Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

Valve is one of those studios that just keep releasing good games consistently. When Portal was released in 2007, it was just another shining example of what the Half-Life 2 source engine could do. Now in 2011, the second installment of the Portal franchise has finally been released. When comparing the two games, the original Portal look like an appetizer to the full course meal that is Portal 2.

The storyline of Portal 2 takes place after the conclusion of the Valve’s Portal 2 web comic in which the main character, Chell, has been in suspended sleep. She is awakened by a blue core named Wheatly to see the Aperture Science Labs in disarray. I do not want to spoil anything, but the story for this game really had me hooked. The first game of the series really did not have a goal beyond possibly escaping the enrichment center and obviously, doing science. This game's story makes you really feel like you are playing a full length game and I found myself having the same feelings as I did originally playing Half-Life 1 and 2.

The graphics for Portal 2 are nice but not really an extreme improvement over the original Portal beyond a few new lighting effects. The designs of objects and environments are much more varied in this game. Stages range from the white-washed brand new look of the Aperture Labs to dark corridors and overgrown rooms in parts of the Labs not normally explored by test subjects. Along with the graphics, the sound design for this game is also really good. The music and ambient tracks of the game really set a great mood and, as in Portal 1, the voice work and jokes are killer. I will not spoil anything but one of my favorite actors/voice actors J.K Simmons (J. Jameson in the Spiderman movies) plays a major voice role in the middle part of the game.

Gameplay is the same Portal fun from the first game with new and expanded obstacles. One of my favorite types of puzzles in the new game are ones involving three kinds of colored ooze which each have a different effect. Blue gives you jumping kind of like the movie Flubber, the Orange ooze (which looks like Nickelodeon gak) gives you super speed, and finally the white ooze allows you to make portals on most services it covers. Super speed is my favorite out of the three and it plays a major role in many of the puzzles - especially in co-op mode.

Co-op mode is a new mode for Portal 2. It puts you in control of two robots: P-body and Atlas who were designed for the purpose of testing if humans could not be found or become scarce. They allow you and a friend to play through a unique story mode with its own story and five chapters of levels. These levels are both challenging and fun to play through with your friends and involve all of the elements you learn by playing the single player and some additional ones. One of my favorite parts of the co-op gameplay is the gestures system which allows you to make gestures with your friend including high fives, hugs, rock-paper-scissors and many more. These can be used for fun or even to grief if you are a jerk. This game hinges on cooperation which makes it funny as you are playing through when GlaDos sends each player provoking messages to try to turn you and the other player against each other. Incidentally, the cooperation also leads to a lot of hilarious grieving between friends, but thankfully you can respawn infinitely which diffuses anger that may be caused by these hilarious deaths.

Portal 2 is an amazing game if you enjoy physics puzzles and first person comedy action. Although the game can be beaten in only a number of hours you will find yourself wanting to replay this several times just for the sake of how hilarious the acting and jokes are. There are also a great number of hidden Easter eggs throughout the games. Valve really has outdone itself with this game. I hope that sometime in the future they manage to completely tie the Portal and Half-Life storylines together and create something epic.