Gaming Portal 2 Review

Is it a triumph? Is there science to do? We let you know in our Portal 2 review.

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2011/04/20/portal-2-review/1

 

Can't wait to start it! Worst release date ever for me. I'm so busy with work. Roll on Thursday night!

 

nearly finished it, find the lack of an option to turn off motion blur annoying though, and the constant loading (which I assume is down to it's consolification...

 

Nope it's down to the source engine. it's always been about very small maps. Really showing it's age now in that regard, though the game looks graphically solid.

I'm nearly 2 hours in and loving it. Not reading any reviews till after I finish it

 

Just finished it this morning. Its really good and funny but what happened to the Pneumatic Diversity Vent? It looked awesome! This makes you wonder if Valve rushed the release a bit.

 

Haven't played it yet.

Really the only thing I hope is for it not to cause any "cake is a lie"-spammage like the first one did. I really hated that from day 1.

 

Hate the Loading Screens they coud have been handled Better

Do get the feeling that the levels could have been more challenging so far (although i have just past the Bouncy gel up to now)

Love some of the humour involved

Spoiler

"Say A:"... "No you just jumped"

 

Consolification? Sorry, but although the game is being released on consoles as well, I can see no evidence that the game has been negatively affected by this. If you go back and play HL2 you'll notice the loading screens are just as frequent.

Not a chance, when have you ever known Valve to rush a game? This is a company which will spend years making a game to make sure it perfect. They cut the Pneumatic Diversity Vent from the final release because it didn't work out in playtesting IIRC - it happens with a lot of stuff pre-release, they probably cut a lot of things you didn't even know existed.

 

Only played the first Portal because it came with the an Orange Box deal, and TBH, i hated it, just not my thing, life's too short for all this trial and error type gameplay....

Oh well...doesnt matter how good a game is if you dislike the genre i suppose.

 

@smc8788

Yeah I see what you mean they just looked so fun would have been better if they just hadn't shown it. However there are 2 extra gels they didn't show us so I think I can forgive them. Just need to wait till 2020 when episode 3 is released now

 

Having not completed the game yet, i didnt appreciate the mention of this in the review!

Not a specific story spoiler, but information that would definitely be better experienced as a suprise at the end of the game.

Overall good review and great game!

 

When I got home from work yesterday I got the pre-load decrypted on steam while I had my dinner, and then played it constantly for 6 hours until I completed it without any breaks.
it is a very humerous game. I really enjoyed the characters and the laughs. It does seem easier than Portal1, but maybe becuse that portal1 was new to us and we just needed to get use to the style.
I will be playing co-op tonight and am looking forward to that.
I didnt really get stuck in the game, there were 4 or 5 levels where I was sat there wondering what to do for 10-15 minutes, but I eventually figured it out.

I cant believe they have put a portal shop ingame though so you can pay real money for stupid hats for the co-op robots. Getting greedy much?

I hope we get to see lots of custom levels created to challenge us a bit more

 

As you imply, Portal's genre is quite specific compared to the latest COD: Killing Dudes clone. Whereas a generic FPS will generally hit the spot with a light bit of shooting people, Portal's gameplay is far more love or hate.

 

I certainly found it a bit easier (completed in about 7 hours), but it's good to hear co-op might provide a decent challenge! In spite of any criticisms I don't regret buying it for one moment, even if I think it should've been a little cheaper. This game definitely has a rightful place among the essential purchases this year (along with BF3 and Deus Ex).

@Webby63 - 2 extra gels? Is there another in the co-op? I thought it was just the one.. unless you mean

Spoiler

water

@DriftCarl - You make a good point - I heard great things about Portal 1 mods, Portal 2 could be even better!

 

Just finished it today. Cave Johnson seems to resemble Saxton Hale. Overall, Portal 2 is a step from HL2 towards TF2.

 

Anagram: Hot Anal Sex

 

@Tweak

There is a white gel that allows you to put portals on surfaces - made out of moon dust
There is also water so not really a gel but I wasn't expecting it, and it is a liquid you need to use to complete elements of some test chambers

 

I've played for about 5hours so far and have got to the start of Chapter 8 - thus far I am hugely enjoying it - most of the time its fairly obvious what to do but there are a few that have really baked my noodle with how to proceed. Several of my friends have said much the same thing but crucially with different puzzles - some of the ones I thought were really simple they got hung up on for some time, while ones they blew through in no time at all slowed me right down...

Thoroughly looking forward to co-op but I want to finish SP first.

 

@Webby63 - yeah that was the 1 other gel I was talking about, and yeah I also thought the

Spoiler

water

was a gel at first, but then I realised what it was. Also, you might want to edit and use the spoiler tag

 

Just finished in around 7.5 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it with many a cheeky laugh. I too had to sit back and really scratch my noggin at some of the later levels, but never thought like I'd hit a brick wall (unlike Monkey Island 2 Joe... I mean honestly... a MONKEY WRENCH???!!?!)

Yay and yay - I feel like I'm in a happy place right now!

PS. Kudos to Valve for finally rewarding Aussie gamers with a perfectly timed launch around midday on a day I had off work!!