Geek at Heart: Portal 2 review

Portal 2 is an excellent sequel to a fantastic original game. To me, a good sequel takes a classic story and continues or develops the theme without belittling the original work and Portal 2 does an amazing job at advancing the Aperture universe.

Like its predecessor, Portal 2 is a first person puzzle-platform game, released by Valve. The player must navigate your way through a series of puzzles using a teleportation device that allows you to control two portals. The portals may be used to move the player and simple objects from location to location within a confined testing space.

Portal felt like it was over within the blink of an eye compared to the content of the sequel. When you enjoy yourself as much as I do playing the Portal series, you don’t look forward to the end game. And, although there is more content, I still find myself wanting more! Once you’ve finished the campaign you can challenge yourself with advanced test chambers or try your hand at a variety of achievements. The Portal 2 puzzles can also be solved with the help of your friends in the new co-op system.

Within the single-player campaign, the player returns as the human protagonist Chell, having awakened from stasis after many years. Chell must navigate the now-dilapidated Aperture Science Enrichment Center with the portal gun while the facility is rebuilt by the reactivated GLaDOS.

As much as I love GLaDOS and her malicious intentions, it gets a little tough to listen to her catty commentary constantly without the relief of other characters and their different styles of humor. The cute and deadly turrets from Portal are back for round two, but are this time joined by a humorous cast of defective turrets and one special turret you can save from an untimely death. One of the most accessible AI additions is Wheatley, a personality core that is very entertaining to listen to, although a bit scatterbrained.

Without giving too much away, another notable addition is Cave Johnson, the tenacious founder of Aperture science voiced by actor J.K. Simmons (I love him!). Although you don’t physically meet Cave, his voice guides your passage through portions of the testing area.

But that’s not all! Liquids that create portal surfaces, bounce you into the air, and speed you up; Excursion funnels that pull you or push you across space; Hard light bridges that you can use as shields or, well, bridges; Lasers that you can deflect or redirect using new cubes; And launch pads that fling you over great distances are some of the new mechanics to keep the testing areas interactive and fresh.

Portal and Portal 2 are both great games that are unique to their content and presentation. These games force you to focus and think about your next move, like a game of chess. It is refreshing to play games that challenge a player’s intellect and problem-solving skills. There are multiple ways to complete most maps, some longer, some shorter, but they all get the job done. The amount of satisfaction gained from succeeding make it all worth the while.

I picked up Portal 2 during the Steam Summer Sale for under $5.00 which was a total bargain for the quality of game you get! I highly suggest picking it up next time Steam has a sale, you won’t regret it!