Portal 2

[Family Fry]

Well new new test chambers and a challenge mode are what I would mainly complain about, as soon as you slap the face of single player and co-op it's pretty much nothing more to see here. Great game, beautiful game just very easy to 100%, job done.
The original game unlocked Challenge Maps and Advanced Chambers to play afterwards, which at least made people go back to it.

[Charlie]

Really? A beautiful game like this and you guys complain about a lack of leaderboards? Anyway, they would be fairly pointless really. The game is about finding out how to solve the rooms, if it had leaderboards it would simply list how fast people would be able to rush through them after they figured them out. Not really much to brag about I think.

Maybe leaderboards would be pointless, but what I loved about the original Portal was the challenge that came from going for the gold and silver medals (ie completing the chambers under a certain time), that's what I really meant when I mentioned leaderboards. I agree, walking into a new chamber and working out how to solve them is fantastic and very rewarding, but working out how the hell you complete a particular chamber in under 30 seconds or 40 seconds is often even more mentally taxing and subsequently more rewarding.

Anyway, it's good they're releasing free DLC to address this, just a shame my copy will be long gone by then.

[nonny]

Any word on when this DLC is going to arrive?

[amorenod]

So which version should I pick? Not having A Stream version really doesn't bother me, but a Dualshock 3 does lol. X360 version then?

Actually, this game has nailed Dualshock control, it feels so solid and seamless, to me the best implementation ever. Any version will be great, the differences are very small. The PC copy was the deciding factor for me, and it has paid dividends to Valve, I've already bought 5 games.

[Golgo]

Well new new test chambers and a challenge mode are what I would mainly complain about, as soon as you slap the face of single player and co-op it's pretty much nothing more to see here. Great game, beautiful game just very easy to 100%, job done.
The original game unlocked Challenge Maps and Advanced Chambers to play afterwards, which at least made people go back to it.

Wasn't the astonishingly well-realized co-op mode compensation enough for a few extra single-player chambers, which in any case are most likely incoming with the - possibly free - DLC? Oh, the greed of the modern gamer!

[Family Fry]

Na not for me, I am a gaming hungry greedy bast
If I am honest I stayed SO spoiler free from Portal 2 coming back with my experiences with the original game I just expected them to pop up after game was finished, so to hear they will be part of free DLC when the game is long since completed just left me feeling a bit like a sourpuss. Maybe when a few more substantial DLC packs come out I will re-buy for it 3 or 4 pieces, if we ever get that far on console versions. Co-Op was best experience since Lara Croft for co-op fun, enjoyed that, loved the story and characters. Its not like I hate the game for not having this stuff just disappointed it ain't there.

[Golgo]

I really enjoyed challenge chambers on Portal 1 as well, tbh, and would've lapped up some here, but in terms of challenge I don't remember any of 'em coming close the evil genius of some of the later co-op chambers. May be wrong, mind, old brain is fading...

[Family Fry]

Some where head scratchers but the co op ones here are just so finely tuned, when you and your buddy get that eureka moment it is a great feeling.

[Charlie]

Much as I enjoyed co-op, and I did enjoy it, I still wish Valve had scrapped it altogether and focused solely on producing a fuller and superior single player campaign and I didn't think either mode, single player or co-op, was ultimately as clever as the original Portal's.

And maybe I'm stuck in the past but I don't like the current trend of games focusing on providing a one-off experience, I want a bit more than an 'experience', indeed when they cost ?40 I expect a bit more than an experience. I want and expect replayability.

[mekanor]

I've already played through the main game twice and done a bunch of the coop chambers again for the achievements. That's a lot more than I can say for most games I've played.

[sj33]

And maybe I'm stuck in the past but I don't like the current trend of games focusing on providing a one-off experience, I want a bit more than an 'experience', indeed when they cost ?40 I expect a bit more than an experience. I want and expect replayability.

In a general sense (i.e. not regarding Portal 2), I agree with you there. The fact that I'm only going to play through most games once genuinely does put me off buying games. I've begun to stick to more arcadey games for this reason.

[Number45]

It doesn't matter how long you make a puzzle game, once a puzzle is solved you can never recreate that moment of euphoria (unless you're very forgetful). The best you can hope for from a game like this is (hopefully free) DLC - it's a shame the framework isn't there on the consoles (or perhaps it is, I don't know) to allow for user generated maps.

I've countered that concern over value by buying few and far between at full price.

[Charlie]

Yeah, user generated maps would be brilliant. But even if the framework is there on the consoles (or more specifically the 360) I can't see Microsoft allowing that kind of thing, not unless they devise a way to make money out of it anyway.

[toythatkills]

N+ and Trials HD and (to a certain extent) Super Meat Boy all have user-generated levels that are added to the game for free. Either via your friends in the first two, or via The Internets in the case of the latter. The Super Meat Boy model would work really well in Portal 2.

[Number45]

Epic allowed mods with UT3 on the PS3 so the precedent is there if Valve want to use it. *crosses fingers*