Maybe one day Valve will get around to making a third game in the series, but inevitably, this game’s short lifespan has left gamers, including me, wanting so much more. This is the only factor whereby decisive improvement was not made but was for me, needed the most improvement in order for it to stand among the very best games ever developed. The second portal game can be made to last a maximum of 3 hours, not counting multiplayer. Where Portal 2 still doesn’t excel is unfortunately in its lifespan. They managed to keep things as simple as possible whilst developing a game to be as intricate as possible. It’s actually quite impressive to me how the developers managed to further build on the concept of the original game without having to alter anything about its control scheme. There were no issues with the control scheme of the first game, and as the second game was built using the same engine and including the same principle gameplay features, there aren’t any issues to be had in the second game either. The ending boss fight is also handled wonderfully differently from that of the original game. The inclusion of a plethora of easter eggs to discover throughout the game also does exceptionally well to expand on the mythology of the series, whilst at the same time, further linking it to the Half-Life universe. However, far more elaborate puzzles have been included that build on the premise of the original game, which has helped to diversify and broaden the entire concept. The core gameplay has remained the same as that of the original the player must use the Aperture Portal device to create portals in order to solve puzzles and progress through the game.

The inclusion of new enemies to have to deal with only adds to the conceptual design of the overall series in addition. It reminds me very much of the same improvements made with Skyrim over Oblivion, where every ruin or cave no longer looked the same as one another and had a lot more individual diversity to them. A lot of the settings were pretty much identical to one another in the original game before the end of GLaDOS’s trials, but in the second, the replication of textures and scenery is much less noticeable. One of the most notable improvements in the conceptual design of the game over the first.

Whilst I had a few issues to address where the game was concerned myself, it is still a decisive improvement over the first title and still holds up as being one of the more unique gaming experiences of the last decade or so. Released some years after the original game to widespread critical acclaim, Portal 2 is considered one of the best titles of the seventh generation, perfecting the formula of the original game and expanding on it in many different ways. Tweet Developer(s) – Valve Publisher(s) – Valve Director(s) – Joshua Weier Producer(s) – Gabe Newell PEGI – 12

Portal and portal 2 games for xbox 360