Years ago I used to go over to my cousin’s house during the weekends to watch her play video games. I didn’t have a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 at the time and was limited to mainly Nintendo consoles, so watching her play titles I had little knowledge of helped expose me to the gaming landscape. Psychonauts, Amnesia, BioShock Infinite, Wolfenstien: The New Order, and a bunch of others. She played a lot of games and didn’t quite know how to manage her time, but one game that I witnessed her beat from beginning to end and intrigued me the most was Portal. This first person physics based puzzle game with mind bending mechanics and surprisingly well written humor. What looked like a bland idea on the surface ended up being entertaining and memorable. This was my exposure to the Portal series and I was excited to see more. Luckily this wish happened sooner rather than later as we started Portal 2 a weekend afterwards. My cousin played Portal when it originally came out on The Orange Box and it’s one her favorite games ever, but she never had the opportunity to play Portal 2 until three years after release. We installed the game onto her PC, booted it up immediately, and plowed through it. Portal 2 was magical and unlike any other game I saw at the time. It had crazier puzzles, deeper world building, and a more bombastic story than the first game. It was the perfect example of how to do a video game sequel and is considered one of the greatest games ever made. Portal 2 is brilliant, but is it perfect? A lot has changed since 2011 and the capabilities of what video games can do has rapidly expanded. Developers have learned to make more open-ended worlds, provide more space for the player to work with, improve detailing and lighting, write better stories, challenge players through complex systems, and flood their games with more content. Does Portal 2 stand up against modern releases more than ten year later? The answer is, “Yes, of course you f*cking idiots.” This review is off to a good start so far.
Portal 2 is a timeless masterpiece that couldn’t have been possible without the unexpected success of the first Portal. Valve was developing Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and the wait for it was longer than they intended. They were planning to release Episode 2 all by itself, but realized it didn’t have enough content to justify purchasing it alone. They needed to package it with some additional games to make it feel worthwhile. Luckily another big project was in development at the time. A sequel to a multiplayer mod for Quake which they gained the rights to named Team Fortress 2, and a quick project made by a smaller team within Valve which was Portal. They were packaged alongside Half-Life 2 and the additional content, but this was also a chance for Valve to see whether they should expand. Try out new ideas and experiment with different franchises. Team Fortress 2 quickly became one of the biggest multiplayer shooters ever, and Portal which they weren’t expecting to do well since it was made on a whim blew up tremendously. Even though Portal was made during a small time period all the pieces were put together carefully. It was well crafted, sharpened, and fine tuned. It received praise by numerous critics, gained internet popularity, and grew a cult following. Fans were begging for more Portal, but that wouldn’t be possible right?
One year later, Valve soon announced that a follow-up to Portal would be promised. Another two years and the sequel is then revealed, Portal 2. Not only would it contain a continuation to the storyline, but other promising features. A co-op campaign, ability to create your own puzzles, and much more. Portal 2 had mass amounts of hype building around it, but would it meet up to these expectations? The answer was, “Yes, of course you f*cking idiots.” Portal 2 came out in 2011 and delivered on every goal it set up. It received higher praise, was nominated for numerous awards, and won Game of The Year in a couple of places. Portal 2 is the most successful product Valve has ever made. Just check the Steam store page and see the overwhelmingly positive scores. It has stood the test of time. I have key bits of Portal 2 memorized, but never actually played the game for myself. Other bits became hazy and I decided to finally try Portal 2 myself. See what I have forgotten and if it really does hold up. I’m really glad I did and it reminded me of the sheer happiness felt years ago. Going over to a relative’s house and playing games. Those were good days and Portal 2 helped make those days happen. Today we'll talk about why Portal 2 is timeless and why it deserves your attention.
Well here we are again. It’s always such a pleasure.
Remember when you tried to kill me twice?
Story
Let’s provide a little bit of lore before we move further into the main story. Aperture Science, the second most funded scientific research facility in the world or so we thought. The company was founded by Cave Johnson, and their main competitors at the time were Black Mesa. That’s right, the Portal series also takes place within the Half-Life universe. Black Mesa was experimenting with nuclear energy, advanced machinery, quantum physics, and secrets kept from the public. Well it wasn’t a secret for long as Black Mesa was trying to create portals that could travel between different dimensions. Cave Johnson had a lot to compete with, but with the company’s big budget they were able to develop portals of their own. Not exactly the interdimensional travel they were hoping for, but a way to zip from one location to another within seconds. They created the Portal Gun, a device capable of connecting one miniature gateway to the next. Aperture began messing around physics, lethal substances, genetic alterations, and began developing robots far advanced than the ones Black Mesa were making. Cave Johnson spearheaded creativity, but the ideas Aperture had weren’t always the greatest. One such idea was that Cave planned to plug his conscience into a giant computer system that stretched across the research facility and lead Aperture in case he died. However, developing such a complex system would take time and just in case he died before the scientists could plug him in he told them to plug his assistant Caroline in instead. She’s been by his side for the longest time and got to witness all the crazy tests the company got to perform. When this happened, GlaDOS was born and she would become the AI to lead Aperture to its demise.
GlaDOS was a little too much for Aperture Science to handle, and one day she locks all the scientists within the facility and chokes them out using neurotoxins. Everyone died during her takeover, but some managed to survive and create a backup plan. A way to put her out of control or prevent her from expanding outside the facility. This is where the events of the first game come into play. Chell, a young woman who GlaDOS kept in Aperture Science for the specific purpose of testing. GlaDOS tries to convince Chell a huge surprise lies at the end, but as Chell went further she began to notice something off. How come GlaDOS is the only one talking to us over the intercoms? Why are all the offices empty and where are all the scientists? How come GlaDOS is now trying to throw pools of poison and rapid fire turrets at us? Something wasn’t right and it’s made even more apparent to us when we encounter writing left behind by a previous scientist telling us to escape. We do just that and enter the chamber of GlaDOS. Through wits and all we have learned, Chell is able to defeat GlaDOS and escape the facility. At least that is what we think, because Chell got knocked out from an explosion.
Cut a few years later and it is revealed that Chell was placed within a stasis chamber to recover from her wounds. A recorded robotic voice similar to the one Aperture used is playing overhead, and a small core enters the apartment. His name is Wheatly and he states we have been here for a really long time. He begins to shift our apartment around and as it falls apart we discover we are still trapped within the depths of the Aperture Science facility. Wheatley plans to break us out, but to do so we have to access a control board located in the destroyed chambers of GlaDOS. It’s a risky move, but nothing could possibly go wrong as GlaDOS has been destroyed…. unfortunately everything goes wrong. Chell and Wheatly accidentally repair and activate GlaDOS who is furious to meet her killer again. She grabs Chell and dumps her deeper into the depths of Aperture Science. Wanting revenge, GlaDOS decides to play with her guinea pig once again. More killer tests, contraptions, and data to collect using the Portal Gun. Wheatly is still around though and tries to forge a plan to defeat GlaDOS once and for all. It’s up to you to solve each test and last long enough to reach an escape exit.
One day they woke me up. So I could live forever.
Gameplay
Portal 2 is a fairly simple game to play and that’s why this section probably won’t last too long. You are equipped with the Portal Gun, a device that can shoot two portals which connect to each other. Enter one portal and you exit out the other. For example, if I shoot a portal on the wall and one on the ceiling then enter the portal on the wall I will fall down from the portal on the ceiling. Only white surfaces can have portals shot onto them, so you have to make due with the terrain you have. Portals can be used to reach higher places, traverse across long distances, and sometimes you'll have to utilize the laws of physics to reach your goals. What do I mean by this? Let’s say there is this huge gap you have traversed across. You can’t simply portal to the other side. Next to you is this large pit with a portable surface at the bottom, and near the top of the same room is a high placed portable wall. Shoot a portal at the bottom of the pit, one on the high placed wall, jump into the pit, and the speed you build up from falling will be enough to launch you towards your location. You’ll have to constantly use the laws of physics to solve every puzzle. To reach boxes or higher heights.
New mechanics are introduced this time around to create wackier puzzles. One of which being the crystal cube. Lasers were a deadly object in the past that could melt you down, but they were also used to trigger contraptions used to open doors. Using these crystal cubes you can shoot the laser into another direction and possibly in the contraption needed to activate the door. Another new mechanic are pressure plates which can launch you high into the air or across a long distance. They can also be used to build up the speed needed to clear distances. Light bridges are another new feature. You can walk on them, easily traverse over pits, and maybe block the site of turrets pointing as long as the bridge is provided. These next few mechanics are kind of late game spoilers, but they are heavily advertised and everyone should have at least seen them. Gels, a substance which can be spread along surfaces and interacted with in fun ways. The blue gel allows you to bounce off surfaces, the orange gel speeds up your movement, and the white gel transforms a non portable surface into a portable one. All of these three gels are used in fun ways. Final mechanics are these gravity vents which carry objects towards the direction they push or pull to. They may even help carry you or blocks towards places you couldn’t normally…. writing these types of sentences is starting to get really annoying. One thing I will say about Portal is that it knows how to pace players into the mechanics and rules of the universe. It follows the structure of every good platformer I’ve played where you show instead of tell. Either let the player interact or die to the mechanic, and they’ll understand in the future. Then begin stacking ideas on top of each to create more complex and engaging puzzles. This is the ideology Portal 2 follows and carries all the way up until the end. Enough of those “Ahah!” moments I love to see from puzzle games and motivation to keep pushing forward. Hopefully you can escape and defeat the robotic evil once and for all.
I’ll let you get right to it! Now I only want you gone.
Thoughts
Portal 2 is still an amazing experience which is worth playing today. We don’t get puzzle games tightly designed like this anymore. Well we do, but we’ll get to that later. I do want to admit though, Portal 2 isn’t one of the greatest games I’ve ever played but there sure are a lot of aspects which it gets right and allows it to earn that title with several other gamers. The puzzles are more diverse, imaginative, and bigger than the puzzles from the first game. When they are there, they work really well and some took a couple minutes to properly figure out. I love the new mechanics, how they are introduced, and used across the entire campaign. Nothing feels wasted and no puzzle can be sequence break by using physics. However, I do wish there were more puzzles. There’s this argument over whether the first or second game in the Portal series are better, and there’s quite a few people who choose the first game. Mainly because the first game was a down to earth puzzle game with no breaks between, and Portal 2 is this visual rollercoaster with occasional puzzles they like to dump the player into.
I get the people who are frustrated with these sequences as they can be dragged on longer than they should, but I didn’t mind it at all. Portal 2 is both graphically and visually better than the first game, and some of those scenes the game throws at you will make your jaw drop. Seeing how vast the facility is and wondering how such a place could be expanded overtime. One problem I do have though is that in the later chapters Portal 2 likes to dump you into these wide open areas. They are breathtaking, but it can get frustrating to find the one portable surface you are supposed to shoot or spot you have to navigate towards next. It’s not terrible, but you’ll sit there and say to yourself “Where the heck do I go?” The campaign is still good, but if you are wondering why there aren’t so many puzzles then you’ll be pleased to know they are in the co-op campaign. That’s right! The rest of the game’s content in the multiplayer mode requires a friend to play, but it’s really well designed. I haven’t played the co-op mode, but Portal 2 is one of those games where you actually have to work with your teammate to get somewhere. Communicate and get along instead of having another clusterf*ck of a competition. With the addition of two players, two portal guns, and four portals the puzzles are more crazier than before. Truly unique stuff and now I’m wondering how user created levels were like. Tests and chambers created from players online.
Portal 2 gameplay wise has held up beautifully, but what about the story? The story is still really good as well. The pitch black humor from before is still here and delivered better with the wide cast of characters. I always loved Portal humor, because the robots you talk to help it come across as funny yet dark. You talk to a computer system who wants you dead, but keeps you around because you’re the only living being she has to talk to. This talking core who is the kindest person in the facility, but is an absolute moron who doesn’t exactly know how to properly help you. Then you get to the depths of Aperture Science and this is where the world building really gets to shine. You find recordings of Cave Johnson and how hard he tried to make a breakthrough. Continue pushing for scientific achievement and be remembered for his work. It didn’t matter how stupid his experiments were or whether the company was financially struggling all he wanted to see was what the scientists at Aperture could come up with. That’s why when it came to his untimely death he tried not to embrace it with fear. He encouraged his workers to continue being creative and carry on the work he had before. He had faith in them and in his assistant who he hoped would do great things. If you want a good explanation of the story and its themes then check out Leadhead’s video titled, “The Moron Theory.” She’s highly skilled when it comes to putting together video essays and this helps make sense of a nonsensical story.
I highly recommend Portal 2 as it’s the perfect example of how to make a video game sequel, but is it the best puzzle game I’ve played? The answer is no, and before you all go post hate comments let me explain. Portal 2 is one of the best in the genre, but two games succeed for me. The first being Return of The Obra Dinn and the second being Outer Wilds. One of them is a detective mystery and the other is an open ended sandbox. All three of these are severely different, but it’s the feeling I get from each. In Return of The Obra Dinn there is a mystery to unravel, and in Outer Wilds there are ruins of an ancient civilization who studied the mysteries of time and the universe. . I’m unraveling this mystery and piecing together a fractured story. Portal 2 definitely had those “Ahah!” moments, but I didn’t get the sense of satisfaction from these other two. Rather than unravel a mystery it just felt like I was pushing forward. Which isn’t bad as Portal 2 has exciting moments, but I want more of these types of games. The games that make me think and reward me for analyzing the situation.
That’s all I really have to say. Portal 2 is fantastic and a hot take I have is that it doesn’t need a follow-up. There’s this old meme that Valve doesn’t know how to count to three, but this is one of those occasions where I’m fine with them leaving the franchise where it is now. Universal expansions are fine like with Aperture Desk Job, but a sequel isn’t necessary. Portal 2 left off on a good note and I don’t really know where Valve could go next. It’s up to the developers and writers to figure this out. Portal 2 is still one of the GOATs and in the end I give it a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
Now I only want you gone....
Now I only want you gone....
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