Game Review - Portal 2 (cont)

Co-Op time!

Having had a bit longer with the game I have now played co-op through (3 times with 3 seperate people in fact) and got all 1000 gamerscore, first time i've managed that with a full retail game in a while.

Co-op...is a bit good and a bit bad.

The good is the puzzles. Adding a 2nd player, and another 2 portals to play with, the puzzle get big, and complex. By the last few they are a real puzzler for a good while.

The C-op controls are great as well. In addition to normal controls you can view your friends view in a PiP screen at the push of a button. You can also "ping" locations on the course using a button, to highlight what you're talking about or where you want portal. You can also set up a stopwatch function, so you time actions exactly. This last one is particularly useful, as sometimes there can be lag between speaking and the other person hearing it, but accoridng to Valve, the clock is consistant between players

The Bad? Its not as engaging. Yes i've played it through 3 times, but mostly by chatting away. After the first play through you've seen and heard it all, and unlike the single player, it doesn't hold re-playability. Glados' commentary and comments are no where near as engaging as in the single player in Portal 1 or 2, and often fall a little flat.

First time play through? 6-7 hours. Every successive play through, thanks to knowledge on the puzzles...3-4.

Portal 2 Co-Op - 7.5 out of 10

So overall Portal garners an 8.5 out of 10. It's funny...if they'd just released the single player it would have got a higher score...even though its shorter!

Also Valve today announced free DLC for the game, in the form of single and multi player challenge chambers. And apparantly it's going to be free, which is always a big tick in my book...seeing as i'm paying 1200 points for CoD maps in a few days...

40k stuff, I will hope to get an update tomorrow, and soon a review on the Gears 3 beta....

Game Review - Portal 2

40K's been on the back burner for a bit...work, games, in-laws visit.

But heres a review for one of the best games i've played in a loooong time. Portal 2

Portal 1 was a revelation. A tiny tech demo almost, that didn't have a story until towards the end, that sparked a huge amount of interest. The humour was sarcastic and dark, perfect for my SoH. The puzzle were mostly great, requiring thought in 4 dimensions and timing on top of that. Some of the exacting timing puzzles were a pain.

Luckily they're mostly gone in Portal 2. No more high energy bouncing pellets to time opening doors for perfectly. Just lots more 4D puzzles. With over 50 test chambers, as opposed to the 19 in game 1, and lots more behind the scenes action its a lot longer. Still, its a little short (about 7 hours) but thats just the single player, i haven't touched co-op yet.

Portal 2 starts with you waking up after being asleep at the end of portal 2 for 9999999... days. You're woken up by the wonderfuly...odd Wheatley (voiced to perfection by Stephen Merchant), who warns you theres a slight chance you might have a severe case of brain damage. From the minute hes asks you to say your name and all you do is jump, the game sets off more of the savagely dark, sarcastic and hilarious comedy.

As the years have passed Apaerture science is in a bad way. But the test chambers from portal 1, act as a tutorial for the game, and seeing them in a new light (usually firelight) brings a lot home. Eventually you go kilometers under the earth and see the original testing centres from when Aperture opened, and was mostly a shower curtain manufaturing company. Here you're guided by Cave Johnson, again perfectly writen and voiced (by the chap who plays J. J. Jameson in the spidermans).

Shortly put this game is brilliant. Theres much more comedy this time, the story is more developed and the puzzles less annoying, but more challenging.

Waiting for my mate to get his copy so i can jump into co-op, but just on a single player front, definently worth a buy, if not a rent.

You won't regret it

9/10