3 replies to this topic

[Chugworth]

Portal 2 is going to be released on April 19. Who hasn't pre-ordered their copy yet?

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[RobertCraven]

I haven't pre-ordered a copy yet. I must admit I'm waiting for a deal and I have no problems "waiting" for this game (although I definitely wanna play it at some point), because I have so many other good games I need to finish first. Doesn't make sense to start even more.

I expect huge improvements to this game after its release (how many patches did Portal 1 receive?) and this time I intend to benefit from them right away.

REALLY great trailer though.

[Chugworth]

Well, having played through Portal 2, I look at MetaCritic's current score of 95 and think: Huh?

I remember back with Portal 1, the game started to drag towards the end, but it wasn't really a problem because the game was pretty short. Portal 2, on the other hand, is a fair bit longer and it really starts to drag. Sure, they have a lot of clever puzzles, but... puzzle, after puzzle, after puzzle, after puzzle, after puzzle, after puzzle. I'm not sure if this was intended, but I think after a while I was wanting to escape as bad as Chell.

And... Story? I see a lot of reviews raving about the story, and again I think: Huh? Chell's story (just like the last time) amounts to: "must escape". Throughout the game, you do learn some of the history of Aperture Science and GlaDOS (for what it's worth). And yeah, there was the whole Wheatley twist, which I guess adds some humor. The game's humor, for the most part, was not really my style. I'll admit, there were a few things I laughed at (like the defective turrets). But in the end I was disappointed that the companion cube didn't have much of a role this time... or cake. I want cake, not potato...

The graphics seemed... kind of dated. Maybe it was just the blockiness of the rooms. They had some good lighting and shadow effects (which these days are nothing new), and there were a lot of "cool moments" (like when big things are happening). The Aperture Science building is absurdly massive, by the way.

For the sound and music, they did some interesting things. For example, you'd sometimes hear mild little tunes play when different events happen (such as a platform moving or you jumping across the room). But overall the music was sort of a techno / industrial ambient mix, which some people may like but I really didn't care for.

Here's how I rate the game:
Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 5/10
Sound/Music: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

But with all that said, I hate to bash the game as much as I did. The puzzles can be fun for a while. And with a game like this, story isn't really the focus. Portal 1 was a glorified, lengthy tech demo that came bundled with HL2:Episode 2. Portal 2 is a glorified tech demo, stretched even further and sold as a standalone $49 game. I probably would have liked it better if it was a bit shorter and came bundled with HL2:Episode 3. Where the hell is that game, anyway?

[RobertCraven]

Sounds pretty much like the bottom line of Zero Punctuation.

And concerning Episode 3... There's this rumor going, that Portal 2 was Valve's last single player game. I personally can't believe that this is true, but I got the impression for some time, that, because of Steam, they don't need to make games anymore, to earn some moolah. I guess it's inevitable, that such a fact affects their decisions.

After such a long time, Episode 3 will have it even harder to impress. Pushing a release further and further away only worsens the problem. I have to admit I don't even remember the story of Episode 2. I would have to replay it.