Very rarely, a game comes along which truly rejuvenates love for console gaming. For me, Portal 2 has done just that.
As much as they dress them up, adapt, alter, promote, shorten, lengthen.. The games market has reached a bit of a plateau. Long running sports franchises which make slight adjustments each year, War games which make a half assed attempt at a single player game (we all are expecting a Call Of Duty : Take Down Osama type game now), but make their majority of interest with people killing each other for hours online.
Which, to be honest, bores me. I neither have the time, or interest in getting good enough to play online for long enough so that I am at a reasonable enough level that I am alive for more than 20 seconds at a time.
Portal 2 features one of the most intelligent and interesting physics engines around.
Now, I know Portal 2 isn't a 'new' idea. The 2 should really be a give away.. But I doubt I was alone in being excited and apprehensive about the immensely enjoyable side-game from The Orange Box having a sequel. The basic idea behind the game is your ability to fire 2 portals that are linked – walk through one, and you come out the other. Pretty simple? Sounds it. But as the game progresses, this relatively fundamental idea is exploited to the point where you will feel like crying due to the complexity of it. Turrets, cubes, buttons, lasers.. all are controllable by you.. and your portals.
The main reason I love this game, is the real feeling of accomplishment you get after the levels. I refused to use the walkthroughs, and there were some puzzles I was stuck on for almost an hour.. Sometimes it was something simple I had missed, others were something completely new in the brilliant physics engine I hadn't thought of. I found myself giggling at times. Literally, laughing at how clever the game was. The voice as Steven Merchant as your initial clumsy, simple robot companion is a brilliant touch – Not sure how but I would love to see Karl Pilkington voice a game..
Co-op character Atlas and P-Body.
Finally, another thing that Portal 2 does so, so well, is the Co-op mode. I played it with a friend, from start to finish. We giggled like school girls as we shot portals infront of where each other were running. We fired cubes at each other through our portals. We fired each other a mile into the air, we childishly squabbled over who would do what. It was superb, and took us a day to do – not bad for a side game.
Portal 2 is fun, unique, challenging.. It is superb, and like I did after each level, I look forward to what is hopefully next in the series.
Rating – 9.5/10
Fair Price - £35
