Portal 2
Valve were showing off the first level of the game again, the same introduction that has been shown at recent conferences like PAX. This was my first chance to get hands on with Portal 2, so it was an exciting experience to be able to play the first half hour of Valves puzzle based FPS.
The humour in this game is incredible, and it looks fantastic; the puzzling will also only be an improvement on the first game
The game opens up in what looks like a hotel room, a voice over a tannoy explains that you have been in hibernation for a long amount of time. After following a series of small instructions (that act as a short tutorial), you head back to sleep. You are again woken by a small spherical robot called Wheatley, who guides you around the destroyed Aperture science.
You are treated to an exciting opening sequence, in which the room is smashed apart, revealing that you have been in fact sleeping in a suspended moveable room. Hundreds of matching rooms surround the massive environment. Wheatley is voiced by Stephen Merchant; the dialogue is absolutely hilarious, if there is one reason why you should look forward to this game it’s for the brilliant vocal performance that Stephen Merchant gives.
With Wheatley’s guidance, you find the portal gun. What follows, is a series of introductory puzzles to ease newcomers into the experience; although there was nothing drastically new to see here, it was demonstrated how a different spin can be put on the puzzles throughout.
The demo ends once Wheatley accidentally turns Glados back on (the murdering robot that you kill in the first game). Glados wants revenge, but wants to test you first. She tosses you into a tunnel, and the screen fades to black.
The developers promised us that the environments we visit will be surprising and different. I was told that you would journey into the bowels of Aperture science, and really see the inner workings of Aperture science. Though we weren’t able to see anything in the short demo we played, we were told about the different types of weapon you can get, including a bridge building tool, and other mind bending puzzle creating instruments.
The humour in this game is incredible, and it looks fantastic; the puzzling can only be an improvement on the first game. A lot of love has been poured in to the experience, and the addition of a full co-op story to go alongside the single player should really make this a must buy. Keep your eyes peeled for a full review as soon as we can get it to you.
Female First Edward Lewis