Portal 2 Review

Oddgo

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Jul 20, 2010
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I just played through the Single Player. I would like to underline some of the statements made in this review with a big marker, but instead I will say this.
Portal was nearly perfect in my eyes. Portal 2 is fresh and interesting, but it simply could not make lighting strike the same spot again.

The game reminded me of Yahtzee's review of...
(Pretty strong spoilers, handle with caution)
Condemned 2: Bloodshot. I was ready to name this my game of the year, but sadly the story, characters, and game play all began to wear very thin towards the end. And the big twist felt like a slap in the face when I found out Valve was being serious. The ally goes rogue, betrays you, and you "switch sides". I died a little inside at that.

My only suggestion to try and help people enjoy it better; do WHATEVER is necessary to not compare it to the original. It stands alright alone, but it can barely be seen in the shadow of its predecessor.
 

Wither

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Nov 19, 2009
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i'm slightly worried. i'm well into the second act, but they haven't mentioned the excursion funnel at all in act 1 or yet in act 2. does the xbox have a different order or is the review just a little rushed?
 

Twilightruler

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Jul 3, 2009
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Wither said:
i'm slightly worried. i'm well into the second act, but they haven't mentioned the excursion funnel at all in act 1 or yet in act 2. does the xbox have a different order or is the review just a little rushed?
The review was just wrong on that part. The funnels don't come into play until the beginning of "Act 3".
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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Legion said:
Selvec said:
I have the strongest urge to kick the reviewer square in the ball sack.
Why? If there are spoilers in the video version don't tell me as I didn't watch it in case.
There's at least one mechanic spoiler in that review not covered by the official trailers, plus at the end there was a bit of what I presume was a trailer covered hap-hazardly with a large "Spoiler" box for teh lolz.
 

Avaloner

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Oct 21, 2007
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I just played the singleplayer campaign on Pc and, just 3 acts on xbox?
I think we had like 5 or 6 on Pc, furthermore the background ~is~ explained, of course you need to have some common sense, knowing that human buildings are incredibly fast lived and without proper maintain will rot rather quickly, add that to a bunch of weird experiments and possible plantgrow and you got yourself the reason.

I however think that the riddles and puzzles are much more variety and harder than the original, I mean the original had almost no hard puzzles, in the main game, lets not take the challenges here into consideration, as that would be unfair, several times I had to stop and think about the steps I need to take, in portal you honestly just take one look and just finished the rooms.

I really liked the humor in this aswell and it finally made sense why portal was all about potatoes.

I'm in Space !
 

Macrobstar

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Apr 28, 2010
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Wabblefish said:
Paragon Fury said:
Wait...so Portal 2 gets 4 stars, but DAII got 5 stars?

What the hell happened here?
Well I've been playing Portal II pretty much nonstop (just got off a few minutes ago) and I wouldn't say that Portal II deserves five stars (well actually maybe 4.5 stars, I'm not totally sure, I'm loving this game so much so far but there are things that I'm still not sure about that would take a bit of playing to figure out)

But you still make a good point though, Dragon Age 2 should have gotten a 3 or 3.5 (or at least a 4...)

Makes me wonder how the review system works

Then again I suppose reviewing can never be completely unopinionized/biased or perfect
Of course it can't be unopionized, a review IS an opinion thats all it is just a reviewer expressing his opinion on the game, the guy who did DA2 thought it was perfect but the guy who did portal did not, simple.
 

Macrobstar

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Apr 28, 2010
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Hairetos said:
So can someone explain to me the difference between PC and Xbox version? Cuz I've played Portal on 360 and seen it on PC and notice no difference.
PC and ps3 get cross platform co-op, xbox doesn't
 

Clankenbeard

Clerical Error
Mar 29, 2009
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Paragon Fury said:
Wait...so Portal 2 gets 4 stars, but DAII got 5 stars?

What the hell happened here?
I once saw Roger Ebert give thumbs down to Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" and thumbs up to "Benji the Hunted" on the same episode of "At The Movies". He expected more from Stanley Kubrick and was disappointed. Benji was clearly a bit of family film fluff that nobody remembers, but it did what it was supposd to so well that he recommended it. Lion cubs being hunted by eagles vs. "This is my weapon, this is my gun..."

I think Valve was held to a higher standard here. Personally, I've spent more time watching/rewatching Cave Johnson's four Investment Opportunity commercials than watching my wife play DA2. The only way I'd be interested in Hawke is if you put a "Hudson" in front of it.
 

OldNewNewOld

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Mar 2, 2011
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There is a reason why I said that Portal 2 needs many bonus levels which would be Nintendo Hard.
Well, if you play portal, you can see why. :p
 

Skade

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Mar 27, 2009
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Clankenbeard said:
Paragon Fury said:
Wait...so Portal 2 gets 4 stars, but DAII got 5 stars?

What the hell happened here?
I once saw Roger Ebert give thumbs down to Stanley Kubric's "Full Metal Jacket" and thumbs up to "Benji the Hunted" on the same episode of "At The Movies". He expected more from Stanley Kubric and was disappointed.
Actually, this is quite understandable for me. I didn't find "Full Metal Jacket" very good. It is sharply cut in two almost distinct parts and mostly admired because of production values and some really edgy characters. The film as a whole is underwhelming and doesn't have much of a message, especially compared to other films of both Kubrick and the Era.
 

xchurchx

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Nov 2, 2009
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No metion of the platform crossing?
hope you guys make a seperate video for the Co-op review
 

Skade

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Mar 27, 2009
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SL33TBL1ND said:
ZiggyE said:
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.
They do have a publisher for retail (EA at the moment, Vivendi Universal before). They are not _owned_ by a publisher. Thirdly, Valve is an oddball, as they also act as a Publisher through Steam.

But I would not call them an Indie developer[1] though, as the "indie group" of game developers is usually associated with small developer groups with finite resources.

[1] Although its strictly true.
 

Clankenbeard

Clerical Error
Mar 29, 2009
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Flamma Man said:
I hate Russ Pitts' reviews, they're so dull and uninformative since all he seems to do is list the features of the game without even going in depth about the mechanics, the art direction, how it effects gameplay, etc.

Seriously, it's so dull and uninteresting it's nauseating.

Oh, and the best part is that he says, "Without spoiling too much...," then of course he shows [SNIP]
Actually, I stopped watching the review as soon as the "Spoiler Alert" came up. I had no clue what was going to happen in game until I read your post. You sir, were the first spoiler for me. IRONIED!

No big whoop. It doesn't bother me. But, you might "spoiler" your post to avoid flaming from other forum purists. Cheers.
 

Goofguy

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Nov 25, 2010
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I was worried that the gameplay might 'drag on' once the sequel was to become a full fledged game. Nonetheless, I'm really looking forward to playing this and I am currently eagerly awaiting my shipped pre-ordered copy,
 

magicpokey

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Jul 27, 2010
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You know, I don't read comments much, but I gotta say, the last line in the video from glados made me laugh so hard a noodle came out my nose. I was kinda meh on this game, content to wait for a steam sale or a retail price drop, but that line makes me want to go out and get it today.

"I think we can put our differences behind us. For science... You monster."

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah*GASP*hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
 

Clankenbeard

Clerical Error
Mar 29, 2009
544
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Skade said:
Actually, this is quite understandable for me. I didn't find "Full Metal Jacket" very good. It is sharply cut in two almost distinct parts and mostly admired because of production values and some really edgy characters. The film as a whole is underwhelming and doesn't have much of a message, especially compared to other films of both Kubrick and the Era.
DERAILED! Agreed on all points. It paled compared to his other 1980's masterpiece The Shining. (Damn, Nicholson can pull off crazy like nobody else.) 2001:A Space Odyssey, Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove (a personal favorite)--all much better films.

My point is that opinions are ALL subjective. (And I realize that your post is in no way an arguement against this.) People remember Full Metal Jacket. It was culturally distinct (like it or hate it) because of its director. Benji The Hunted has long since been forgotten. But that's the one Ebert gave a thumbs up to.

Portal 2. Could it live up to besting the original? Here's a question: Can anybody name a movie series in which the second installment was better than the first?

(I'll say Evil Dead 2, but that's a personal preference of campy horror over true indie horror. And let's be honest, Evil Dead 2 was really more of a remake of Evil Dead than a sequel.)
 

Radelaide

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May 15, 2008
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I am so sorely disappointed by this game :( I didn't exactly have high hopes and it failed to reach them in spectacular fashion.

It's just not the same. It's not nearly as fun with the cut-away loading scenes (that have to happen every other minute. Seriously Valve, move past the micro-loading. It makes everything disjointed), the pain-in-the-ass Orb thing, the lack of enjoyable puzzles.

Not to beat an already bruised and dead horse: Valve could have spent this time making a game that is desperately wanted instead of making games that are essentially DLC.

Sorry, Valve. I'm just not impressed.