
The gun shoots two linked portals through which you and objects can pass and momentum is maintained. Valve brings back the same portal gun while greatly expanding the number of gameplay toys. Though there's a much bigger emphasis on story and character development in Portal 2, you'll spend a lot of time tangling with spatial reasoning puzzles in test chambers. When you're not staring at your screen with wrinkled, pained expression on your face trying to figure out a puzzle, expect to be laughing. The history of the Aperture Science facility is filled in, character origins discussed, and though its pacing suffers as it occasionally strikes a more serious tone, an abundance of cruel jokes and cheerfully sincere death threats prevent it from losing its sarcastic charm. The mania of GLaDOS, the facility's operator, is molded into unexpected forms alongside a host of brutally funny personalities. The world is bigger, the story thicker, and the character development more surprising. For Valve, it's apparently no problem.įrom the first moments of waking up in the rusting Aperture Science facility to right before the credits roll, Portal 2 rarely falters. Creating a sequel without playing all the same notes and making it feel like Portal: The Longer Version is a tough task. Cake jokes and songs about surviving dismemberment were still hilarious. GLaDOS, the murderous robotic villain, was new and vibrant and evil in the most charming way. Its style of first-person physics-based puzzle gameplay was unique. The original Portal had the element of surprise.
