PORTAL 2 REVIEW

*due to the PSN being down the following review is solely based on single player*

When I sit down and finish a game I usually take in all of what's happened in the final scene and my whole journey through the game, watch the credits then move onto the next game vying for my attention on my shelf. Not with Portal 2. Don't get me wrong I would love nothing more than to blurt out what happens in the end, it really is something special and in a way the surprise you get really awards the player for playing the game without actually giving you anything other than a lasting impression that set's Portal 2 out from the crowd.

For those not familiar with Portal, it was a mini-game of sorts released in Valve's Orange Box which included Half-Life 2. Seen as an indie game of sorts the 3 hour 'extra' soon become a cult classic. You play as a female character stuck in a factory of science, where the centre is being run by an evil machine called GLaDOS, one of gaming's great villains. The idea is to move from room to room solving puzzle's by using a portal gun, fire one portal on the wall next to you and another across the room and walk through one portal and come out of the other simple!

Portal 2 takes the simplicity and complexity of some of the puzzle's of the first one and ramps the little 3 hour title into a fully fledged and fully realised 6 to 8 hour retail game without making it feel tired and used. It really is a great achievement by Valve to keep Portal 2's puzzle elements feel fresh every chapter. You start off going from chamber to chamber and jumping through GLaDOS' (yes she's back) hoops like in the first game but not too far in the landscape of Aperture Science drastically changes and the chamber to chamber formula shifts to really keep you on your toes. The companion cube also makes a comeback to help you solve puzzles, move box from point A to point B to progress but new additions are light tunnel's and two types of gel. One that makes you bounce and one that makes you run really fast. All the new elements fit right in and don't feel at all out of place. The main concern I had coming into Portal 2 was difficulty, I'm not the best at solving puzzle's and thought I would struggle with a few but the game does a great job of coaching you through some of the puzzle's and giving subtle hints to help you along. I wasn't stuck at a puzzle for any longer than twenty minutes and there's no better feeling than when everything *clicks* into place and you continue on.

Like any sequel some new characters have been introduced with Stephen Merchant taking the voice acting role of new robot Wheatley in a role he performs fantastically in and is easily the best voice acting I've heard in a long long time. His constant quips back and forth with GLaDOS are memorable throughout and gave me more than a few truly laugh out loud moment's. Portal's humour really sets it apart as it doesn't need to resort to your stereotypical jokes that often cloud video games, it doesn't have anything relating to sex, drugs, drink or anything seedy like that, apart from one fat joke but we can accept it.

Portal 2 truly is a wonderfully crafted piece of work rather than just a lot of the mindless games we get nowadays, don't get me wrong I love a bit of Mortal Kombat but Portal 2 is something we haven't had in a long time and just adds to the argument that games truly are pieces of art, we're lucky in the fact that Portal 2 is a masterpiece.

9/10