For science, you monster!
If only science was as much fun as Portal 2! I have just finished this game and am finding it hard to imagine having fun on any other game again. Ever.
From the makers of Half Life, Portal 2 shouldn't be such a surprisingly addictive, rich and fun game. Half Life provided more to gamers who were bored of blowing the limbs off of mindless AIs with the latest BFG (search for it on Urban Dictionary). Suddenly gamers were immersed in a new world, rich in both story, and real characters who popped up to carry you through the game. While the characters were all great, the science of Half Life obviously drifted into a fantastic, futuristic fantasy. However, unknown to the researchers at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility (from Half Life), a rival company had been making break through discoveries in teleportation, and had even developed a so-called 'Portal Device'.
When Valve introduced Aperture Science as a separate Science Research company into the Half Life universe they had made an excellent decision. Unlike Black Mesa, Aperture Science focuses on human ability in a world where teleportation is not only possible but hilariously good fun! Aperture Science allowed Valve to develop a game that drifted away from the 'high science' of Black Mesa, creating a game that was hilarious, good fun and totally unlike anything else on the market.
Aperture Science exists so that the Half Life brand is not eroded by the good humoured, basically well meaning characters from the Portal series. It's actually quite remarkable that Portal 2 is, I suppose, technically a 'shoot 'em up': although no one actually gets killed! Even the, for want of a better word, 'baddie-AI' isn't really bad. He's just an idiot. He's just an idiot in the sense that Karl Pilkington is an idiot. Harmless, hilarious and honest, but an idiot all the same. And what a great 'baddie' Wheatley is. An idiot AI, voiced by Steven Merchant! Yes, that's Steven Merchant, the Bristolian who wrote The Office and starred in and wrote extras.
The great thing with a 'baddie' who is, at heart, an idiot, is that I found myself wishing to complete one level, to move onto the next one and to hear the ramblings of a fool along my way. I hope more games like Portal will be released in the near future. Games that are hilarious and gripping and offer gamers something new will be timeless (like Half Life)! I'm growing tired of the more interesting ways to blow people up and I can't wait to see more originality from Valve. Roll on Half Life 3, if it has a Portal gun in it, it could be remembered as this decade's 'Zelda: Ocarina of Time'!
From the makers of Half Life, Portal 2 shouldn't be such a surprisingly addictive, rich and fun game. Half Life provided more to gamers who were bored of blowing the limbs off of mindless AIs with the latest BFG (search for it on Urban Dictionary). Suddenly gamers were immersed in a new world, rich in both story, and real characters who popped up to carry you through the game. While the characters were all great, the science of Half Life obviously drifted into a fantastic, futuristic fantasy. However, unknown to the researchers at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility (from Half Life), a rival company had been making break through discoveries in teleportation, and had even developed a so-called 'Portal Device'.
When Valve introduced Aperture Science as a separate Science Research company into the Half Life universe they had made an excellent decision. Unlike Black Mesa, Aperture Science focuses on human ability in a world where teleportation is not only possible but hilariously good fun! Aperture Science allowed Valve to develop a game that drifted away from the 'high science' of Black Mesa, creating a game that was hilarious, good fun and totally unlike anything else on the market.
Aperture Science exists so that the Half Life brand is not eroded by the good humoured, basically well meaning characters from the Portal series. It's actually quite remarkable that Portal 2 is, I suppose, technically a 'shoot 'em up': although no one actually gets killed! Even the, for want of a better word, 'baddie-AI' isn't really bad. He's just an idiot. He's just an idiot in the sense that Karl Pilkington is an idiot. Harmless, hilarious and honest, but an idiot all the same. And what a great 'baddie' Wheatley is. An idiot AI, voiced by Steven Merchant! Yes, that's Steven Merchant, the Bristolian who wrote The Office and starred in and wrote extras.
The great thing with a 'baddie' who is, at heart, an idiot, is that I found myself wishing to complete one level, to move onto the next one and to hear the ramblings of a fool along my way. I hope more games like Portal will be released in the near future. Games that are hilarious and gripping and offer gamers something new will be timeless (like Half Life)! I'm growing tired of the more interesting ways to blow people up and I can't wait to see more originality from Valve. Roll on Half Life 3, if it has a Portal gun in it, it could be remembered as this decade's 'Zelda: Ocarina of Time'!
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