Portal 2

When writing up my thoughts on Portal 2 I had two options 1. I could attempt to be spoiler free and vague with my thoughts essentially smearing my review in a thin layer of Vaseline like vagueness or 2.I can just say what I want and preface the whole thing like this

POTENTIAL SPOLERS!…There you’ve been warned. Now read on.

If I had one wish regarding the gaming industry it’s this. I wish all developers had a second income stream like Steam for Valve and WOW for Blizzard because I wish every developer could sit back and take as long as they needed to craft the masterpieces they undoubtedly see in their minds eye without the external pressures of actually getting a release out and turning a profit from that release. Both Valve and Blizzard are examples of what a developer can achieve if they are left alone with nothing but their own creative pressure to cook up their latest release, and that latest release for Valve is Portal 2.

Portal 2 is unsurprisingly the sequel to the 2007 FPS puzzle sensation that was Portal. Portal existed as a pack in with the DVD case busting Orange Box and for me it was the highlight of that collection, it was tight, focussed and it perfectly executed on its aim of constantly surprising the player leaving them thinking about the game afterwards. With the previous titles small scope and tight focus, the early shots of Portal 2 that showed vegetation and open areas had me concerned, I wanted something different from Portal but I couldn’t see how Portal 2 could survive as anything different. Portal’s core mechanic, the portal gun worked so well because the game placed you in tests that were literally that, tests, designed for you and the portal gun. Portal took the core mechanic of the portal gun and built a game around it, it was a game that was, at its essence, a set of puzzle rooms and the thought of keeping that same tight focus on the minute to minute gameplay of using portals while at the same time blowing out the scope of the game seemed impossible to me early on in Portal 2’s life.

As it happened I needn’t have worried. Portal 2 manages in every regard to keep the moment to moment gameplay loop of testing players by portals and it does it in a way I didn’t think id see in Portal 2. It places you in more test rooms just like Portal did. Now the thought of the same character from Portal being placed in yet more test rooms initially seems lazy, it seems like a bad batch of sequeling-by-numbers but the way in which Valve motivate the player through these areas this time makes the whole experience feel different. Portal was a story of revelation, Portal 2 is a story of no holds barred escape and from the off your motivation as the player is simple “this place has gone to hell and I need to get out”. That motivation is how Valve make the conceit of more test rooms feel just fine, those test rooms just so happen to be in the way of your escape and later on the game it feels like valve give an open nod to these test rooms being placed directly in your escape route by the AI admitting it actively needs you to test, it lusts for you to test. That said you don’t spend your entire time in test rooms you do step outside the testing rooms in Portal 2 Valve just choose use these areas as an opportunity to further develop the players view of the portal universe as opposed to tying to shoe horn portal gun puzzles into environments that are not suitable. Portal 2 does manage to add additional complexity to its puzzles by implementing an additional set of apparatus such as Paints that enable the player to run fast, jump high and place portals where they otherwise wouldn’t. This combined with tractor beams, light bridges and jump pads give Valve even more licence to be creative with their puzzles and creative they have been, the feeling of using orange speed paint to run straight into a portal that then throws you up vertically to press that confusing button that’s mounted upside town on the roof is unparalleled, Momentum is still everything in Portal 2.

With any concerns about how Valve were going to handle the minutia of Portal 2’s core gameplay abated I was able to sit back and enjoy the story Valve have carved out for Portal 2 and its wider look at its world. Il cut to the chase here, Portal 2 has in my opinion the best writing in any game ever, combined with a plot that managed to keep my ass on my seat for a solid single play though. One of Valves greatest success with Portal 2 is it makes the AI feel real, almost adaptive to you through simple devices. In one instance a character suggests you just commit suicide, take the easy option and just give up on life. So strong is the feeling that the writing adapts to you I actually considered killing Chell, I contemplated throwing myself into machinery nearby just to see what happens. When I did toss myself into the nearby machinery the character that had previously been goading me to kill myself yelped “HA!…ha well I didn’t expect that to work. great!” now that’s just a minor point but its just one of many examples where great writing that adapts to what im doing made me feel the characters were just that, characters. Other examples are Wheatley forcing you to turn round when he’s hacking because he cant “do it with you watching” I laughed, then realised i had to actually turn chell to look at the opposite wall. This sort of interaction between player and AI isn’t complex but as the Turing test shows, it only takes a few simple behaviours for an AI to be imbued with a life like character and Portal 2 does this brilliantly. I should have expected writing of a high calibre just from the short videos Valves been putting out but, put simply, I laughed more times playing Portal 2 than I think I ever have playing a game. Steve Merchant is inspired as the off the wall nut job AI Wheatley, GLaDOS acts like a machine programmed to write dark humour as opposed to running Aperture Science’s testing facilities and Cave Johnson is essentially what I imagine a drunk Richard Brandson would resemble. With a cast of only three main speaking characters Valve managed to create a world deeper than some fully fledged RPG’s are able to and it manages to do it in a way that made me laugh from start to finish with a story that kept me hooked through every one of its twists and turns. The story follows Aperture testing inmate Chell who is awoken from an undisclosed period of hibernation by Wheatley the personality sphere. Wheatley and Chell embark on an expedition of escape that, safe to say, takes a turn or two along the way. It would be cruel to  discuss the story in any more detail than that but rest assured by the end you feel like you have taken part in a journey that felt every bit justified. Never did I feel the story was merely laid over the concept as an afterthought like the original Portal (that’s not to say it wasn’t great) – in Portal 2 the core concept and story are integral, created in symbiosis. My only criticism of Portal 2’s story is that I have a hunger for more information on how Portal fits into the Half Life story and Portal 2 never really gives you anything of any significance regarding Half Life, but that’s more of a personal criticism. It’s my rabid need for a new Half Life that’s at fault, not Valve.

Graphically Portal 2 is built on a seven year old engine so as expected it looks…fantastic!? Source has gone through so many iterations now that although its basic code base might share some heritage with Half Life 2 but the two are leagues apart in graphical quality. Shattered glass refracts light realistically, lasers glow with a luminescence that portrays their lethality and Light bridges somehow look like solid…light. The biggest improvements in the engine appear to have come in the physics department. There are moments in Portal 2 where I actually found myself jaw agape as rooms are frantically built in front of you before being reduced to hundreds of tiny pieces as they are later destroyed. As you near the end of the game the engines ability to portray believable physics lets the developers show a real sense of panic from the AI as it starts to smash testing rooms together to make hybrid rooms. In short its frickin impressive stuff and its stuff that wouldn’t have been possible until recently. The lighting system in Source does require a special mention as its, in my opinion, unparalleled. Games very often take the approach that more is better when it comes to graphics but Portal 2’s lighting system is subtle and it gives environments a weight that defy the relatively low poly count when compared to an Epic production. This could well be the last we see from Valve in the Source engine and if it is, what a way to go out.

So there we have it, Portal 2’s single player campaign (I’m going to do a separate co-op review) is well written, funny and stays true to the prequels core concepts while expanding out to a full standalone game. The mechanical additions Valve have made in the form of gels and light bridges have expanded the pallet of the puzzle designer and the expanded scope of the story has given Valve the opportunity to expand on its existing characters to the point that they almost feel new. GLaDOS is more complex than we previously thought and Wheatley will probably go down as one of gaming’s best ever characters. Portal 2 is what all great sequels should be; it’s the prequel you love, just better. Portal 2 has further fuelled my desire to see what Valve are cooking up for Half Life 3 (I’ve discounted episode 3 at this point, im convinced HL3 is coming on Source 2) because I want to know where aperture science fits into the big picture and that is testament to Portal 2′s quality – I want a sequel to one of my favourite games of all time so I can get some more info on Portal.

Valve you achieved greatness…again.