It is not often that I get to play a game from start to end more than once. It is therefore even more unlikely that I get to do that in a matter of a few short days. But in the case of Portal 2 I did just that. I even squeezed in a full play through of the original just for kicks. Needless to say, Portal 2 is worth all the time and effort spent on it!

Hype schmype…

Valve started building the hype for Portal 2 a long time ago. First of all they patched the original Portal to change the storyline. At the end of Portal 1 (SPOILER ALERT!) you escaped the clutches of GLaDOS and the Aperture Science Lab, reaching the surface and enjoying the fresh air.

In the altered version of Portal’s ending, you still escape but are instead dragged off to the cryo-chambers by the Party Escort Bot, hence why you are back in the labs for Portal 2. Then there was the Portal Alternate Reality game for the truly devoted fan, with people sending static through decoder systems to view images, to mention but one of the puzzles.

I have a rule in gaming that I would like to apply here: “With great hype comes great disappointment.”™ Portal 2, however, is the only exception to this rule.

Awaking from your cryo slumber party, still as the slender Chell with no real history, a voice informs you that it is a long time after the events of the first game. It appears things have changed quite a lot, and not much maintenance was done since GLaDOS was offline. Plants are growing through the cracks, panels have fallen off and the place just looks like it needs some TLC.

You are awoken by a friendly bot named Wheatley, voiced by the brilliant Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office TV series. With a certain Ricky Gervais humour and fantastic delivery of every line, you soon fall in love with this great character. It’s not long though until the bumbling Wheatley activates GLaDOS and revenge is on the cards.

Sticks and stones

GLaDOS only knows how to do one thing well, and that is run tests. So she plans on getting her revenge for being murdered by letting you do tests until your fragile body breaks or you die of old age. If she can help that aging process by dropping a few insults, she will do so. Yet these are so funny it’s hard to take them seriously: “You look like you put on a few pounds.”

This being Portal, you can imagine what these lab tests are like, and you and your Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device perform test after test according to GLaDOS’s orders. For the uninitiated, the portal gun allows you to create two portals, a blue and an orange one. Using these portals you can jump from one part of the level to other parts and thus make your way through them. Other items in the game such as turrets and lasers can also pass through the portals and together these create puzzles unlike any other game.

GLaDOS has a few new tricks up her sleeve this time around. You now have things like light bridges, allowing you to cross large distances by literally walking on light. You also have access to a type of tractor beam, pulling and pushing any item that comes into contact with it, and you’ll also work through a few painting puzzles that will make for even more interesting solutions to certain levels. I feel I will give away too much if I were to say any more, but suffice to say you will love it. You must love it.

Also, as advertised by Cave Johnson during some excellent promotional videos (voiced by JK Simmons - the editor in Spiderman), panels now also feature significantly. Move some, jump off others and paint the rest, these panels allow levels to become a whole lot more alive, changing from one minute to the rest. Just be careful, some of them are not panels, but crushers. Yes, they sell those too.

Behind the scenes

As you travel through the game you will also get to see a whole new part of the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre not seen before. Behind the scenes there is a lot of history and entertainment to be found. Rushing through these parts is totally allowed, but you will be missing out on a lot of plot.

You will find more clues that Aperture Science is in direct competition with the guys over at Black Mesa, where Half-Life took place. You will learn that potatoes provide 1.1 volt of energy and can be used as a battery. You will also learn that robots were about to take over as test subjects just before the events of Portal 1. And these robots will continue after the events of Portal 2.

2 is company

Co-op is now a feature of the Portal universe, and you play as one of the two robots tasked with performing tests ad infinitum. Your closest buddy (or some stranger on the internet) plays your partner and these tests are far more elaborate than in the single player campaign, requiring two brains and two portal guns to complete. It gets tricky but is a lot of fun. You can also unlock different gear for your new robot characters and these allow you to customise your look a little when online. The console versions allow split-screen co-op, the best kind of co-op the world has ever known, and with a bit of tweaking and hacking the PC version can be coerced to play split-screen as well.

The co-op robots allow Valve to keep Portal 2 going past the singleplayer, so replay value has shoots through the roof. Expect loads of DLC levels for this in the future, as well as user created levels. The animation of these robots (and all characters throughout the game) is fantastic, and I never thought that robots could be this expressive.

Portal 2 is much more of a game than Portal 1 was. It has a much better thought out plot, the story has a few surprises and the lore of the Portal universe is greatly expanded on. It also has co-op multiplayer for the first time. Where Portal 1 was deemed insignificant enough to be bundled in the Orange box with a few Half-Life expansions and Team Fortress 2, it has grown into a full-fledged game with a DVD cover all of its own. It is now also around 12 to 15 hours to complete the entire singleplayer game compared to the original’s 3 to 4 hours. Expect your second play through to be much shorter as you know all the solutions by then.

With its sensational execution of humour, action and cerebral challenges, Portal 2 may just be the most perfect game ever created. No, that is not an exaggeration. Play it and find out. Sadly, if I have to find one fault with Portal 2, it’s that there is still no cake!

The good: Perfect balance of action, humour, story and puzzles; excellent voice acting.
The bad: Over all too soon
The ugly: What? Still no cake?

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