Portal 2

[Paulaner]

Just finished Portal 2.

Nice game, well polished, good pacing and story unfolding, balanced puzzles, awesome and hilarous voice acting, much longer than Portal.

On the other hand, it's the same gameplay and the wow factor was much more diluted; I wouldn't be interested in a Portal 3. Graphics were good enough for a puzzle game, with gorgeous shadows and animations, but Source is showing its limits. I don't see Source at par with the competition out there, but I think that part of the delay of HL3 is due to a serious rewriting of the aging engine.

 

[bobtheskull]

I would agree with you on the being polished, story and voice acting..... but longer than Portal? Really? I remember getting stuck several times in Portal and quite a few rage-quits. Portal 2 was way easier than the first game. Primarily because of the lack of 'portal surfaces' so most of the time you just had to look about and find 'ok, only 2 places portals can go... hmmmm, wonder what i need to do'. Portal 2 seemed designed for xbox users first, and us loyal pc's with a brain second. Even my xbox mates agree. Anyway, JK Simmons owned the voice acting. Awesome. I've played it several times for that alone!

 

[Adabiviak]

I thought the different surface types added immensely to the gameplay (which in this case is the solving of the puzzles). Portal may have seemed tougher since it was (presumably) the first time you were set to solving those types of puzzles. By the time Portal 2 came out, you already knew most of the mechanics, what to look for regarding the solution, etc.

If you haven't played the cooperative levels, they're noticeably more difficult and consequently more fun. If you think it's too easy, try doing the cooperative levels without a microphone (just using the in-game communication signals) with someone who's never been through those levels before.

 

[bobtheskull]

If, by different surfaces, you mean the various gels, hard light and such, then yes they did add to the gameplay by giving us more variety in problem solving. What I meant was the actual surfaces that you can place portals on. One bit that comes to mind is when you reach the outside of Aperature's 50's labs, where the big company logo is overhead. That area is enormous, but it only has a couple of points capable of taking a portal, significantly reducing the 'puzzle' factor of reaching the next area. Maybe its just me, but i found that very annoying after a while.

I have played co-op, but the OP seemed to commenting on the single player, and that's what I based my reply on.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Portal series, they are up there in my favourites list, I just think more could have been done to make the game longer and harder in single player.

 

[ríomhaire]

I did love Portal 2, but the much more restrictive placement of portals did bother me a bit. I don't mind those sort of puzzles but it was just like that for most of the game. If there was a more even split between mostly white and mostly black rooms I'd have been more pleased.