![\"mw-630-glados--300x154\"](\"http:\/\/wakingideas.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/mw-630-glados-300x154.jpg\")
No pressure.\u00a0 You made one of the gaming community\u2019s most highly rated and enjoyed games, now you just gotta follow it up with a sequel.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like you set the bar high enough that Yao Ming doesn\u2019t even have to duck to pass underneath it.\u00a0 You\u2019re Valve, you\u2019re known for making high quality games.\u00a0 Well, I am pleased to say that this was absolutely a triumph, and somehow, someway, Portal 2 is actually better than the original.<\/p>\n
The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n Fans of the original will be right at home in Portal 2.\u00a0 Everything they did right in the first installment is back and in greater quantity for the sequel.\u00a0 The writing is still amazing, being witty and funny all the way through.\u00a0 The plot is even deeper than before and will warrant multiple play-throughs just to catch everything.<\/p>\n The level design is top notch.\u00a0 Like the first game, puzzles start out simple and get progressively harder, adding in more and more variables to them.\u00a0 I greatly enjoyed the changes of locations throughout the game as well.\u00a0\u00a0The puzzles get just challenging enough that you feel a great sense of accomplishment when you complete them but\u00a0aren’t\u00a0too hard that you get extremely frustrated trying to think them through.<\/p>\n Co-op is very well designed as well.\u00a0 It does not feel like a \u201ctacked on\u201d mode to\u00a0supplement\u00a0the single player.\u00a0 I The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n If I had one gripe about the game it would be the amount of loading screens there are.\u00a0 The puzzles take a few minutes to complete and there are loading screens between almost every one.\u00a0 I can understand loading screens from time to time, but I\u2019m not sure why you need a loading screen between every puzzle when they are sometimes only one or two rooms big.\u00a0 It just seemed a little excessive.\u00a0 Valve probably could have\u00a0spaced\u00a0<\/em>out the loading a little more.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take away anything from the gameplay so it\u2019s nothing major, just a bit of an inconvenience.<\/p>\n The Verdict<\/strong><\/p>\n The first Portal game was simple yet extremely innovative.\u00a0 A puzzle game using the great physics provided by the Source engine.\u00a0 The great writing coupled with great level design made the game an instant hit among gamers, and was a major selling point to The Orange Box.\u00a0 Due to this success there was a lot of hype behind Portal 2 and whether or not it would be able to live up to it\u2019s predecessor, and I\u2019m happy to say it did not disappoint.\u00a0 Although the game is still around 9 hours long it is a must have.\u00a0 There is still good replayability even if you know the puzzles.\u00a0 Hidden rooms and easter eggs are all over the place in the game, and\u00a0intricacies\u00a0in the plot will require multiple play throughs to pick up everything.\u00a0 The co-op adds on another 6 hours of gameplay and it\u00a0definitely\u00a0sets the standard for what the mode should be.\u00a0 Portal 2 is not to be missed, even if you\u2019re not normally a fan of puzzle games, you will not regret picking up this title.<\/p>\n Score \u2013 9.5\/10 –<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"portal-2_009\"](\"http:\/\/wakingideas.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/portal-2_009.jpg\")
t is a full game in itself, with it\u2019s own unique and challenging two player puzzles and\u00a0story line\u00a0\u00a0 There are few things more fun than playing co-op with a friend and having GLaDOS send you private messages trying to drive you and your friend apart and then playing along with it.\u00a0 It really sucks you into the game that much more.<\/p>\n