The Belated Portal 2 Review

Portal 2 is an amazing game produced by Valve. The game setting takes place in the same facility as the first Portal. But the game is slightly different, as you aren’t plagued by GLaDOS. At the start, the facility is going through a mechanical meltdown so to speak. The ginormous facility is falling apart, and Wheatley saves you. Wheatley is a mechanical drone so to speak. He maintains the facility and keeps everything in order. In short, he saves you by putting you through tests that will lead you to the outside of the facility. In doing so, you find the portal gun, as well as relearn the mechanics of the game. (As you play through, be sure to look out for hidden areas.) Unfortunately I’m not here to spoil the suspenseful moments, so let’s jump to the new features.

Valve introduced a few new tricks they had in their sleeves. They introduced the astonishing concept of “gel”. This gel has different properties according to its color. The orange, is propulsion gel. It allows you to move at tremendous speeds compared to your normal walking speed. Blue gel is repulsion gel. If you jump or bounce off a surface with this coating it, it acts as a trampoline. The same rules apply as the original “speedy thing go in, speedy thing come out.” The farther you drop onto the blue gel, the higher you go back up. The third gel is white. And it makes it so that wherever this gel is, you can place a portal. It respectively coincides with the lighter panels allowing portal placement.

The storyline of this game is just as hilarious, and absorbing as the first. I literally feel as if I could play through this game 10 times and be just as refreshed as I was the first time. The plot in this game was smoother flowing to me compared to the predecessor. In this game I felt as if it slowly led to a finale, rather than just making an insanely bad-shit-crazy last test. The little nuances of the game could just make you laugh. Such as the comical phrases you would here from the “crap” turrets. Anywhere Valve could appropriately place a witty joke, it was there, and it came with a good follow up. This game has a storyline that is just stellar, and the game itself is a fresh breeze from the craze of FPS games like Call of Duty.

Some of the things I didn’t like were that I feel as if the single player campaign could have lasted longer. But I suppose that is what the addition of multiplayer is for. I prefer this game over the first all in all, although you should have the first under your belt before you play this one. Everything evens out in a way, and who knows, there may be some add on packs to come. (HOPEFULLY)

One sentence can wrap it up, but it would be a terrible review. The one sentence is, please purchase Portal 2 because you will love it. All I can say is that it was a crazily well-made game, and extremely well balanced. It deserves even more hype than it got. Now let us join in prayer, and pray for a third portal game. /end review.