The Clackamas print., April 20, 2011, Page 5, Image 5

ArtsCCulture
aced@clackamas. edu
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Clackamas Print 5
|
KAYLA GALLOWAY
ANO
BRIAN BALDWIN’S
REVIEW OF
PORTAL 2
RATING: 5 OUT OF 5
PRICK: $60
PUBLISHER: VALVE
ESRB RATING: E1O+
ELEASED: APRIL 1»
PLATFORMS:
PC, XBOX 360,
PLAYSTATION 3
Photo courtesy of Valve
led with caffeine and
•ky attitudes, two geeks
; to beat “Portal 2” in
night
By Brian Baldwin &
Kayla Calloway
Editor & Co-Editor-m-Chief
In layman’s terms: speedy thing
1 in, speedy thing comes out.”
et your mind out of the gutter
s. I’m talking about the cult video
e hit “Portal 2.” “Portal” is one of
nost anticipated games of 2011. It
made by Valve and was released
ipril 19.
he original game was a short
i that appeared in the “Half-life
he Orange Box” game, which is
available in game stores, both
' and used. This sequel not only
>s more challenging puzzles but
cooperative play, mayhem and
eeper look inside the Aperture
nces labs. However all of that
s in comparison to the return of
homicidal artificial intelligence
¡ram, GLAdOS.
!o-worker Kayla Calloway and
tempted to beat the co-op cam­
in in a mad-dash, “chug-a-thon”
energy drinks and lame sexual
tendos revolving around portals,
¡dless to say, we lasted two and a
[hours and crashed. (K.C.: To be
,Brian, we were not expecting the
ip play to be nearly as long as it
i. We only got through the second
ing chamber.)
'o-op is perhaps the most antici-
id and dreadful feature of “Portal
As the first “Portal” was a chal-
e of thinking how to strategi-
I place your two precious portal
ons (K.C.: Or “thinking with por-
which is the catch-phrase now),
nds would become back-seat driv-
telling you where to place portals
at what times. Now co-op allows
friend to put their money where
i mouth is and help you achieve
• goals in the name of science.
■alve has created several ways to
■your teamwork, such as sequenc-
■ portals in a way that one play
■®ues their momentum to reach
■rticular ledge or handing each
v blocks through windows in the
I Be. This requires constant com-
B Nation, though, as your friend
may not have the same plan you
have or she might not notice a par­
ticular button ... even though they are
big, bright , red buttons the size of a
trash can. (K.C.: You wouldn’t have
noticed them either! There’s no way
to tell what way you’ll be facing when
you come out of the hole! And yes,
that is what she said.)
The dread that comes with co-op is
the fear of team betrayal or incompe­
tence. Valve added in new obstacles
that include lasers and catapults that
can send your tiny metal robot into
a huge steel fan. Most of those chal­
lenges only require a small spark of
inspiration, and your partner is jump­
ing up and down on a button control­
ling a bridge over boiling acid.
Other points of dread come in if
you think that your partner isn’t
going to be of very much help. Such
as if they are flying around the
room on a set of catapults yelling
“Wheee!” when they are supposed to
be catching cubes in the air. (K.C.:
I figured out that it was the correct
way. You just were failing with the
button pushing/timing thing.)
Valve’s use of humor makes the
“Portal” series a very fun experi­
ence. In co-op, GLAdOS will con­
stantly remind you and your partner
that the testing chambers are not for
competition but will also constantly
remind you that blue is performing
less admirably than orange and has
lost points. (K.C.: I think that’s just
an automatic thing. I highly doubt
that she really knew if you were
winning.)
This can cause a friendly rivalry
between you and your partner and
allow you to point out that the
game likes you better. Warning:
This course of action may result in
unnecessary glares and threats of
strangulation. (K.C.: Not unneces­
sary.)
In single player, you resume the
role of the previous game’s pro­
tagonist, Chell. After destroying
GLAdOS and escaping the testing
chamber, you find yourself sucked
back in, and you wake up in the
Aperture Sciences facility again,
A small eyebot voiced by Ricky
Gervais helps guide you through
several levels where you both acci­
dently tell the facility to repair and
reactivate GLAdOS.
As she confronts you about your
decision to “kill” her in the previous
game, she informs you that because
of her programming, she stores the
last three minutes of her previous
life (K.C.: Way to ruin it). Watching
her “death” over and over again has
made her very angry, and she drops
you back into the testing labs, forc­
ing you to run through her gauntlet
of testing chambers. Armed with your
trusty portal gun, it is time to kick
some robot butt while instantly get­
ting from point A to point B in style.
I give “Portal” a 5/5. The game is
a fun cooperative experience even if
you are only playing single player
with a friend watching. It tests your
thought process on how to beat the
levels. The humor of the characters is
worth $25 of the $60 price-tag alone.
In the current selection of games out
there, it’s difficult to find a game that
will have a turret that’s so loveable
and wants to hug you with its bullets
and still be rated for children ages 10
and up.
K.C.: I second that opinion, Brian,
and give this game a five as well. I
do suggest that you pick up the first
game before you shell out the $60 for
the sequel. Like I said, most game
stores have them still and they run
about $ 18, give or take. You can now
purchase it in the Xbox marketplace
for 1200 points or around $15.
The mini-game was so popular
and well-received that GLAdOS made
Game Informer’s top 25 characters of
all-time list. It’s a title she deserves
as no other character, good or bad,
can make you laugh as your fight­
ing for the life of yourself and your
companion cube, all the while keep­
ing your hopes up with the promise of
tasty, tasty cake.
what is my next move?
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