The Portal Gun and I
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May 24, 2011 • Damian Guzman
Filed under Opinion, Reviews, Videogames
“Oh…it’s you. It’s been a long time. How have you been? I’ve been real busy, you know…being dead.” These are the first words your old enemy and psycho killer, GLaDOS, says to you after being revived.
Portal 2 is the sequel to Steams, the greatest selling game to date. The game surprisingly has only 7 characters in total. You start off by meeting one of video game’s funniest characters in history: Wheatley the mechanical, blue eyed basket-ball is full of quotes and sayings that just make you want to stop and listen to what he has to say next.
The next character is Chell, the “dangerous, mute lunatic” as described by GLaDOS, the supercomputer that runs the aperture industry facility you are stuck in. However Chell doesn’t speak much as she suffers from what Wheatley describes as “a minor case of serious brain damage.”
The game revolves around you trying to solve different test chambers with only your wits, your long-fall boots (which keep your legs from breaking on long falls) and of course a specially made gun which fires 2 different colored portals that lead right to each other. The game has also made some additions, including 3 different types of fluids: Propulsion, Repulsion, and Conversion.
The blue propulsion gel is like a liquid trampoline which catapults you into the air. The orange propulsion gel reduces friction and allows you to run at incredible speeds. The white propulsion gel can be spread to create portal surfaces anywhere incase you need to make a quick getaway to a higher platform.
The single player campaign takes about 4 hours to beat for the average gamer, while the co-op campaign takes about 3 hours. The co-op campaign includes two other new characters: Atlas and P-body, two androids that feel no pain and were specifically designed for testing.
The one thing that has made the Portal series a smash-hit is its use of dark humor. For example, GLaDOS lures you into a room with the promise of seeing your parents, only to find an empty office, confetti, and some unnecessary commentary. “Oh, don’t be mad. They left you on a doorstep when you were a baby, so I doubt they’d want to see you anyways.” These kinds of moments will make you remember what made you buy the original portal.
The series started off in a sci-fi series known as Half-life and has spread into its own franchise which has led to the great success of Steam, the company who designed the game. The characters are memorable and the puzzles are unique and wonderfully made, leading you to a sense of accomplishment when you complete them. This game is worth the 60 dollars you (or the generous person whom you received it from) spent. It makes you want to start a whole new campaign all over again.
Lots of errors here. First of all, Portal 2 is a sequel to Portal, not “Steams”. Steam is not the company that developed it either; that would be Valve. Steam is the digital distribution service they developed. Portal 2 is not the greatest selling game ever either, although yes, it did sell quite well. It would make much more sense if you introduced Chell as a character first too, since she is the player character, not someone you meet in-game. Also, Portal did not derive from the Half-life series, although the two series do share the same “universe”.
And there is no way the average preson who played Portal 2 beat the singleplayer in 4 hours. That’s pretty much one sitting right there! Within one day?! And the co-op campaign takes 3 hours? You best be joking. I really doubt most people beat either mode in such a short length of time. Also, it would help to mention how the portals work a little more than the gels. Most people don’t know what Portal is even about, after all. I think you could have done a much better job explaining this.
Damian Guzman Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Thank you for pointing out the errors in my story. And Well thats how long it took me and my brother to beat it, although I really do appreciate the criticism it helps me write better, and maybe itll help on my next story. Thanks again!