![]() To this day, it still holds a staggering 95/100 score on Metacritic, making it one of the best-reviewed games from the Xbox 360 era. First released all the way back in 2011, Portal 2 isn't just one of the most popular puzzle games ever, but it's also one of the most critically-acclaimed games ever released. It's not much, but if you like to be surprised as much as possible by story elements, you'll want to finish the single player first.As of this week, Microsoft revealed that Portal 2 would be the final game coming to Games with Gold as an Xbox 360 title. Secondly, the co-op contains a very minor spoiler for the single player game right out of the gate. Though I only have about three hours in the co-op at this point, I would say that it is more difficult than single player. Co-op is a different beast entirely when it comes to difficulty. First, completing all the puzzles in the single player mode will prepare you for the challenge of co-op. I would strongly recommend finishing the single player version of the game before beginning the co-op. This edition of the game introduces a co-operative experience with it's own stand alone story as well. I'm not a programmer, nor do I play one on TV, but I would think at this point that programmers should be able to find an intelligent way to seamlessly load the next section of a game unbeknownst to the player. (Trying to avoid spoilers here) You'll find that the game will stop suddenly and take significant amounts of time to load the next section. This seems to be more distracting later in the game than earlier. The only criticism I can level at the game are the load times. Suffice to say, it's a welcome addition to the game. I like to maintain my reviews as spoiler free, so I'll leave it to you to see what I'm talking about. Every puzzle still maintains the portal mechanic as the primary means of getting the job done. The gel mechanics add another layer to the puzzles, but are never the absolute focal point of the puzzle. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. I was worried in early previews when the gel was revealed that this would change the game drastically, and not for the better. This is a very interesting twist to the game mechanic, especially given how the gels are dispensed. The third though, allows you to place a portal on any surface. The first two are pretty self explanatory. There are three different types of gel that it turns out Aperture was working on: a bounce gel, an acceleration gel, and a portal gel. The same two portal mechanic is still used to solve puzzles, but a curveball from a mechanic standpoint as well as a story standpoint gets thrown at the player with the introduction of gels. The gameplay differs very little from the first game until roughly half way through the game. ![]() Whoever is doing the writing for this series is worth every penny that Valve pays them. For a game that in it's first incarnation started with no story at all, they've managed to wrap a great piece of fiction around the brilliant game mechanic that gave life to the series. The story is very intriguing, and you'll get to learn a lot of the background behind Aperture Science. Of course, GLaDOS makes her appearance in this game as well, and is every bit as hilarious and sadistic as the previous game. The dialog at the ends of levels, as well as some of the little quips in between were on occasion laugh out loud funny. The voicing of this character couldn't be more appropriate. Much like GLaDOS from the first game, the game is absolutely made by the interaction between you and this character. After making your escape from danger, you and Wheatley set out to find a way out of the facility. You're greeted by a friendly AI core named Wheatley as the place is falling down around you. For those that didn't have the patched PC version that explained a bit more of the ending from the last one, you were recaptured at the end of the game, setting up the beginning of Portal 2. Portal 2 puts you back in the shoes of the original speechless protagonist from the first game. ![]() Portal 2 accomplishes this without losing sight of what made the original great, an even rarer feat. Portal 2 accomplishes this without losing It's rare in our sequel filled world that anything equals the original, let alone surpasses it. It's rare in our sequel filled world that anything equals the original, let alone surpasses it.
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