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Mind-warping puzzle game with FPS mechanics and twisted physics starring Chell as she battles GLaDOS

Mind-warping puzzle game with FPS mechanics and twisted physics starring Chell as she battles GLaDOS

Vote: (174 votes)

Program license: Paid

Developer: Valvesoftware

Works under: Windows

Also available for Mac

Vote:

Program license

(174 votes)

Paid

Developer

Valvesoftware

Works under:

Also available for

Windows

Mac

Pros

  • Innovative Puzzles
  • Uniquely Designed Stages
  • Intriguing Storyline
  • Creative Writing
  • Stellar Visuals
  • Engaging Gameplay

Cons

  • Limited Update From Original

Portal 2 is the sequel to Portal, one of the most amazingly innovative and well-made games of its time, and Portal 2 continues that tradition with incredible puzzles based on fictitious physics and technology.

The first Portal took place in the Aperture Science facility before it fell into a state of disrepair, as it exists in Portal 2. That state of disrepair was a result of the events that took place in the first game, and when the main character wakes up in Portal 2, she has been imprisoned in the facility for over a hundred years. The main character is called Chell, and a personality sphere comes to here aid. The sphere is a small, floating ball the flies around helping Chell where it can, but as the sphere is helping her, GLaDOS is awakened in the process.

GLaDOS was the villain from the original Portal, a machine of artificial intelligence created by humans to run the Aperture Science facility. Chell was one of the test subjects in the first Portal, and when GLaDOS finds her in Portal 2, the insane machines starts yet another round of deadly testing.

Portal 2 looks like a piece of art throughout the entire game, and the environments are so richly detailed that players might forget they're playing a game. The animations are fluid and integrated as well, which helps the continuity of the dire circumstances for Chell.

The storyline of the original Portal wasn't exactly clear during that first game, but the plots of both games are slowly unveiled in Portal 2. The player will learn quite a bit about Aperture Science, the company behind everything going on in the game, and the events that led to the downfall of the facility are brought to light. As a first-person shooter style puzzle game that relies on shooting two connected portals instead of bullets, this game is a masterpiece.

The player controls Chell, who remains completely silent throughout the game, but both the personality sphere who saved Chell at the beginning of the game, who named himself Wheatley, and GLaDOS herself are very verbal. As mechanical creatures of artificial intelligence, they have a terrifyingly hilarious way of talking to humans.

The puzzles within each stage of the game are breathtaking, both in scale and in danger. The gun used by the player shoots two different portals, one of blue and one of orange. They are connected such that players can place a portal on one side of a map and another on the opposite side to reach it quickly, but only certain surfaces can support these portals. By determining how to get through the expansive rooms using just the portal gun and the simple tools in the room itself, players can advance to more difficult levels.

Pros

  • Innovative Puzzles
  • Uniquely Designed Stages
  • Intriguing Storyline
  • Creative Writing
  • Stellar Visuals
  • Engaging Gameplay

Cons

  • Limited Update From Original