Chambers take on a whole new sense of menace and unpredictability, and the diversions outside the pristine walls of the first Portal seem like minor side steps as you navigate your way through rough, overgrown vegetation and an AI that harbours one hell of a grudge. With the tables turned, the escape is more deliberate, more forced, more dangerous. I think we can put our differences behind us. Sure enough, when you think you’ve become accustomed to the tricks, Portal 2 switches everything around again, and the inevitable reunion gives Valve the chance to flex some muscles. You’re thrown straight into test chambers, of course, but things are different this time around – without GLaDOS the tests are less threatening, seemingly easier to an experienced subject but it’s all deceipt and deception, the game throwing curveball after Companion Cube, constantly changing the rules as the plot starts to take hold. His needs become clear soon enough, his goals forming much of the game’s first third.Ī first third that continously teases the player. Enter Wheatley, a Stephen Merchant voiced Personality Core awakened at the end of Portal, who’s intent on escaping and – it appears – taking you with him. It should be no surprise that player character Chell returns, then, dragged back from the surface and housed in what appears at first glance to be a motel room but over the ravages of (accelerated) time soon ages and withers along with the rest of the Aperture Science facility you realise you’re still trapped in. And whilst with most sequels we’d naturally recommend a play through of the prior game in advance, with Portal 2 it’s almost a requirement – diving in to this game blind is akin to starting Lord of the Rings at the Council of Elrond: yes, the good stuff’s just about to start but you’ll have missed all the build up. It might seem churlish to simply label what amounts to a direct follow-up that’s richer, more developed, better produced and stronger in plot as a mere one word comparison to the first game, but you need a frame of reference, and that’s the best one we can offer.
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