Basic Information Developed and Published by Valve Corp Distributors Electronic Arts Valve Steam Genre Puzzle Platform Game Price 39 99 59 99 at launch on 360 PS3 49 99 49 99 at launch on PC PC System Requirements OS Windows 7 Vista XP Processor 3 0 GHz P4 Dual Core 2 0 or AMD64x2 Memory 1GB XP 2GB Vista HDD Space At least 7 6 GB of space Video 128MB of VRAM DirectX 9 Compatible with support for Pixel Shader 2 0b Audio DirectX 9 0c compatible Quick Overview A series of puzzles that can only be solved by warping time and space with portals Portals can be placed on a variety of surfaces As the game progresses various gels are introduced Repulsion Gel Causes the player to bounce back to the height they dropped from Propulsion Gel Speeds up the player Conversion Gel Turns any surface into a portal able surface Story Line You play as Chell who is one of Aperture science s test subjects You are awoken from stasis by Wheatley who is a personality core in charge of monitoring the human test subjects Chell and Wheatley make their way into GLaDOS s chamber who Chell had shut down in the previous game Chell and Wheatley accidently end up waking GLaDOS up while trying to escape the facility Chell must now attempt to find another way out of Aperture while GLaDOS attempts to keep her trapped and testing forever Installation Depending on what platform you purchased the game on you may or may not need to install Portal 2 Xbox 360 and PS3 No Installation Necessary PC Mac If you purchased Portal on steam simply navigate to your Games page Games View Games Library Wait for the game to finish downloading Next select Portal 2 and click the install button Select an install location and complete installation User Interface The UI is very simple no health bar or ammo count The only things displayed on screen are the portal gun crosshairs and the gun itself Within the portal gun crosshairs there is an indicator for which portals are currently deployed There is also a light on the gun which shows the color of the last portal the player deployed Single Player Game Play The player must use 2 portals to solve puzzles Solving a puzzle will take the player to the next puzzle There is no scoring system in the single player campaign Standard FPS thumbstick controls on consoles WASD and mouse controls on PC Mac Multiplayer Game Play The multiplayer campaign puts the player in one of 2 testing robots P body or Atlas Players must take advantage of their 4 portals and work as a team to solve puzzles There is no scoring system for multiplayer but there are Science Collaboration Points which are awarded randomly but still tracked and visible from the multiplayer hub Artwork The player is taken into several different environments as the game progresses First the player explores Aperture as a decaying and unmaintained environment Full of plants and dirt As GLaDOS begins repairing the facility it begins to look more sterile and white much more like a lab There are also antiquated sections of the lab where science has not been done for a very long time and has a style of the 1950 s plus 200 years of decay Exposed Test Chamber Clean Test Chamber Antiquated Test Chamber Voice Actors The cast chosen to play Wheatley GLaDOS and Cave Johnson is top of the line Wheatley is voiced by Stephen Merchant a British comedian and writer He Brings Wheatley to life like no one else could GLaDOS is voiced by Ellen McLain who voiced GLaDOS in the first game McLain continues to keep GLaDOS s cryptic and menacing nature which is a staple of the portal franchise Cave Johnson is voiced by J K Simmons an American film actor Simmons portrays Cave Johnson as a some what dim witted yet comedic entrepreneur Cave Johnson becomes a fan favorite right from the get go and his quotes can be found all over the internet Music The soundtrack of the game is largely techno music and fits the atmosphere of the game very well The National did a song for the game titled Exile Vilify players can find the song in game in one of the hidden rat man rooms There is also a song sung by GLaDOS at the end of the game Players that played Portal all the way through will remember Still Alive which played at the games credits Only Want You Gone is played in the credits of Portal 2 and ties the game together quite well Positives Comedic styling of game is timeless and very enjoyable Game play scales very well with each addition of a new game mechanic Each challenge brings its own sense of accomplishment when you reach that Ah Ha moment The game has taken a great leap graphically from the last one No bugs that would otherwise ruin a well polished game Negatives Some of the games achievements can be a little challenging or require the player to play with players that have no progress in the game Can turn into a shorter game if the player is more experienced in puzzle solving In Comparison Portal 2 is a very unique game and thus doesn t have very much to compare it to If you look at puzzle games Portal 2 is a gleaming beacon of what a puzzle game should entail If you line Portal 2 up with all the other games coming out this year it has a leg up on the competition in both originality and innovation Target Audience The ESRB has rated Portal 2 E for everybody giving it a broad range of potential buyers The challenges would most likely doable for anyone over 10 years old The game is written for an older audience but can be understood by younger players without ruining the experience This is a must have title for anyone whose already a master at puzzle games or someone whose just getting into them Summary In conclusion Portal 2 is engaging enjoyable and challenging Leaving players with a sense of accomplishment when the credits roll If you play video games Portal 2 is a must own game The only way to improve Portal 2 is to make the game longer and give players more of what they love
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