Reviews// Portal 2

There's decidedly more plot this time out to keep the experience from getting tired and saggy around the middle. It works well. In fact, the writing is superb. I guess we didn't need any proof that Valve has a knack for deftly weaving narrative into the fabric of a game without ever ramming it down your throat or derailing the actual gaming bit, but the developer has given us some anyway.

Beyond the plot, dialogue's expertly handled by writers Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek and Jay Pinkerton and by voice actors Stephen Merchant, J.K. Simmons and Ellen McLain. Merchant is by turns loveable and... well, I don't want to say... as personality sphere Wheatley, while McLain is diabolical, a little sexy and... well, I don't want to say that either, as GLaDOS.

The biggest advance in Portal 2, however, has to be the co-op play. This is a bespoke mode separate to the single-player levels that has most definitely been designed for two players. This is the complete opposite of campaign modes that you can find a skinny extra layer of depth in if you add a second player. This is a significant chunk of the game that you just could not do without a second player.

If I were to write a 'List of Team-Building Games for Wankers', Portal 2 would be at the top of the list (because people who go on team-building exercises are wankers, not because Portal 2 is for wankers. No offence). There is no way you're getting through this thing without clear communication. None whatsoever.

An explainable example (have you ever tried explaining how Portal actually works to someone? It's headache-inducing) comes early on. You're presented with two surfaces, one above the other, that face each other. You need to build up some momentum to make you fly out of another surface. 'Fine', you think, 'I'll put a portal on each surface, drop through them both until I'm going fast enough then use my lightening-fast reflexes to put a portal on that other surface.' Except you can't, because sandwiched between the surfaces is one of the particle fields that shuts portals you've made as you pass through it. The answer (I know you got there already) is to have your teammate do the honours.

To help in this, you're able to highlight different objects in the environment around you and use commands such as countdowns to co-ordinate your actions. Honestly, I wouldn't relish the thought of going through all this deeply co-operative gameplay with a random sweary teen from Iowa, but with a mate it's deeply rewarding.

I should also add that, like the first Portal game, the single-player mode can be very co-operative, too. Because the gameplay relies more on logic and problem-solving skills than it does on reflexes and accuracy, it's pretty rewarding just watching someone play and chipping in with advice from time to time.

Portal 2 feels perhaps a smidge easier than its predecessor, but there's not a lot in it. The difficulty curve feels about right. Most gamers will certainly be challenged and may well hover about the same level for longer than they'd like on occasion, but Portal 2 is just the right side of maddening.

Conclusion

Portal 2 is a staggeringly well-designed game. Like the first title in the series, it pokes and prods at your grey matter in all the right ways and leaves you with a massive sense of achievement when you nail a puzzle. The team at Valve has built on the last game without ever compromising what made it great, while the co-op mode strikes just the right note.

SPOnG Score: 96%