You should probably play Portal 2 at some point.
Though it is not known, I actually have most of a review for the Orange Box. I played through all of Portal, Half-Life 2 and some of Episode 1. I never had any intention to play Team Fortress 2 of course but I do have it hear, mostly finished but not complete enough to share. Needless to say it got really long. So when Valve decided to follow up the huge success of Portal with a standalone sequel, I finally have to chance to praise the game on its own. For those who aren’t familiar with what Portal is all about it is hard to explain. Suffice-it-to-say it is one of the most unique gameplay experience you will play. That first game was really an extended proof-of-concept, but had enough substance to keep players engaged and wanting more. The 2011 follow –up is nothing short of excellence. They take everything that made the first “game” great and blow it up 100 times.
Portal allowed you to see a little of what the inner workings of Aperture Science looked like, Portal 2 takes it several steps further explaining the origins of both the company and GlaDOS herself and showing you how the company evolved and eventually became mostly uninhabited. The adventure you embark upon has some lovely plot twists and dialogue that you have come from expect from those top-notch writers. The atmosphere is still as barren as you are used to even with the inclusion of 2 new characters. But as always, Valve’s immense able to fill that big empty space with so much to do and look at that you really get into the world of Aperture like you never expected. The relationships that are developed between the characters is equally as impressive given so little to work with. It is really hard to relay more, but I hope that gives you a fair idea.
The environment is even further augmented by some fantastic audio. Not only is there great musical score but some equally great ambient sound effects. I thought it would be hard to top the song played during the ending credits of Portal, it was equal parts humorous and catchy, but that trend continues to be the case here. I will go on record saying I can’t image how you can pull this off a third time Valve. Hand in hand with the audio, the game’s visual are also updated. With an entire disc devoted to illustrate what the developers had in their minds for the laboratories, there is so much fine texturing and little details to look at both in the foreground and in the background. It really is so great. Did I say that already?
Normally I would start running off what is wrong with the game in this third subject paragraph but frankly I am at a loss. This is a perfect sequel to Portal in every respect. I suppose the only real thing that I should clarify is that this game is not made for everyone. It is a great adventure to be sure but you have to have a solid grasp on “thinking with portals” as Valve puts it in order to get through this excellent tale. Not to misconstrue what I am saying, the difficulty is spot on for those who mastered what Portal had to offer, but the weird bending of logic that you must have is even more personified here. That aside, Portal 2 is fantastic. It is beyond fantastic. I would only preface by saying that you should burn through Portal for storyline reasons, but yeah every true gamer needs to experience what Portal has to offer and Portal 2 is a truly successful sequel for people like me who were dying for more Portal.
