with the "SCIENCE!" thing?

Dr. Insano, most likely. He helped turn SCIENCE! into a meme.

Let's not forget about Thomas Dolby.

 

[CleverCover]

Must...buy....gameeeeeeeee.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Wait...so Portal 2 gets 4 stars, but DAII got 5 stars?

What the hell happened here?

 

[Iron Lightning]

Well, 2 more days for me to wait because for some reason the rest of the world still doesnt get theese games at least at the same time as America.

So they made the puzzles easier, eh, that statement alone has pretty well curbed my enthusiasm for this new installment.

Theres bound to be a challenge mode. Valve wouldnt leave that out would they?

They very well might do so in the name of increasing "accessibility." You know how companies are about that sort of thing nowadays.

it begins

what's wrong with accessibility? i couldn't get into portal 1 because i just couldn't wrap my head around the way the physics and whatever worked. Besides, is anything wrong with more people just having fun with something?

...Well it wasn't that hard. I replayed through the main campaign with my 10 year old sister solving most of the puzzles while I did the tricky platforming. If you had trouble wrapping your head around the mechanics of the original Portal then you'll likely have even more trouble with this new installment because of the many new physics manipulating things. Which is why I said "accessibility," it's not really more accessible to newcomers but it is much less challenging. The two are not mutually exclusive, Galaga is very easy to get into but get a few levels deep and it's rather tricky.

 

[callmegreen]

WTF is up with that one shot with the portal gun with that AWESOME striped skin o.o

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

3 times as long as the first game, so 4.5 hours?

 

[ColdBlooded]

So what your saying is that this game was good enough for science, but not aperture science?

 

[infohippie]

whats with the "SCIENCE!" thing?

Dr. Insano, most likely. He helped turn SCIENCE! into a meme.

Let's not forget about Thomas Dolby.

Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!

OT: If he'd reviewed it on PC, I bet the loading times wouldn't have been an issue.

 

[Sylocat]

Memo to the fans: Please don't come crying to me when the game doesn't live up to your impossible expectations.

 

[beema]

You... played this on Xbox? Really?

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Portal 2 Review

The indie darling returns in a AAA sequel, but is it still good enough for science?

Read Full Article

Three times the originals length is vague. How long is the single player?

EDIT: Seriously, swear on your companion cube the single player is over 8 hours long. Please??

Well considering that it took me a little over 3 hours to beat the first Portal, and Russ says that each act is as long as the first Portal, I'm willing to bet that the single player is almost 10 hours long. But of course, it is a puzzle game, so it will take as long as how good each player is at solving the puzzles.

 

[mikev7.0]

Wow that review came out fast for still being a great review! Puzzles aren't as challenging huh? Glados is offline too? Hmmmmmmmmmm Looks like lots of new features though, and a cool co-op mode where you each control a hand? What's that? Jonathan Coulton has a NEW song in this??

SOLD.

Pleaseusethezendrum,pleaeusethezendrum....

 

[duchaked]

Queue immediate complaints that you 'didn't really play it' because this was the 360 version.

What ever, this is nothing. I am so exci ted about play ing Portal 2 with Move be cause that would be awe some.

/sarcastic deadpan voice

;p honestly, my friend got it (for 360) and I will be playing co-op with him in a day's time to see how the sequel measures up

 

[duchaked]

Load times virtually non-existent on a decent PC. So you can knock that negative off the list for the smart ones among us.

well excuuuse me if I'm dumb cuz I only own a kinda old laptop that cries if I run anything modern lol

 

[KarlMonster]

Although the story is full of the same psychotic charm that made the original so much fun, it suffers from having too much game upon which to spread so little. ... But the interaction (or lack thereof) with a succession of disembodied voices wears out its welcome well before the end, leaving the puzzle platforming gameplay and ingenious new touches to carry the weight on their own.

Sir,
While I gather from this that the "soundtrack" became tedious, I otherwise find your review difficult to comprehend.

Paragraph one uses a metaphor, and extends that metaphor successfully. I strongly disagree with your choice of metaphor, but that happens.

Then there is paragraph six. "... too much game to spread so little." What?? What are we spreading? Is it too much game for too little psychotic charm? Or are we spreading fun around on the game? If its too much game and not enough fun, its perfectly acceptable to say that. We won't ridicule you for very long.

You go on to say "... leaving the puzzle platforming gameplay and ingenious new touches to carry the weight on their own." ... wait, what? I've missed something. Did you start a new metaphor? What is the weight in this metaphor? Was there supposed to be something else besides gameplay? If you're trying to say that "puzzle platform gameplay is carrying the weight of gameplay", then sure, I'll probably agree with you. At least until I can sort out whether or not "gameplay" was a metaphor for something else.