On Tuesday afternoon, viewers at home were tuned in, watching Gabe Newell make a surprising appearance at the annual Sony Press Conference to announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PS3. Stating that it will be the best platform to play Portal 2 because of Steamworks integration, enabling Steam achievements and cloud saving. In the meanwhile, Philip and I were invited to a special Portal 2 presentation by Valve’s Erik Johnson to discuss the new gameplay features that will be in the fully fledged sequel.
Needless to say, Portal 2 comes off as a robust experience that will satisfy new and old players alike with familiar but with much appreciated additions to the gameplay. Introduced in Portal 2 is a two player cooperative mode that is played with friends online or locally through splitscreen. The premise of the co-op campaign involves two robots that are intertwined with the main plot and are trying to escape from the clutches of GlaDOS. In contrast with Chell’s story, the co-op campaign takes a more humorous tone due to the fallibility of robots and their tendencies to take abuse easily. In terms of the gameplay, co-op is expected to be a difficult experience due to the nature of the level structure. Players will have to combine their intellectual thinking caps in order to overcome each level by utilizing not just two, but four portals. Erik has calmly forewarned us that the co-op campaign will result in numerous trial and error scenarios and probably broken friendships.
In the teaser trailer, GLaDOS reintroduces herself to the player by calmly reconciling “our differences … for science” yet the added playful aside “you monster†verifies that the statement you were just told, was a lie. Noted by the Portal Steam update in March, Portal 2’s main storyline has a central focus on the relationship between Chell and GLaDOS. Hundreds of years have passed since the first Portal and Aperture Science has gone into disarray and left the natural elements to determine its fate. Chell will have to confront with a changed facility in order to confront GlaDOS. Inevitably, the new facility brings additional challenges. This is found in Portal 2’s operative gameplay mechanics.
For example, the “Aerial Faith Plate†works as a catapult, launching the player and any cubes with it across long distances. The Excursion Funnel operates like a tractor beam, sending any objects through a portal and elevating them mid-air through a tunnel. Evidently, that there is a bit of verbose irony attached with these names, as the Thermal Discouragement Beam, in its simplest description, allows lasers to travel through portals. My favorite, the Pneumatic Diversity Vent sucks up anything and everything like a garbage disposal chute and is useful in taking out pesky turrets.
Also, the ability to utilize special types of gel creates another dimension to Portal 2. These gels work in conjunction with portals as they can canvas the landscape and change how you interact with the environment. The Repulusion Gel works in two states, the blue gel propels you to jump higher and the red gel maximizes speed.
It’s hard to fantom how all these gameplay elements fuse together but Erik threw up a final video compiling all the information I just stated into one cohesive package. Portal 2 is looking to rise into its own as a fully playable retail game and Valve is seeking the response and support among Portal fans to polish the final product. With the game coming out 2011 for PC, Xbox 360, and finally Playstation 3 platforms, it is a matter of time before we’re sucked back into the madness that defines the Portal franchise.
