The Games Review blog - Feature 1: Portal 2
I'll start by saying that this is the beginning of many game review blogs to come, I think its easier to put reviews on a blog than putting them on threads since afterall its a personal view I have of a game and just to add I hate describing games as "this is awesome" or "this sucks", its the lowest form of intelligence approaching reviews that way, I like to put the details when I mention games.
I will also make some blogs regarding the state of the industry in different departments depending on how many people(or if any lol) pick their interest with my blogs.
Ratings for each part of the game will be like this:
Poor - Bad - Average - Good - Great - excellent
Publisher: Valve
Developer: Valve
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
It goes without saying that the original Portal was somewhat of a cult hit, based from a title that was made by students, Valve hired them and made a game that felt incredibly fresh in the market by also adding one of the greatest and witiest villains in gaming history, Glados.
It is with those values that Portal 2 picks up, by expanding the experience to greater length by adding a great backstory and the addition of a new character, Wheatley, an orb sized robot that has incredible sense of humour mainly thanks to the voice talent of Stephen Merchant.
Glados yet again plays a big part in the story but just like Wheatley, Valve have added such humanity to the way she interacts with the main character, Chell, that you never think of her as a robot and with the events that happen in the later parts of the game the emotional depth you get to see from Glados is a testament to superb writing from the developers, those moments are an absolute gem.
But it goes without saying that the gameplay evolves again through the the mechanics of the portal gun, which allows you to access and transfer objects that normally would be impossible without it, yet just like its predecessor its a lot more complicated than that once you get to progress further to the game such as transport beams and other more complicated materials which aid in completing each test chamber. Some test chambers will require some serious thinking to complete because of their initial complexity they present but thats the best part that Portal 2 gives to the player, it makes you feel ike a dumb genious, it teases you to solve each chamber and the satisfaction of completing it can actually make you feel elated by the end of it.
While saying that some chambers even later on felt slightly easy which halts a sesne of progression when it comes to difficulty but I guess Valve did not want to make it insanely complicated on a constant basis and frustrate players, its a double edged sword in this case.
But suprisingly is not the excellent puzzles that stands out, its the story, as you progress to the game you will find out as to how everything started and why is the main character in the facility(that part needs to be found on hidden clues in various places), it basically adds a much needed meaning why the place exists and what happened within the whole time period that the aperture facility has existed and above all the ending of Portal 2 is a joy, another great testament to the writers that they approached the game very carefully and added these fantastic details that make it incredibly unique to most games that are out in the industry.
The newest and most notable feature is the 2 player co-op and it by no means a half baked experience, this is as detailed as the single player and the players control 2 robots that are part of aperture science. These 2 robots have also that humanity in them, they are funny and the way glados interacts with them is a sight to behold, there are some hilarious moments to be had.
Coordination in the co-op ofcourse is a must and some of the later chambers require absolute perfection, this game is teamwork at its best, if players dont experience the co-op side of the game they are really missing out on half a game, its that good.
The downsides of both player modes is the length of them, they are kind of short but incredibly longer when compared to the original, there is a solid 13-18 hours by doing both modes and with valve adding more test chambers for free in future patches it will ensure that this game will endure for a long time. The age of the source engine is starting to show, while its still a good engine, its 7 years old now and I get the feeling that Valve are probably working on a new engine at this point to start their next gen of games, if Portal 2 closed the current gen there was no better way to do it.
To summarise this is an excellent title, easily one of the best games of the year for me, fantastic story, great writing and good puzzles make it a Valve game at its absolute best, a triumph of a game.
Graphics: good
Gameplay: excellent
Presentation:excellent
Longetivity: average
Sound: Great
I will also make some blogs regarding the state of the industry in different departments depending on how many people(or if any lol) pick their interest with my blogs.
Ratings for each part of the game will be like this:
Poor - Bad - Average - Good - Great - excellent
Review 1 - Portal 2
Publisher: Valve
Developer: Valve
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
It goes without saying that the original Portal was somewhat of a cult hit, based from a title that was made by students, Valve hired them and made a game that felt incredibly fresh in the market by also adding one of the greatest and witiest villains in gaming history, Glados.
It is with those values that Portal 2 picks up, by expanding the experience to greater length by adding a great backstory and the addition of a new character, Wheatley, an orb sized robot that has incredible sense of humour mainly thanks to the voice talent of Stephen Merchant.
Glados yet again plays a big part in the story but just like Wheatley, Valve have added such humanity to the way she interacts with the main character, Chell, that you never think of her as a robot and with the events that happen in the later parts of the game the emotional depth you get to see from Glados is a testament to superb writing from the developers, those moments are an absolute gem.
But it goes without saying that the gameplay evolves again through the the mechanics of the portal gun, which allows you to access and transfer objects that normally would be impossible without it, yet just like its predecessor its a lot more complicated than that once you get to progress further to the game such as transport beams and other more complicated materials which aid in completing each test chamber. Some test chambers will require some serious thinking to complete because of their initial complexity they present but thats the best part that Portal 2 gives to the player, it makes you feel ike a dumb genious, it teases you to solve each chamber and the satisfaction of completing it can actually make you feel elated by the end of it.
While saying that some chambers even later on felt slightly easy which halts a sesne of progression when it comes to difficulty but I guess Valve did not want to make it insanely complicated on a constant basis and frustrate players, its a double edged sword in this case.
But suprisingly is not the excellent puzzles that stands out, its the story, as you progress to the game you will find out as to how everything started and why is the main character in the facility(that part needs to be found on hidden clues in various places), it basically adds a much needed meaning why the place exists and what happened within the whole time period that the aperture facility has existed and above all the ending of Portal 2 is a joy, another great testament to the writers that they approached the game very carefully and added these fantastic details that make it incredibly unique to most games that are out in the industry.
The newest and most notable feature is the 2 player co-op and it by no means a half baked experience, this is as detailed as the single player and the players control 2 robots that are part of aperture science. These 2 robots have also that humanity in them, they are funny and the way glados interacts with them is a sight to behold, there are some hilarious moments to be had.
Coordination in the co-op ofcourse is a must and some of the later chambers require absolute perfection, this game is teamwork at its best, if players dont experience the co-op side of the game they are really missing out on half a game, its that good.
The downsides of both player modes is the length of them, they are kind of short but incredibly longer when compared to the original, there is a solid 13-18 hours by doing both modes and with valve adding more test chambers for free in future patches it will ensure that this game will endure for a long time. The age of the source engine is starting to show, while its still a good engine, its 7 years old now and I get the feeling that Valve are probably working on a new engine at this point to start their next gen of games, if Portal 2 closed the current gen there was no better way to do it.
To summarise this is an excellent title, easily one of the best games of the year for me, fantastic story, great writing and good puzzles make it a Valve game at its absolute best, a triumph of a game.
Graphics: good
Gameplay: excellent
Presentation:excellent
Longetivity: average
Sound: Great
Total Comments 3
Comments
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Cave Johnson: "Say goodbye, Caroline."
Caroline: "Goodbye Caroline" Cave Johnson: "She is a gem" Nice review. =) |
Posted 05-06-2011 at 06:52 AM by Maszrum
Updated 05-06-2011 at 07:58 AM by Maszrum |
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Cool review. Looking forward to reading what you have to say about the state of the industry.
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Posted 05-06-2011 at 07:29 AM by Paragon
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Thanks peeps, I am trying to avoid spoilers and just explain how the game functions mainly and what to expect, its what people want to hear anyways.
Brink will be my next game to review, i'll review it once I play a solid 20 hours or so(finishing the SP is a given but the MP will be the focus). As for the industry blogs, it will focus on a certain aspect each time(it could be dlc or other important subjects.) |
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Posted 05-06-2011 at 08:05 AM by Elarius
Updated 05-06-2011 at 08:15 AM by Elarius |
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