Video Game Review: Portal 2

Leann gave me this for Vamlumtimes Day a year ago today [1], but at the time I was still playing LEGO: Star Wars III: The Clone Wars [2]. After that, I was asked to teach a class over the summer, which ate up a lot of my time. And then Lillian was born early.[3] So it's taken me a while to get around to playing this game, even though I eagerly awaited its premier. It picks up an indefinite amount of time after the conclusion of the first game. The facility you originally played in has fallen into ruin. And, of course, GLaDOS is back.

GLaDOS is as sarcastic as ever and it usually doesn't sound like the game makers are trying to one-up her performance in the last game. Wheatley and Cave Johnson are dynamic new characters, each of which add to the dark humor of the game. The new features (Thermal Discouragement Beams, Excursion Funnels, Hard Light Bridges, Redirection Cubes, Aerial Faith Plates, Repulsion Gel, Propulsion Gel, and Conversion Gel) make for interesting new puzzles to game through.[4] GLaDOS' solution for Caroline at the end is rather shocking and morbid.

Notes:

[1] See http://www.homestarrunner.com/tgs12.html.

[2] Read my review here.

[3] See my post Unexpected Delivery.

[4] It's too bad, though, that the Pneumatic Diversity Vents weren't ready in time for this game (see here). Hopefully they appear in Portal 3.

Image attributions:

Full Moon is by Gregory H. Revera, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FullMoon2010.jpg.