Gaming industry this day sure had turned into the race of who can makes the grayest graphics, the bloodiest game and the biggest explosion available in games. I don’t know about you, but i think peoples should had a break and stop playing a games with a rule where what you need to do is aim at something that you don’t like to make it disappear. It is not because i hate generic main stream action or shooting game but because it makes you missed some of the greatest game ever made, which is not a generic action or shooting game.
I do realize that the indonesian gamer prefer a game where complexity is thrown and stay at the dark side of pluto since most of them is casual gamer who play games for simple quick fun but if you want to try something that didn’t involve blowing organic or non-organic things, then i could recommend you to play portal 2.
If you never heard about portal series, then i could assume that you didn’t had internet or you only used it to open porn site because that game really cause an internet sensation and its still leaves an impact in the internet until now. The game premise is the portal gun, a gun that shoot a linked portal which you can use to solve spacial puzzle and the game also introduce one of the most sarcastically funny robot villainesses in video game, GLaDOS which every line she spokes is hilariously funny. The first portal itself its actually more like an experimental game bundled together in orange box, a pack of game that contains the half life 2 episode 2 and team fortrees 2. Peoples didn’t expect much from seemly a short bonus game like portal at first but after they played it the games explode with praise and created one of the most famous internet meme, the cake is a lie and also one of the best song in video game history, still alive.
To be honest, I didn’t play the first portal even though I heard about it a lot in the internet since I think the game is way too short (about 2-3 hours). But after Valve announces that the sequel for portal will be coming, I am quite intrigued and planning to play it because it is going to be a full retail release so the game will be longer with more content in it and it will be worth my money. Some people quite worried the sequel won’t maintain its original charm through full retail release, but personally I don’t think that portal 2 is worst than portal, because I think portal 2 is one of the best game I ever played.
Portal 2 is the continuation of portal 1 where you played as Chell, which is pretty much the female version of Gordon Freeman from half life series, where she had been kept for maybe a hundred years in stasis after the event in portal 1 as lab experiment in a science facility called aperture science. Chell awakened by the robotic AI called Wheatley who told her that he can get her out the facility with his help and so does the game begin. I can’t tell you more about the story because if I told you more it will be a spoiler and trust me, you want to learn the rest of the story by yourself because the ending of portal 2 is one of the best ending you can have in every video game you ever played. The story of portal 2 is really shining with a great twist and the writing for every line spoken in this game is downright hilarious and clever. Portal 2 is a rare game that could deliver its every spoken dialogue with an impact to the player. I often laugh out loud when Glados sarcastically insulting me or when Wheatley spoke about an obvious moronic comment and then there’s also the former aperture science founding father, Cave Johnson who I swear his southern American accent make me laugh every bloody time he spokes.
As you may notice, every voice acting in this game is brilliant and memorable. Ellen Mclain who voiced GLaDOS win a spike video game award in the category "Best Performance by a Human Female" for her voice acting as GLaDOS in Portal 2, unhindered by the ironic fact that GLaDOS isn't actually a human female. Stephen merchant, a comedian who voiced Wheatley also delivers every single line he spokes with a great british accent that will make you laugh and lets not forget J.K Simmons, a movie actor ( the guy who played Jameson in spiderman the movie) as Cave Johnson who also did a great performance.
The core puzzle in portal 2 didn’t changes much compared to portal 1 in my opinion.You still shoot a blue portal hole that can be linked with the orange portal hole to wall or floor to solve the spacial puzzle but an extra tweak like light bridges, a gel that make you run faster or jump higher, and tractor beam really add some challenges and variety. There’s a great feeling of satisfaction every time you succeed in solving a puzzle and it make you think that you might be the reincarnation of Einstein. The puzzle is really creative and makes you feel really smart without being frustrating at all even thought there might be a time where you got stuck trying to figure how to solve the puzzle before you can move on, but that moment only adds the feeling of satisfaction of solving it for me. Unless your IQ point is below 10 point, i'm sure you won’t had a hard time solving this puzzle.
As for the graphics, valve still use the source engine which is old for today standard because its been used since the day of half life 2, You know, about 9 years old, and the funny things is it’s still look good even for this modern gaming day. The visual style of portal 2 is unique with its huge environment, and bright puzzle room that it can even makes u forgot that the engine which runs this game is already 9 years old. It is one strong aspect in portal 2, you didn’t need a super computer to play it since My old computer which came from the stone age can still run this game quite well. After all graphics isn’t everything that make’s a game great ( i am looking at you crysis).
The first portal also manage to create one of the greatest song in video games history, still alive from Jonathan Coulton. The songs is so funny and catchy at the same time and the songs itself now reached 14 million views in youtube which is a rare achievement in video game industry. Sadly, this is where portal 2 didn’t catch up with its predecessor. The end credit songs called want you gone isn’t as great as still alive and this is kinda dissapoint me since i expect something better from Jonathan Coulton.. but fortunately, there’s also another songs from the national called exile vilify and robot FTW from Mike Morasky which i personally think is quite good.
Portal 2 also pack with a online cooperative puzzle mode. In this mode, you and your friend can play as one of two robot named atlas and p-body. The two of you must cooperate each other to solve even bigger puzzle than the single player mode because now there will be 4 portal avaible to mess up with. Cooperation is everything in this mode since if one of you act like dennies the menace, there’s 0% percentage that you can solve the puzzle. It’s too bad that i could not check this mode since i can’t play this game online in my pc and i find it hard to find someone who wants to play a puzzle game here.
As I said before in my oldest review, I love everything that is unique and portal 2 is definitely in this category. At its core, portal 2 is a puzzle game with a great pacing and dialogue in the story department but I know some of you heard the word ‘puzzle’ in gaming is as scary as you heard the word ‘shemale’ in real life, but I can guarantee you that this isn’t the cases. Portal 2 puzzles is great and even if you hate every puzzle element in video game this is a great time to try something new. Portal 2 will be one of the best gaming experiences you could had.
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