Portal 2

I’m a Portal virgin.  Sure, I’ve seen people play the original, but a game with average graphics that utalises an FPS syle but swaps mass murder for puzzle solving just wasn’t my thing.

Or so I thought.

With the release of Portal 2 I’ve discovered just how damningly addictive a game like this is.  But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me do a brief introduction to the game, just in case there are any other Portal virgins reading this.

Essentially you play a character who wakes up in what looks like a cheap hotel room, is a little disorientated and is commanded by a robotic voice to do a few simple tests (look up, look down – you know the drill) before being ordered to sleep again.  When you wake up again, the cheap motel room is now looking like a derelict motel room – that must have been some sleep huh!

But the things really get bad as the room starts to pitch around like it’s floating around in the prefect storm.  One massive crash later and you can see through the gaping hole in your ‘motel room’ that you’re in what is essentially a container being very badly moved towards a loading dock.

As intro scenes go, it’s pretty nice, if not your usual photo realism, it certainly sets the scene nicely.

Once docked, the small orbital robot that woke you and maneuvered your ‘motel room’ tells you to go somewhere and locate the portal devise, which you do, then the game starts proper.

Portal 2 is essentially a sequence of puzzles – essentially rooms that you have to figure out how to get out of – wrapped up in a nice little story.  These puzzles involve using your portal device to open portal to other parts of the room, enabling you to reach boxes, buttons. lasers, all manner of things that you need to interact with to get to the exit.

Some are simple, some are maddeningly complex, but all are doable and the game as a whole is very, very addictive.

The story line sees you following the advice of the small orbital robot who is trying to help you escape, right up to the point where you meet a much bigger robot – one that you apparently tried to kill.  From this point you are constantly bombarded wit taunts and death threats – but don;t worry, these aren’t that serious in tone and add to a layer of hilarity that whilst putting a smile on your face, doesn’t in-fact help you concentrate on solving the puzzle at hand.  A truly evil robot this is!

So essentially Portal 2 is a massive series of 3 dimensional puzzles, all set in a world that you view FPS style.  You gun is a portal device that helps you create portals on the fly enabling you to walk, jump or fall through to different areas of the room you are in.

The graphics aren’t up to spec compared to other games being released at the moment, but Portal 2 doesn’t suffer because of it.  It’s the mix of humour, game-play and puzzles that will do you head in that makes the game so damn enjoyable.

Portal 2 is a game that will have you playing late into the night, then thinking about the puzzle you’re currently stuck on whilst you try and sleep.

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Portal 2

I’m a Portal virgin.  Sure, I’ve seen people play the original, but a game with average graphics that utalises an FPS syle but swaps mass murder for puzzle solving just wasn’t my thing.

Or so I thought.

With the release of Portal 2 I’ve discovered just how damningly addictive a game like this is.  But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me do a brief introduction to the game, just in case there are any other Portal virgins reading this.

Essentially you play a character who wakes up in what looks like a cheap hotel room, is a little disorientated and is commanded by a robotic voice to do a few simple tests (look up, look down – you know the drill) before being ordered to sleep again.  When you wake up again, the cheap motel room is now looking like a derelict motel room – that must have been some sleep huh!

But the things really get bad as the room starts to pitch around like it’s floating around in the prefect storm.  One massive crash later and you can see through the gaping hole in your ‘motel room’ that you’re in what is essentially a container being very badly moved towards a loading dock.

As intro scenes go, it’s pretty nice, if not your usual photo realism, it certainly sets the scene nicely.

Once docked, the small orbital robot that woke you and maneuvered your ‘motel room’ tells you to go somewhere and locate the portal devise, which you do, then the game starts proper.

Portal 2 is essentially a sequence of puzzles – essentially rooms that you have to figure out how to get out of – wrapped up in a nice little story.  These puzzles involve using your portal device to open portal to other parts of the room, enabling you to reach boxes, buttons. lasers, all manner of things that you need to interact with to get to the exit.

Some are simple, some are maddeningly complex, but all are doable and the game as a whole is very, very addictive.

The story line sees you following the advice of the small orbital robot who is trying to help you escape, right up to the point where you meet a much bigger robot – one that you apparently tried to kill.  From this point you are constantly bombarded wit taunts and death threats – but don;t worry, these aren’t that serious in tone and add to a layer of hilarity that whilst putting a smile on your face, doesn’t in-fact help you concentrate on solving the puzzle at hand.  A truly evil robot this is!

So essentially Portal 2 is a massive series of 3 dimensional puzzles, all set in a world that you view FPS style.  You gun is a portal device that helps you create portals on the fly enabling you to walk, jump or fall through to different areas of the room you are in.

The graphics aren’t up to spec compared to other games being released at the moment, but Portal 2 doesn’t suffer because of it.  It’s the mix of humour, game-play and puzzles that will do you head in that makes the game so damn enjoyable.

Portal 2 is a game that will have you playing late into the night, then thinking about the puzzle you’re currently stuck on whilst you try and sleep.

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