Portal 2

A few years ago I stumbled across the original Portal when I bought "The orange box" in order to play Halflife 2 on Xbox. I was intrigued, amazed and finally delighted at what I found, Portal was fresh, clever and incredibly funny. It was a hidden gem in what I still believe to be the best value release on any console ever.

Portal 2 took me by surprise, Valve hadn't exactly hammered down the doors to push the game and it suddenly appeared amongst a fairly bland line up of recent games, but what an antidote to the poor deluge of games we've had recently. After the huge dissapointment of Dragon age 2, Black Ops, Bulletstorm, Fallout New Vegas and Crysis 2 I was beginning to wonder if Dead Space 2 was the only game to be released this year to really have me thinking "wow".

I found Portal 2 a joy from start to finish, the puzzles are satisfying, the voice acting is exemplary and the script and pacing are perfect. It is understandable how some people may not like the game, as there is simply nothing around of it's kind and it may seem somewhat alien, but I implore you to give this game a chance and put the shooters down for a while and enjoy what Valve has come up with here. It's hard to explain what the game entails until you've tried it, so I won't try other than to say it's a puzzle solver.

As Chell you will find yourself revisiting Aperture whilst discovering much about it's past, no narrative is required here, through brilliant scripting you will find out the answer to most questions you asked yourself in Portal as you go. Glados is back, as acerbic as ever and she is joined by Steven Marchant's excellent Wheatley, Cave Johnson rounds up a superb trio of main characters who will have you laughing like you never have before at a game whilst wondering how you can fall in love with faceless characters in a videogame.

Some people have remarked that Portal 2 is somewhat short. But, if you combine the solo and co-op campaigns then you have more than your moneys worth here, especially when you consider the length of many recent supposed triple A releases.

My only gripe is that I feel the puzzles could ave been harder. At times I was pulling my hair out in the original Portal, but here I found only one chamber had me truly scratching my head (chapter 8 chamber 16). But that is the only negative I can honestly muster.

Portal 2 is a work of art and game of the year already for me. It absolutely deserves to be tried by every 360 owner out there, there is simply no game that has ever matched the intelligence and ingenuity you'll find here. The cake may be a lie, but Portal 2 deserving a 5 star rating certainly isn't.

Buy the orange box and then buy Portal 2, you may well be at the least pleasantly surprised. At the most, blown away.

I simply adore this game. There is nothing else on the market like it and should be present in every gamers collection. It had me scratching my head for hour after hour as I fought to stop my brain going into meltdown. The satisfaction when you solve a room that you thought had you beat is truly immense. Don't, whatever you do be tempted to read a walk through if you get stuck. Give it the respect it deserves, put it down and come back to it again. I have not yet been into the online game, but I am really looking forward to it. I thoroughly recommend this game to anyone.

(This review presumes a knowledge of the original Portal. Whilst it is not essential for the enjoyment of the sequel, there are a few in-jokes and references within the new game that will only make sense after a full playthrough of the original, and ideally an understanding of the wider Half Life universe. The reviewer suggests that you stop off at Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (Xbox 360) before making a purchase on this page)

I will admit to a certain feeling of trepidation after the announcement of a sequel to Portal, which grew with the appearance of each new teaser and tech demo. Were they overcomplicating its simple beauty? Were they taking it too far down a comedy route, as the arrival of Stephen Merchant suggested? Would it all crumble under the weight of cake-related fan service?

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. Portal 2 is every inch the sequel Portal deserved: full, fleshed out and still damn funny.

The new puzzle elements - such as the various attribute-enhancing gels, hard light bridges and whatnot - add new levels to the gameplay without detracting from the elegance of the central conceit. The difficulty curve is spot on, allowing the player enough time to get to grips with a new idea before bringing up a real head-scratcher. Thus, solving the cunning physics puzzles remains a feat of logic, lateral thinking and understanding of 3D space, with the satisfaction of finding the solution utterly gratifying.

Likewise, the comedy element has been successfully beefed up. Where the humour in the original built up slowly, Portal 2 wears its mirth on its sleeve from the get-go. Merchant's performance as the incompetent Wheatley is particularly enjoyable - just annoying enough to be amusing and at times pathetically sweet - whilst GlaDOS returns with all her acid wit intact.

The single player campaign is packed with twists and turns, tracking through the crumbling remains of Aperture before culminating in one of the most eye-popping and unexpected finales ever seen in this or any other console generation. Don't give in to the temptation to look at spoilers - you'll want to go into this one fresh.

Single player is only half the story, though, as Valve have provided a full, entirely separate two player co-op experience, playable online or split screen. After a bit of cajoling, I managed to persuade my wife to join in for a bit of the latter, and can gleefully report that this side of the game is every bit the equal of the single player event.

By necessity, the setup for co-op is simplified, with progress made by completing a series of isolated tests accessed from a central hub, rather than working along a story-led path. Each player takes command of an endearing test droid, equipped with a portal gun apiece, and forced to work closely to complete puzzles that are rather more complex than those found in the solo game.

Practically every move you make in co-op demands the work of both players, so neither feels like a spare part. That said, the difficulty has been weighted so that one player can, if need be, take on the trickier aspects of portal wrangling, meaning that adept portaleers can work alongside the less experienced players, both working toward the same goal and neither feeling bored or out of their depth.

In terms of criticism, one could argue that the game is a little short. It can be completed - both solo and co-op - within about twenty or thirty hours, with nothing (aside from some actually quite interesting developers' commentary) to lure you back for a replay.

Nothing, that is, except for the sheer joy of it. As someone who has played through the original Portal more times than I can reliably count, I am certain that the sequel is a title that will never be far from my Xbox. There is nothing else quite like it, from the humour to the excitement to the simple root concept. Unique experiences such as this deserve to be treasured.

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