Portal 2

“Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!”

Portal has a fan boy following that borders on a cult. Even the impossible to please critic Ben Chroshaw described the game as near perfect. With all the hype around Portal, Portal 2 had nearly impossible expectations to live up to.

In my case, I was introduced to the Portal franchise by Portal 2 first, and then acquired the original later. That may explain why I don’t feel let down by the sequel, or even feel that it’s inferior. In fact, I enjoyed Portal 2 more than Portal.

Portal 2 is much more of a complete game. It plays a lot longer because it has many more puzzles. In addition, the transitions between puzzles are frequently more than just elevator rides and sometimes offer challenges themselves. Portal 2 adds a cooperative mode where two players solve puzzles together. The humor is much more developed in Portal 2 with two unseen characters beyond GlaDOS; Wheatley and Cave Johnson. Cave Johnson’s quotes are so memorable, the Web is filled with sites dedicated to him.

“This first test involves something the lab-boys call repulsion gel. You're not part of the control group by the way - you get the gel. Last poor son of a gun got blue paint, ha ha ha! All joking aside, that did happen. Broke every bone in his legs - tragic. But informative! Or so I'm told.”

Of course this review isn’t really about comparing Portal 2 against its’ predecessor, its’ about comparing it to the rest of the gaming fare. In that light, the Portal franchise truly earns its’ cult status. The game is played in first person, but can’t really be classified as a shooter or a role player. The guns you carry are never aimed at another person or creature, and are not used to annihilate enemies. Instead you use them to create “portals” in walls, floors, and ceilings that help you traverse past barriers. The physics are fun: who wouldn’t love jumping off a ledge only to launch themselves out a hole in another wall.

Puzzle games tend to be two dimensional fare with no story and simple graphics; think Soduku, Tetris, or Angry Birds. Portal and Portal 2 put an entirely new spin on solving puzzles by wrapping them in a story, immersing the player in the puzzle, and adding fun physics. Throw in funny quotes from the various narrators and you have a great experience.

Geek Cred Science is fun; great humor; unique game play.

Geek Crud Can’t think of any.

“Just a heads up: that coffee we gave you earlier had fluorescent calcium in it so we can track the neuronic activity in your brain. There's a slight chance the calcium could harden and vitrify your frontal lobe. Anyway, don't stress yourself thinking about it. I'm serious, visualizing the scenario while under stress actually triggers the reaction.”