Zero Punctuation: Portal 2

[Beryl77]

Well, looks like he really liked the game but couldn't really praise it much because of his Portal 1 review.
Of course the game could never give the players the same feelings they had when they played Portal 1 for the first time. To expect something like that would be a bit silly.
I disagree on his quantity over quality point. Just because there is more doesn't that is has to be worse. I think that Portal 2 managed to be longer and better than Portal 1, actually, I've got the feeling that I'll never be able to play Portal 1 again.

 

[KayuWolf]

I pretty much agree to the word on this review. It's still great but it doesn't quite capture the beautifully dark atmosphere of the original and it's puzzles are more simplistic, so overall the original portal is superior in my view. also i really hate the ending of portal 2, it makes no sense atall, but it is funny in an awkward sense.

 

[dfcrackhead]

If Portal 3 takes place in space, how would momentum work?

If physics don't apply in the future, god help you.

The only thing I didn't care for about Portal 2 was how it ended and that it was too easy, the whole thing just felt like an intro to the mechanics, but no real tests of them.

 

[Gabriela D.]

They do seem to lay the humour on a bit thick in Portal 2. Yes, we get it, Aperture Science is run by mad men with no regard for safety! Now tell me how the hell they keep hiring people!

They didn't really. In the game you can see the fall from grace of Aperture. When they had money they tested athletes and olympians, had marble floors and wood panels.
A decade later they took hobos from the streets and working conditions were not as luxurious. And in the 80's they made testing mandatory for employees because they couldn't find test subjects. Cheap plastics were everywhere. GLaDOS was the last real project they had before bankruptcy.

 

[rsvp42]

--In this photorealistic game, the Player is on top of a mountain looking down on a huge city. In the city, the Player sees 100,000 Cyborg Demon Ninjas, rampaging through the city, killing everyone in sight. On top of that, there is Giant Robots and motherships destroying all the buildings. The city itself can be dynamically destroyed; better then anything seen in both Red Faction or Minecraft (See the movie 2012). This photorealistic game is also a Open World game with real rooms in all the buildings, meaning, if I wanted to, I can hide in a fridge from all those CDNs in a apartment....--

I don't know if processing power is currently capable of handling that, but our current graphics abilities are more than capable of making it look nice. The hypothetical game you're describing is not limited by graphics, but by the ability of computers to render it all simultaneously in real time, the ability of developers to actually create something that bloated and gargantuan, and the willingness of consumers to pay the cost of playing such a monstrosity. We can already hide in fridges in games, you're asking developers to design millions of rooms and millions of fridges in the middle of a dynamically destructible city (which would require a density of simulation and calculation that would make your brain explode), just to satisfy a gluttonous desire for what basically amounts to the Matrix.

There are many experiences that we can create with the graphics and computing power we have right now. Yahtzee's point is that we should pursue a greater depth in gaming experiences, not continually making shallow games as we nudge the graphical ceiling ever higher. The besieged city in your example is cool in theory, but if it's wrapped around a Crysis or Call of Duty clone, what's the point? What have we gained?

 

[AngryBritishAce]

I don't know whether Yahtzee loves portal 2 or just feels mild about it, but I would say he's wrong. I don't care if you think other wise, Portal 2 is much more funny, and the tests are a lot more engaging, even if they do go on. I agree with some of what Yahtzee says, but the overall game itself was so fun and engaging that those cons are like nothing. Portal 2 is so good overall that it outwieghs Portal, and I don't want people hating me for my opinion.

Now they said if I ever click the "post" button, I would DIE! But, I'll give it a go...

 

[CarlMin]

A surprisingly negative review of a game which is, though perhaps not as innovative as it's first installment, arguably the best game of the year (this far)

 

[Gabriela D.]

Nothing memetic? If reddit is a barometer, Cave Johnson's lemon rant would disagree with you.

Spoiler

So would Space Core [http://spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccee.com/].

Meanwhile, I'll happily laugh at the defective turret dialog by myself, as everyone seems to be ignoring those poor broken turrets.

I LOVED those guys! I think I stayed about 10 minutes in the turret control room just listening to them.

 

[Neshel]

I.... I disagree with Yahtzee? My world... it's falling apart!

Portal 2 was better than Portal 1 in every way. Except the loading screens. Too many loading screens!

 

[Cabamacadaf]

I kind of agree with this review, but I still think Portal 2 is better than Portal 1. Mainly because it's longer, but I also think the story and the humor is better than Portal 1.

 

[Gabriela D.]

A surprisingly negative review of a game which is, though perhaps not as innovative as it's first installment, arguably the best game of the year (this far)

Actually, I felt that was pretty mild for Yahtzee.

 

[sgtshock]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Yahtzee claiming Portal 1 is better than Portal 2 because less is more. I understand where he's coming from, but in my opinion a game isn't better just because it had less content and therefore less faults. It's like saying getting one really nice present for your birthday is better than getting a huge surprise party with all your friends but the cake was a bit stale.

That said, I totally agree with him that Team Fortress 2 hats are really annoying.

EDIT: Also, my mention of cake was completely coincidental.

 

[Aeroastrix]

I found Portal 2 to be very enjoyable, but as you said, the replay value isn't exactly that high. I mean, Portal was amazing, you could lock me up in a room with only Portal to play with and I'd be okay. The good thing is this review was honest and you didn't ride the Portal fanbase....ride

On another note co-op was fun but I found myself doing the entire second half by myself, with 2 controllers, cause I was going to blow my freaking brains from having to spam the hell out of the ping button because my partners were peripherally handicapped idiots! That said playing 2 player (with 1 player) provided twice the challenge, twice the satisfaction of beating a level, and twice the embarrassment when I told my friends that I was playing with myself and it was fun!

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

They do seem to lay the humour on a bit thick in Portal 2. Yes, we get it, Aperture Science is run by mad men with no regard for safety! Now tell me how the hell they keep hiring people!

They didn't really. In the game you can see the fall from grace of Aperture. When they had money they tested athletes and olympians, had marble floors and wood panels.
A decade later they took hobos from the streets and working conditions were not as luxurious. And in the 80's they made testing mandatory for employees because they couldn't find test subjects. Cheap plastics were everywhere. GLaDOS was the last real project they had before bankruptcy.

And if you were a scientist working at a facility were they hire olympians, astronauts and war heroes and tested them to death, would you keep working there? Would you keep working there after it becomes quite clear that your boss could cause the destruction of the entire facility? Would you keep working there after the previously mentioned boss died and then go on to build an AI that tries (and suceeds) to kill everyone?

Well I suppose the logical conclusion is that the scientists are just as mad as Cave Johnson. But thanks for repeating the plot of a game I've already played to me in the most plainly simple way possible, herp-a-derp.

 

[Ickorus]

No memes?

Well my response to that is Lemons and Spaaaaaaaaaaaace!

I personally believe people only found those memes in this game because they were looking for them. They are nowhere near as memorable as the cake.

By the way, I love the doctor who reference in your title thingy

Space is a memorable one but I wouldn't call it a meme, just an inside joke.

For instance today at college I noticed a friend of mine had a space background for his gmail so I sent him a message over gmail saying "Im in space!" then a minute later "SPAAAAAAACE" and later still "spacespacespacespace"; he didn't get it at all since he hasn't completed the game yet but my other friend sat next to me who I played through the co-op with caught on right away and many laughs were had.

 

[duchaked]

crap the story's been somewhat spoiled for me already, though sadly it only proved I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out beforehand I just block it from myself most of the time ;p

but great review here, though it's about as much as I expected from Yahtzee. still, he's right that I really, really need to play the single player (90% done with the co-op with a friend, altho we're both busy with exams atm to finish just now)

 

[DaHero]

If Portal 3 takes place in space, how would momentum work?

Jetpacks...The Aperture Science Jump Booster will allow you to move in any direction you choose while the Aperture Science Magnetic Footwear will allow you to cling to walls you cannot portal through...and yes GladOS known how the shoes work, but won't tell anyone.

 

[CarlMin]

A surprisingly negative review of a game which is, though perhaps not as innovative as it's first installment, arguably the best game of the year (this far)

Actually, I felt that was pretty mild for Yahtzee.

I beg to differ^^
Yahtzee loved the first Portal, and given that portal 2 was met so well by the critics I naturally assume he was going to love it too. It's almost as if he is so afraid of being mainstream in his reviews that he doesn't enjoy praising Portal anymore now when everyone else is doing it

 

[Shjade]

Regarding lemons and space: I find it telling that the only references I've seen to these events outside the game itself have been through posts by people trying to convince me that they're popular.

This is the definition of a forced meme.

 

[Aptspire]

No memes?

Well my response to that is Lemons and Spaaaaaaaaaaaace!

I agree, 'Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace' is becoming a meme of its own