Review: Portal 2

Release Date: Steam: April 19, 2011, Retail: NA: April 19, 2011, EU/AUS: April 21, 2011
Developed By: Valve Corporation
Genre: First-person Puzzle
Platforms: PC, Mac, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Platform Reviewed: PC

Fear not, this review will not contain spoilers. Any plot points mentioned here were revealed by Valve in trailers prior to the game's release.

The fact that I've felt it necessary to assure readers that this review will be spoiler free speaks volumes about the powerful effect Portal had on the gaming community. All over social networking sites and gaming forums people are being extra vigilant in what they read about Portal 2, begging those that have completed the game not to blurt out any details of its story. Portal received huge amounts of praise for the combination of its unique logical puzzle-solving gameplay and its brilliantly intelligent and witty story-telling, despite a confined setting with just one speaking character. The element of surprise was a core part of the Portal experience so it stands to reason that gamers have been looking forward to having the sequel throw everything they couldn't possibly have expected at them.

GlaDOS and Aperture Science have left a lasting impression on the gaming community. Portal 2, then, has the extremely daunting task of remaining absolutely true to the fiction and personality of its predecessor while introducing new elements to keep it from becoming 'just a sequel'. Almost immediately it's apparent that the story goes much deeper than in the first game as you're introduced to a new character in the first few minutes. Already the dynamic has shifted; Chell, the silent woman you'll once again be playing as, is no longer alone with GlaDOS. There's much more of a narrative this time round with some rather delicious and completely 'out there' plot twists that will genuinely keep you guessing as to how it's all going to unravel.

This is supported by the return of the dark humour that made the first game so memorable, with a well-written script complimented by fantastic voice acting. GlaDOS remains as chillingly menacing as ever, while the new characters are introduced with equally strong personalities. No one character ever steals the spotlight and it's likely you'll come out of the game finding it difficult to pick a favourite, as they each have a substantial effect on you in their own way. It's also interesting to see Aperture Science itself given a little more attention by allowing you to explore its history, but at the same time, you're not given so much that it loses any of the mystery that makes it such an intriguing company.

The voice actors for Portal 2 have been well chosen for their respective characters. Timing and delivery are spot on and allow for some genuine laugh-out-loud moments while at other times sending shivers down your spine.

Also noticeable is the increase in music over the original. The score includes a range of ambient background music as well as appropriately dramatic pieces for some of the more eventful moments. An interesting touch is the extra musical elements that are injected into the overall theme when interacting with specific objects in the game's environment. Even though they occur at the moment you perform a certain action, they somehow feel like they're a natural part of the music.

After becoming enthralled by the introduction and being taken back into the laboratory you've previously grown to love (and fear), you could be forgiven for almost forgetting that there's an actual game to play here too. Portal laid the foundations of a simple premise that facilitated some truly complex logic problems. For those that missed out, Portal and its sequel equip you with a device that allows you to place two portals on certain surfaces within the Aperture laboratories. Enter one of the portals and you exit through the other. It's simple, but add in puzzle elements such as blocks, buttons and lasers and you end up with some wonderfully tricky but logical conundrums. Portal 2 gives you a quick reminder as to how your portals work in some 'classic' test chambers before moving on to the new mechanics designed to further test your brain-power.

Like the story, the gameplay of Portal is fragile. Mess with it too much and you could end up losing whatever it was that made it work so well. Thankfully, Valve have struck a good balance of quantity and quality as only a handful of new elements are introduced, each working very well with the existing tools at hand. Some of the test chambers are truly devious and getting into the 'thinking with portals mindset' is definitely required to come up with solutions. There are plenty of those satisfying moments where, after you've been looking around a test chamber, prodding buttons and scratching your head for some time, it all suddenly clicks into place in your mind as you exclaim a triumphant "Oh... I get it!"

The single-player mode clocks in at around 7-8 hours, give or take depending on how many times you find yourself stumped. This may seem short for a full priced game that has been in development for so long but when I reached the end, it felt about right. It's clear that every one of those hours has been lovingly crafted as the game is consistently enjoyable throughout. Furthermore, any longer and it might have run out of steam* as the story could only tease you so for so long before rewarding you with a conclusion. It's also best to play Portal 2 in sessions of a couple of hours at a time as thinking with portals can be mentally taxing if engaged in for too long.

If you've got a Portal playing friend to bring along, Portal 2 offers a cooperative mode that, thankfully, never feels tacked on. Entering this mode makes you realise just how 'meant to be' cooperative Portal gameplay is. The addition of another player with an extra two portals allows for some interesting twists on the puzzles you experience in the single-player mode. The thought process that's usually confined to your mind now becomes a back and forth conversation of collective thinking, as you each work together to come up with a solution. Though voice chat is highly recommended, you're given tools, such as a countdown timer and the ability to place a marker where you want a portal creating, to facilitate the basic communication you'll need to get by. There's no less of the charm that makes the single-player great either, as GlaDOS is along for the ride once again to offer much needed sarcastic masochism.

Every now and then a sequel comes along that feels more like an important event than just a video game. Portal 2 is one such sequel. The original saw such huge popularity that the follow-up had to be no less than superior in every single way. Valve have excelled in pulling this off and it was a genuine pleasure to be able to experience a game that has had such a powerful emotional impact on myself and hopefully, many others.

Rating: 10/10

*Not a pun. Too predictable.

Review: Assassin's Creed 2

Release Date: Playstation 3/Xbox 360: November 2009, PC: March 2010, Mac: EU: September 2010, NA: January 2011
Developed By: Ubisoft Montreal
Genre: Third-person Action-adventure
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Platform Reviewed: Playstation 3

Assassin's Creed 2 is the follow up to the original game of 2007. While the first game was generally well received for its unique assassin-em-up gameplay, many players cited repetition and blandness as its biggest shortcomings. The sequel aims to address this by cramming in as much flavour as possible to create a rich and exhilarating experience

It's advisable that you begin Assassin's Creed 2 with knowledge of the first game's plot. Either by playing through the original or reading a plot summary online, understanding certain elements that were introduced in Assassin's Creed is vital, as the sequel jumps straight into the story with very little explanation of what has transpired so far. Especially important is to know what the 'Animus' is, as newcomers to the series may be confused when they find themselves beginning the game as a character from present day rather than the assassin on the front of the game's case.

"How many of these things are there? ...Animuses? Animi?"

Assassins's Creed 2 continues to follow Desmond, a descendent of at least two assassins of the past. By entering the Matrix-esque Animus, Desmond is able to relive the memories of his ancestors to learn the locations of dangerous artifacts that his modern day enemies are seeking, as well as training him to become a skilled assassin himself. Upon entering the Animus, the story switches focus to 15th century Italy and a young man named Ezio Auditore, who finds himself wrapped up in a story of conspiracies and trains as an assassin in order to 'remove' those who seek power through murder and malice.

Engaging in Ezio's story is very enjoyable. It's the classic tale of a power struggle between corrupt political and religious figures and underdog freedom fighters. The game is structured into chapters in which you work with other characters to set up the assassination of one or more of the evil protagonists, concluding with the actual assassination itself. It introduces you to some characters you truly come to despise and lets you take their power away from them, along with their life. One might expect an assassin to be cold and soulless but Ezio is positively charming, cheeky and heroic. At no point does he show joy in his executions and he only kills those who have killed others. There's a fine line between a heroic assassin and a murderer and Ubisoft Montreal have pulled it off well. You're well aware that you're killing another human being but it always feels like every kill is justified and for the greater good.

Desmond, on the other hand, has next to no personality to speak of. It's clear that Ubisoft Montreal were trying to create a spin on a traditional assassin story by having someone from the present day relive memories of the past, but it feels entirely unnecessary. The story of Ezio is enjoyable enough that whenever the plot shifts back to present day, it's nothing more than an interruption. Occasionally, characters will also interject with hints while you're playing as Ezio, completely breaking the immersion. A game with a strong plot is supposed to make you forget that you're playing a game but here it almost feels like Desmond is playing a game himself. Thankfully, trips back to the present are infrequent so you do get to enjoy Ezio's story for the majority of the game. Still, it makes you wonder if the overall plot would have lost anything, or even been improved by, the absence of this odd story concept.

"I have plenty of outlets."

While there is the main story to follow, the game takes on a free roam style and offers you plenty of side quests to take part in. These are optional but they serve to break up the series of large scale assassinations with some variety. On offer are races over rooftops, courier missions, smaller assassination contracts and a plethora of treasure hunting with many collectables to find. Money can be earned by upgrading the Auditore family villa to bring in revenue which can then be spent on armour and weapon upgrades. Also of note are the assassin tombs that contain some of the more challenging climbing sections which eventually add the obstacle of timed doors and switches. The most interesting side quest involves locating glyphs left by another mysterious Animus user which unravels a completely separate side story and has you solving some fairly tricky Da Vinci Code style puzzles.

Controlling Ezio is mostly intuitive but can run into occasional issues. 15th century Italy has a conveniently traversable system of rooftops and simple free running controls allow you to glide along them with ease. This allows for some exciting chase scenes, intense stalking of targets in the streets below and is even just generally a more fun way to move around the city. All of the free running is bound to one context-sensitive button which keeps it from becoming too complex, but this is also where the problems come in. Holding the button to sprint also starts Ezio off on any climbable surface, so it can be frustrating when you're trying to give chase and you accidentally get too close to a wall, which Ezio then wastes time trying to climb up. It's also sometimes unclear which way you're aiming before performing a jump, which can result in Ezio leaping to his death for no apparent reason. These issues don't come up often enough to be a major problem but there's definite room for improvement.

The combat is also kept simple, using the standard lock-on, block and counter system that many third-person action games have employed in the past. Countering is a case of watching your enemies' movements and correctly timing your button presses. Attacks can also be dodged leaving your enemies open to your own attacks and there a few other neat tricks such as disarming foes and using their own weapons against them. The combat works well and allows you to slaughter hordes of guards like a pro but the simplicity is, unfortunately, its downfall. The problem is that the fights never increase in difficulty as the game progresses. You'll always be fighting the same types of guards and the same methods can always be applied to defeat them. It gets to a point where, instead of sneaking around groups of guards, you just rush straight into them because you can expect it to be an easy encounter.

Not limited to just the combat, there are also a number of mechanics that are introduced in the early stages of the game that are never really put to full use. In one of the earlier chapters you learn how to blend in with crowds to avoid the attention of guards when they're on high alert. Any less-than-legal actions you perform raise your notoriety in the city. Become notorious enough and the guards will start to look out for you which is when the blending comes in handy. It's odd, then, that you can play through the majority of the game without ever getting to this point. When your notoriety even slightly increases you get the option of tearing down wanted posters and bribing heralds to lower it. It's easy to keep your notoriety low enough that the blending mechanic is never really used outside of a few of the more sneaky plot assassinations. It's a shame as it had the potential to be a refreshing take on stealthy gameplay.

"To test it you would have to leap off a tower. Who would be mad enough to do a thing like that?"

What the game lacks in challenge, it makes up in style. This is an extremely well presented game that creates a great atmosphere of a bustling 15th century Italian city. Crowds of people go about their daily business and react suitably to your actions. Start climbing walls and they'll comment on how crazy they think you are. They'll gather round and watch any scraps you get into, but take an apprehensive step back if you try to approach them afterwards. Bards will run up to you and sing of your fame. All of these nice little touches work together to give the feeling of a living, breathing city. This is complimented by rich background noise, with the sound of people chattering which has a great effect of echoing off the walls when you're up on the rooftops.

The cities themselves are beautiful, boasting some intricate architecture. Climb to the top of one of the taller buildings and you get a really good sense of the sheer scale of the city. The highest points of the city can be used to survey the surrounding area and fill in a section of your map. Activate one of these viewpoints and the camera pans out and almost seems like it's showing off just how far you can see.

The script is well written, often witty and is accompanied by some exceptional voice acting. It makes a nice change that the accents reflect the setting of the game, unlike in past games where it's believed that everyone in the world (Persia, for instance...) had a 'British' accent in the middle ages. The game can be played with either an English or full Italian voice track. Even in the English voice track the accents are Italian and the characters switch between both languages frequently. Generally, the main exposition is in English and can sometimes be followed by personal speech expressing emotion in Italian. It never feels forced and only adds to the authenticity of the character.

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted."

Assassin's Creed 2 favours style over challenge. While players aren't going to have a hard time getting through the game, it's still a joy to play throughout. This a game well suited to completionists due to the large amount of things to do, even after the main game is completed. It's clear a lot of work has gone into making you feel like a skilled assassin of Renaissance Italy and it's definitely paid off.

Rating: 8/10