Portal 2 (Spoiler Free Review)

After several delays and crazy pranks pulled by Valve, Portal 2 is finally here. What began as a humble student project that happened to catch Valve’s eye, the brain-bending, effortlessly charming puzzler has come full circle with its own retail release. The game now sports a much longer and more varied campaign as well as an entire cooperative campaign for two players that encourages teamwork in some new and interesting ways. Read on for our spoiler-free review and get ready to start thinking with portals once again.

For the uninitiated, go play the original Portal before you read this review. It’s cheap now and remains one of the best ways a gamer can spend an afternoon. For everyone else, Portal 2 is going to feel instantly familiar, but somehow still completely fresh. Your abilities remain the same – you have none aside from your portal gun and the ability to survive ridiculously long falls. What has changed is the variety of traps and hazards you’ll need the portal gun to avoid – there are a lot more of them now.

You’ve now got tools like the Hard Light Bridge, which can be redirected with portals in order to span gaps and create barriers. Then there’s the Excursion Tunnel (anti-gravity tractor beams), Aerial Faith Plates (powerful springboards that send you flying), and Thermal Discouragement Beams (you know…lazers) just to name a few. It’s all new to Portal 2 and even within the first hour or two of playtime, there’s more variety packed in than there was in the entirety of the original game.

Some scenarios are simple, like using your old pal, the Companion Cube, to block a Thermal Discouragement Beam so you can activate a platform. Others are not so simple. One scenario will have you flying through the air using Aerial Faith Plates and properly positioning Excursion Tunnels to help you reach higher levels, while at the same time redirecting a Thermal Discouragement Beam to hit a panel that opens the door you need to leave through. There really is quite a bit to contend with sometimes. I would have liked the option to restart a test chamber from the beginning, but it’s only a minor gripe considering there’s no way to really get stuck in Portal 2. Everything has its place, every object has its particular use. It’s a game that can make you feel like a genius and an idiot at the same time.

One of the things that actually worried me going into Portal 2 was the notion that the game would be twice as long as the original. Concerned about too much Portal? Seems crazy, right? But one of the brilliant things about the original was that it ended precisely when it needed to and didn’t outstay its welcome. It’s one of those strange instances where less really was more. Fortunately, Portal 2 deftly avoids becoming monotonous or boring thanks to expert pacing, huge amounts of variety and an overall charm and wit that never ceases. Like its predecessor, Portal 2’s single player campaign ends before it ever has the chance to become repetitive or boring and will constantly find new ways to challenge, surprise and delight you.

Also new to Portal 2 is a cooperative campaign that is entirely separate from the single player campaign. You can play it online, but Valve was also kind enough to include local splitscreen play and system link options for consoles as well – a nice touch that is utilized less and less these days. In co-op, you play as one of two testing robots – short, round Atlas or tall, skinny P-body. Like the single player’s silent protagonist, Chell, Atlas and P-body have no dialogue, but they have quite a bit more personality and charm. There are a number of gestures the two players can engage in with one another, much to GLaDOS’ annoyance – high fives, rock-paper-scissors, dances, even friendly hugs.

Actual cooperation is mandatory in Portal 2’s co-op campaign and to alleviate the inevitable communication errors that arise during online or even local play, Valve has created an elegant and clever solution – Pings. Anyone who has played a modern real-time strategy game online is familiar with the concept of pings – they serve as a non-verbal means to communicate enemy locations, objectives, etc. In Portal 2, you can use pings to highlight objects in the environment, tell your partner where to look, where to place their portals and where to stand. There’s even a 3-second countdown timer for those times when precise timing is required. Of course, it always helps to communicate verbally in co-op, but the ping system adds that extra little bit to help facilitate cooperation.

Like its single player campaign, Portal 2’s co-op campaign lasts for about 7 hours and features some fantastic level design, pacing and variety. Unlike the single player, it’s based around a hub world that tracks your stats on a giant display screen – number of steps taken, total portals used, etc. Though there is definitely a linear story progression and carefully segmented learning curve to co-op, you can exit to the hub, go back and access any previously completed co-op test chambers. Overall, I’m making a note here about Portal 2’s co-op – huge success. As great and mind-bending as single player is, it doesn’t quite compare to the absolutely insane and brilliant antics to be found in co-op.

On the presentation side of things, Valve has shown that while the Source engine is still quite capable, even though it’s 7 years old – a dinosaur in terms of graphic technology. It has its rough edges here and there and it won’t win any awards in the graphics department, but thanks to a great sense of style as well as vastly improved lighting, Portal 2 looks markedly better than any game to use the Source engine before it. There are a lot more moving parts in each environment now and the Aperture Science Labs sport a much more run-down look than they did in the first game. You’ll see walls crumbling all around you and nature slowly reclaiming the test chambers which lends itself to a lot more visual variety than there was to be found in the original game.

In the end, the only thing anyone really wants to know about Portal 2 is if it was worth the wait and whether or not it’s worth purchasing. Yes and yes. Portal 2 will instantly delight fans of the original, while remaining accessible and well paced enough to entice people who have never had the opportunity to think with portals. It’s a game that aims to please and hits the mark every time with more variety and laughs than its predecessor. Throw in a brilliantly designed cooperative campaign that emphasizes and rewards teamwork like no other, and you’ve got one of the most satisfying and memorable gaming experiences to date. If anything, the final product only solidifies my position that Valve went overboard with the hype – Portal 2 is such a fantastic game that it could sell itself on its own merits.

Check back with us after the game’s release for our even more comprehensive, potentially spoiler-laden review.

Portal 2 will be released on April 19th for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Review is based on the Xbox 360 version.