Portal 2

[CDFN]

Despite the glowing press reviews, the game is being destroyed by users on metacritic:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-04-19-portal-2-metacritic-user-score-pounded

[Ragnarok-Sabin]

The complaints people have are largely ridiculous. The day 1 DLC is literally nothing but cosmetic things to make you stand out in Co-Op play. The Potato Sack was an interesting and unique marketing strategy, which people blew way out of proportion. As for game length, it took me easily twice as long as the original game to finish, and that was on Single Player alone. There is still an entire Co-Op campaign to play through, though I have read it's the shorter of the two.

When it comes down to it, Portal 2 is exactly what people should have expected. Anyone who expected anything different should go back and play the original game to remember what this series really is before they start BAWWing all over the internet.

Now, that done with, my experience with the game so far is amazing. It is exactly what I expected from a Portal sequel given a better budget. The dark humour is there in force, the voice acting is superb, the puzzles are extremely well crafted (and in general more complicated, but less twitchy than the original) and the game looks gorgeous. If you liked the original game at all, I would strongly suggest you pick this up: even with a single player campaign that lasted me about 6-7 hours, I felt I'd gotten my money's worth, without even touching Co-Op.

[Tooker]

The other thing with user scores in general is that they tend to be pretty extreme.  Don't like the pause menu?  Zero!  Had fun?  Ten!

Anyway, thanks for the mini-review, Ragnarok.  That's exactly what I was wondering.  And I'm happy with more complicated but less twitchy.  I didn't like the twitchy parts, but they weren't bad enough to make the game not awesome.

[Kevadu]

People have finished the game already?  It came out today!  I haven't even had a chance to try it yet because I'm, you know, working...

[Ragnarok-Sabin]

I somehow lucked out and finished exams super early this year. Since I don't start my summer work until next week, I picked it up at midnight off of Steam and started playing. Next thing I knew, there was daylight and I was watching the end credits.

[CDFN]

360 version isn't looking so hot:

http://www.play-mag.co.uk/screenshot-comparison-2/portal-2-ps3-vs-xbox-360-screenshot-gallery/

Aliasing is a lot more pronounced (my guess is mlaa on PS3 and no AA on 360) and there's this ugly blur filter covering the screen. It's really noticeable in the second pic.


Lens of truth:

http://www.lensoftruth.com/head2head/head2head-portal-2-screenshot-comparison/

Check the third pic, the AA difference is unbelievable.

[Farron]

So lucky to be able to finish it this quickly! In my country it will be holiday on Thursday and Friday so tomorrow I'll go as you did and play it till the end!
I have been so hyped for this game. Anyway, how does it stand for you compared to the first ?
I think the only thing I didn't like much about the first one were the puzzles were we had too many of the laser shotting things. I heard there's a generous checkpoint in Portal 2 so I hope this should not be a problem.

[Yoda]

Can co-op be played local or is it online only?

[Eusis]

Can co-op be played local or is it online only?

On PS3 (and undoubtedly 360) it can be played split-screen in addition to online. PC doesn't have that feature I don't think, which arguably IS a shame for the people that have Home Theater PC setups. But if you have a really nice one of those then I can't imagine a PS3 thrown in would be a pain, you can eat your cake and have it too then!

[Ragnarok-Sabin]

The co-op, as near as I can tell, is all online through Steam. It is streamlined in that there is an option to invite a Steam friend to game or find someone random online, but I didn't see an obvious LAN option.

As for comparing it to the first, I compare it favourably for sure. Everything that the first game did right is intact, and the things it did wrong are gone. I also found I died less overall through a single playthrough. The turrets were relatively easy to deal with, and you tend to have more options for dealing with them than you did in Portal 1. The odd times I did die, the checkpoints always seemed to be right at the end of a particularly tricky manouver, so I never had to repeat anything that would have just annoyed me to do again. Besides which, they mostly managed to avoid getting rid of the puzzles that were frustrating to execute: the challenge in this game comes from figuring out what to do, not figuing out how to do it right.

I especially liked that they managed to keep me thinking in weird ways. After the first Portal I was prepared to solve puzzles in a certain way, and it seems they recognized that and even play it against you a little.

All in all, very impressed.

[Kevadu]

Co-op is super fun.  I like it more than the single-player part (not that I've finished either).

[CDFN]

From my understanding, the co-op campaign is totally separate from the single player campaign - can anyone confirm?  I'll be playing this through with a friend of mine and said I wouldn't play it until he gets back from his holiday next week...

Although if the co-op campaign is a separate experience, maybe I have an excuse for playing it a little without him!

They are completely independent. You wont be able to play co-op alone, it's impossible to make any progress by yourself.

[Itches]

Cloud based storage for saves? That explains the near instant save speed. I'm a little over an hour in but so far I'm really enjoying it. Everything is so polished with it and I absolutely love the bridge mechanics. I wasn't a huge fan of the faith plates but after a couple levels with them I enjoy them. The laser redirection thing is alright. It doesn't feel too new but it does make you also start thinking in angles which nice. I haven't gotten to the paint stuff yet so I don't know how I'll feel about that, but the overall environments look beautiful and the dialogue is well delivered.

[Prime Mover]

I'm kinda confused about co-op. My girlfriend has been itching for us to play it together on my 360, but so far, everyone's been talking about the PS3 version, for some reason. So, is the co-op local on 360 or not?

[Kevadu]

As far as I know, both consoles offer split-screen co-op.  If you want to play online the PS3 version has the massive advantage of steam integration and the ability to play with people on the PC version (as well as other PS3s, of course).  The Xbox version can only play with other Xboxes.