Portal 2 was on sale for half price last weekend, so guess what I spent the said weekend doing. Not Portal 2, that’s for sure!
Actually, while I spent most of my weekend playing Sanctum and being murdered by Gigantuars in Final Fantasy XIII, I did set aside a couple hours for Portal 2, and I even booted it up for a few test chambers before bed last night. So far, I am not disappointed in the least. Everyone else figured this out months ago, but wow, Portal 2 is awesome. I’ve just finished up Chapter Three, and I am about as anxious to keep going as I am with a good book.
The thing I think I’m most amazed about (so far) is the difficulty level. With Portal I spent at least a few minutes solving each test chamber. Some, like the one near the end where you have to launch yourself from tower to tower took significantly longer, though now that I think about it, that one in particular took a long time because I had trouble executing my solution. I don’t recall many of the puzzles requiring you to make portals on the fly as you bounce around in the air, so that one always sticks out in my mind. The point is, I was certainly not as good at Portal while I was playing Portal as I was once I had finished Portal. Common sense, no?
Portal 2, on the other hand, is a breeze. At least up to Chapter Four. For almost all the test chambers I’ve passed through, it only took a cursory glance at the room and the tools I had to work with before I knew exactly what to do. It the case of one of the last I played, there was a light bridge, a laser and a companion cube. The cube sits on the bridge, blocking the laser which, when unblocked, would raise a platform to the exit. The cube would also have to be placed on a button to open the door. Trouble was, once the cube stops blocking the laser the lift is up and you can’t get to the door. Tiny spoilers ahead, because I’m going to describe the solution.
What you have to do here is get up onto the light bridge and make a portal at the end of it, then another one on the opposite side of the room, so the bridge goes through and creates a second one parallel to the original. You’ll then set the cube on the second bridge, positioned directly above the button. Here, it will also continue to block the laser. Then you run onto the lift, and create a new portal somewhere else, removing the second bridge. The cube will fall on the button, leaving the laser unblocked, making the lift rise and the door open. Victory!
This isn’t even the trickiest puzzle I’ve encountered so far, but it is the only one I actually had to stop and think about for a minute. Solving it did provide a very satisfying sense of discovery, and that’s what I love about both Portal and it’s sequel. I usually don’t have the patience to puzzle out solutions in games, and will often end up on GameFAQs after five minutes or so. Normally I much prefer the sense of progression to figuring out puzzles on my own. But Portal’s puzzles aren’t like those in other games. There are no obtuse puzzles that you need to keep notes for. Trial and error is minimal, and it never takes long to come up with and implement a new solution if your first didn’t pan out. If you’re poking around the rooms, it’s not because you’re looking for clues, it’s because you’re looking for secrets and enjoying the detailed environments. Mind you, I’m still not very far in Portal 2, so there is potential for it to get significantly harder, but this is the trend I’ve seen so far.
Otherwise? The narrative elements have been fantastic up to this point, and I can’t imagine it won’t hold up to the end. I can easily see how Wheatley is supposed to be the new star of the show, but I have to say that I slightly prefer GLaDOS’ abrasive sincerity to his goofiness. After Portal, GLaDOS earned the rank as one of my favourite video game characters, and her Portal 2 appearance (which really shouldn’t be a spoiler to anyone) only serves to help keep her there. Her writing is top-notch, and the fact that she is totally bitter about the first game’s ending is great. I have kind of an idea of how I think things are going to play out, and if it’s even close, I think it’ll serve the character very well. My hypothesis is a little cliche (hero and antihero team up to defeat common enemy), but GLaDOS is a psychopath, so it’s pretty unlikely. And the hook at the end of Chapter Three is eating away at my soul, killing me a little for every minute I’m not playing. Like I said, it’s gripped me like a good book and I can’t wait to dive back into that world and see how things unfold. I might have to completely ignore Stephanie tonight and hammer away at this game. At least get half an hour in. My goal is to be finished by Sunday night, anyway.