In the interest of full disclosure, this blog post will be full of spoilers. No holding back. So if you haven't played Portal 2, you might want to go elsewhere.
It's difficult for me to say exactly what I didn't really enjoy about the original Portal. I once rather flippantly summed up my opinions with a simple "It's alright." but looking back on it now, I actually think it's the best description of my feelings towards it. Portal has a clever, original mechanic, and I enjoyed playing it, but I always felt it was too short. The game finished before I really got into it. I enjoyed GLaDOS as a character, but I never found her as entertaining as everyone seemed to imply.
Perhaps it was down to the fact that by the time I got around to playing Portal the hype had died down. People had moved on from spouting "The cake is a lie" at every opportunity. Perhaps it was because I already knew about GLaDOS' true nature, so the final reveal was nothing special. But whatever it was, I left Portal feeling underwhelmed.
I only bought Portal 2 because it was on special on Steam, reduced to a very affordable £10. My excitement had been slightly quelled when a certain gaming website who shall not be named as The Escapist told me what was going to happen in the later stages of the game, but not enough to stop me from ever wanting to play the thing. I was ready to go, and not really sure what to expect.
I enjoyed Portal 2. In fact, I really enjoyed Portal 2, far more than the first one, and far more than I expected I would. The humour was funnier and darker. The characters are better formed. The puzzles feel better fleshed out. Even the environment, whilst being inspired by the original, works better for the game. The gameplay from the original remains completely intact, but is built upon fantastically (which really is exactly what game devs should be doing) with the gel mechanic.
From the get go, I liked being accompanied by Wheatley. I know a lot of people found him grating, especially those who knew of Stephen Merchant before playing, but I really enjoyed his performance. I was also impressed how his comedic stupidity actually really tied into his role as an Intelligence Dampening Sphere. This time around I really warmed to GLaDOS far more, and not just because of her fantastic transformation into a potato. Something about her seemed funnier. Maybe it was the lack of her Morality Core, perhaps it was the decades of living death she had endured, but throughout the game I was genuinely amused by her snide comments, to the fact I couldn't stop grinning when she started making comments about my weight.
The trip into Aperture's past and the unveiling of GLaDOS true past was actually quite a shock to me. I honestly wasn't expecting that much detail, and whilst not everything is explicitly lain out for you, there's quite a lot you can add up. Some might say that it takes away from GLaDOS as an antagonist, but I feel that if anything it makes her a better antagonist. It adds layers of depth which change the way you view her as a character. And if the fan theories about Caroline's relationship with Chell are true... Well, that basically changes EVERYTHING.
I read a quote from Doug Lombardi that said "Portal was a test bed. Portal 2 is a game." which is completely on the money. Portal felt like a tech demo, a proof of concept. Portal 2 was everything that could be done with that idea.
Since the ending song to Portal 2 doesn't seem appropriate if I want people to visit here every week, I'll just leave you with this fantastic tirade.
Typography | Cave Johnson Lemons from Ignis. on Vimeo.
See y'all whenever we get to the Borealis.
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