Games don't get 95 on metacritic for nothing, although I noticed the user score was lower at 8.3.
Ah, perhaps my view isn't so controversial after all then.
A lot of my opinion has to do with that fact I don't particularly like puzzles. I mean, I don't mind 'em and sure - when 'it clicks' that's a great feeling when solving particular puzzles, but I can only take so much head-scratching before the entertainment starts to feel more like a chore.
So anyway Portal 2 is a full length version of the previous game which was a much shorter game, an experiment really, bundled into The Orange Box. I knew I didn't want to pay full price (£40) for Portal 2 so I waited until the price dropped by half in a Steam sale. Ultimately, my instinct was proved right.
Ironically, my worry was that for the price, Portal 2 was too short. But it ain't ;)
Perhaps I'm just crap at puzzles, but I really enjoyed the very easy ones at the beginning revelling in the fast pace at which I was returning to the elevator between puzzle chambers. I enjoyed even more the scripted short bursts of escape, but these were too few and far between.
The middle of the game introduces the new gameplay elements, the blue, orange and white gels. I found that when you hit the orange gel puzzles the difficulty spikes up a bit - the first time I was stuck for say 20 minutes or so. This was still fine. They were tough, but not too hard to work out for myself. You then start getting combination gel puzzles and this was where I found the game to be at its hardest.
After about the third time I got stuck for what seemed like half an hour, I started to resort to youtube for solutions, aware of my precious personal time ticking away. I only cheated when I felt I really needed to, doing so about five times roughly in total (in comparison to the once in the original game).
On the positive side, the game feels a lot crisper to look at than the original, and the fantastic Stephen Merchant provides some funny comic relief to what can be a very sterile environment. There are certainly some moments of genius in this game provided by some of the better puzzles - the ones that are so simple but sometimes takes a little time to get your head around.
By the time I was finished with the single player story though, I had played some 14 hours in total. I came away thinking it should have been shorter at a lower price. I'm hoping Portal 3 will involve some combat, or anything to break up the test chamber after test chamber - which is far too dry for me...
...until I tried Co-op tonight that is :) The puzzles are so much more enjoyable if you can grab a friend. All the co-op puzzles rely on teamwork, the game also cleverly plays on you being in particularly trusting situations where the wrong button press will have your friend killing you accidently ;)
It is also just hilarious when you or your friend die whilst pressing buttons, or just simply miss a portal in mid-flight.
As the challenges get tougher and the chambers get bigger, you can choose to see your friends viewpoint through a small window in the corner of the screen. We managed to get through a couple of stages that took around 2 hours or so (the time flew by), the very last room we tried also showed the potential for arguments where you could possibly not quite agree on how to go about a puzzle. I'm not sure if there any co-op puzzles that have more than one way to solve it, but that could certainly exaggerate the situation!
It is tempting sometimes for some of us after completing a game to get in the habit of not bothering with the multiplayer, but in Portal 2's case to do so is to miss half the experience.
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