How do you make a sequel to a game that ended beautifully? A game that ended with little to no loose ends? A game that in its time was considered a masterpiece. Well, the Devs at Valve manage to pull it off nearly flawlessly, keeping the narrative of portal flowing seamlessly, while simultaneously perfecting and expanding the portal universe, capturing your attention within a vice grip with witty comedy and an amazing atmosphere 

Not far off from the original game, Portal 2 is best known for their stunning mechanics of jumping through one portal just to fly out another with all the momentum you left the first one with. The feel of this game is close to perfection. The main premise of the game is to think hard and solve all the challenging puzzles the game throws at you, all while being guided (or laughed at) by any one of the three narrating side characters: The announcer system, who has easily the shortest part in the game, teaching you how to use the amazing technology that is the portal gun; Wheatley, the friendly little idiotic ball of sunshine who helps you as much as he can; GLaDOS, the sadistic AI hellbent on slowly making you suffer through her comedy as revenge for your actions against her; and Cave Jhonson, the owner of Apeture science, the man who paid for everything, including the terrain you explore. 

The pure worldbuilding and graphics within this game are beautiful. The lab you’re trapped in slowly growing in scale to you as you explore many different environments, the broken-down aperture science test chambers, the innerworkings of the facility, the run-down beaten-up facility hidden away from the public and the fully repaired, collapsing once more, Enrichment center. Though the critics of this game may speak of how “Portal two is too old to be enjoyable” or how “Puzzle games are awful” or the most untrue of all “the comedy ruins portal’s worldbuilding.” 

However, Portal breaks the norms of both of those claims with style. The graphics of this game are stunning, able to compete and even surpass many modern triple A games, the puzzles and interesting thought-based game makes it playable to anyone, not requiring all too much skill, just the small bit of reasoning required to solve puzzles. The comedy within this game fits in perfectly with the worldbuilding, allowing you to better understand what to do, and to see what “the other guy” sees, the disregard for human suffering from GLaDOS, being used as a comedic theme that depicts her as a cold, heartless observer, for example. 

All in all, Portal 2 is one of the greatest games I have played in a long while. Sure the game may be a bit older than some people prefer, but I see no problem with it! The graphics are great, the audio is great, the story is amazing, there truly is no one “bad side” this game. Its high points compete with that of “The cake is a lie” from Portal One, one of the most recognized lines of all gaming, the only issue there is its platforms, only being playable on Ps3, Xbox 360 and steam.  

Honestly, if you ever have 10 dollars and boredom, portal 2 is the perfect game for you!