Portal 2

[PeteJ]

Just finished Coop mode, just as brilliant as single player with some really clever solutions. It doesn't quite get as crazy as I was expecting but the last few chambers were pretty taxing. I would recommend playing single player first, there isn't much spoilt but enough to wish you played single player first.

[vocoderfreak]

Just finished single player and it was a total joy from start to finish.

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Thought the Aperture labs underground were brilliant (particularly when they introduced the propulsion gel) and loved how a very simple device (dates on the walls / portraits of Cave Johnson getting older) contributed to the story.

Just a fantastic piece of interactive entertainment.

[huxley]

Got done with it last night. Fantastic stuff. Thought I'd Finnish off the first game and I'm stuck!
Jumping from platform in room 19. even looked up YouTube clips. Just can't make the damn jump.
Three mates have had a go. Wtf!

Bloody hell it saved me as crouched!

[Mr Ono]

I completed last night and have given this 10/10.

Playing through was intuitive and easy - but the puzzles were challenging enough to make my brain ache. So much so, I had to turn off the game now and then to refresh my brain

Humour was great, although I preferred early GLADoS's dry sense of humour to Wheatley's.

Had to use tips once and felt dirty about after as it was such an obvious solution. I got stuck on the room with

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the blue gel, the vortex and the 3 turrets guarding the button behind a wall

. Was only stuck on how to get the final jump from the ramp across the chasm. Answer was painfully obvious but did my head in.

Anyway, got Co-op to do with my son soon. He is playing single player at the moment.

Game of the Year so far, no doubt.

[Spatial]

Finally just finished this - it's taken me so long because I've been torn between wanting to finish it and not wanting it to end.

I don't think I've roared with laughter so hard as I did with the end of this, helped by the achievements and the final sequences. It's quite amazing the range of emotions through the course of the game - aside from the obvious humour I also felt very

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sad for Cave Johnson, who despite the bluster was actually quite downtrodden at the end due to being beaten to the punch by Black Mesa). Testing ground up Moon rocks on himself was hilariously stupid and quite sad at the same time of how desperate he'd become.

That and I went from loving to hating Whitley to finally feeling very sad for him stuck up there with his new friend.

Though like Pete I was waiting for the

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HL related twist because it had been touted before hand

but it never came.

[Spatial]

Actually there's a semi interesting interview from PC Gamer with Erik Wolpaw about that whole thing

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PC Gamer: It seemed a fairly happy ending for Chell, if you didn?t think about what was out there.
Erik Wolpaw: Depending on how? yes, generally speaking. There?s always that debate about ?ooh we could pull the rug out from under you at the last minute? which I guess we sorta did in Portal 1. I always feel that?s a little bit cheap, I feel you the player as Chell have earned a moment of grace, right?
We did three endings, it?s a long series of endings. We wanted to show you GlaDOS, show you Chell and then show you Wheatley ? GlaDOS learns a lesson and promptly deletes it so she can set herself back to zero. You learn whatever you learn and you?re out and it doesn?t look so bad ? but we know the Combine?s probably lurking out there somewhere. And you get the Companion Cube back ? that could be good or bad, it?s not really clear. In my mind GlaDOS has given you the Companion Cube like ?take your **** and go?, or the Companion Cube has been on its own adventure this whole time and just manages to escape at exactly the same moment you do, in which case it?s probably pissed.
And Wheatley actually is contrite. He potentially has learned an actual lesson ? he?s up in space and relatively sad. I thought Stephen Merchant did a nice job of seeming actually apologetic. One of our dreams is to have a boss monster say sorry ? because you kill boss monsters all the time, and they scream and they?re dead. Never really had a boss monster offer me a sincere apology for all the trouble that he?s caused me. I mean, he was a big pain in the ass for a large segment of the game!

PC Gamer: And is the Combine out there?
Erik Wolpaw: The only qualification is something we?re just kind of saddled with ? you know that the world to some extent has gone to ****, right? It?s not a happy world she?s exiting into. Although having said that we don?t know how much time has passed ? maybe the Combine have been beaten back and the world is nice. If nothing else we want to give her as happy ending as we can, entering into the Half-Life universe. It?s a fairly bucolic scene, it?s very nice. She gets serenaded on the way out, that?s always pleasant. She does get a happy ending, there?s no point in being negative about it, I just can?t let go of the fact that we know where she gets that happy ending, and there could be some danger out there. I?m an adult, terrible **** happens to me all the time. I want happy endings for everyone, the kind I?m not gonna get in real life ? I mean, we?re all gonna die, let?s face it.

The vagueness of it suggests that

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they're not even sure how it ties in?

Given how under wraps Valve

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have been about Episode 3 or anything HL related, it seems they didn't ever want to throw any hints, even slight ones out there.

[PeteJ]

It sounds like during development they decided to remove

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the game from the HL universe as much as possible. I think I read that the reason was to stop Portal feeling like a teaser for Half-life. They mostly succeeded in this but it's strange to now hear the Valve bod talking about the two games taking place in the same world again. Also one of the secrets is the ship which ties loosely to Episode 2, so mixed messages aplenty. I would have liked more crossovers still, though I understand where they are coming from and you can't fault the final product in any substantial way really.

The impossible room I referred to (spoiler but not really)

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wasn't about a room that you had to get saved to escape, ie the test was impossible. The Developers Commentary refers to the secret 'Impossible Room' as a room which is physically impossible, ie, bigger on inside than outside etc. Haven't been able to find it though.

.

A couple more thoughts, including Coop story spoilers

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The credits have Nolan North voicing yet again. The man is such a whore for voice acting!
Coop was missing a chapter I felt. It takes five decently lengthed test chambers to introduce all the elements but doesn't really have one final chamber to really test you. Yeah chapter five was meant to be this, but it wasn't anywhere near as crazy as I was expecting or hoping for. I hope DLC is on the way.
Coop ending was a bit of a anticlimax, especially after the amazing single player end. Still, it did shed a little more light onto the location which was cool.

I keep seeing things in the real world and wondering if they are Portalable or not.

[Nocturne]

Quick question to anyone more knowledgeable about this than me: I am getting a 5.1 gaming headset (Tritton AX PRO) tomorrow and was wondering which audio option would I select to play in 5.1 surround sound? 5.1 speakers, or headphones?

[Hohum]

5.1 speakers, as the headphones option will apply stereo settings only.

[Golgo]

Query re. PS3 version. Got some credit burning hole in my pocket so want to pick this up. BUT: can I play the single player campaign without having first to log into PSN/register with Steam? (I'm asking because...ah, you know already...)

[rmoxon]

Maybe in HL2:ep3 we will meet Chell and she will give us tips on how to use Portals, she will obviously need to use sign language though as both her and Gordon are mutes.

[Magnakai]

Query re. PS3 version. Got some credit burning hole in my pocket so want to pick this up. BUT: can I play the single player campaign without having first to log into PSN/register with Steam? (I'm asking because...ah, you know already...)

Yes. Do it. Now.

[Golgo]

^ Ta. Will do. A bit later.

[Nocturne]

5.1 speakers, as the headphones option will apply stereo settings only.

Thank you ♥

[cutmymilk]

Im up to chapter 7 on this, not feeling the need to burn through in one sitting but do love the atmosphere. Going through all the old test offices etc reminds me a lot of Season 5 of Lost, which was brilliant. very similar thing going on here, and a great way to do a sequel. I was expecting a procession of chambers, this is even better