This morning the much anticipated Portal 2, a game distributed by Valve Software, was released. Now, unlike most of my generation – I’m not a big gamer. I love Super Mario – but otherwise lack the coordination in my hands to play first-person shooters (or to perform heart surgery for that matter) like Halo, Half Life or Left 4 Dead. But like most sisters, I have a brother who is obsessed with the original Portal . He has the GLaDOS song “Still Alive” on his iPod and has played it so many times I can actually sing along with it (maybe I should thank him for that street cred?).
If you’re uneducated about games like me, here’s the story in a nutshell: Portal 2 is a follow up to the successful Portal game that came out in 2007 and subsequently became a sleeper hit that has gone on to sell over 4 million copies. Portal, a puzzle-solving/first person shooter game, takes place in a scientific testing facility and the point of the game is to use portals to escape rooms and to teleport objects to help navigate obstacles. There are no armies or scary aliens that attack, instead your only nemesis is an ever-watching A.I. named GLaDOS who has gone “slightly” insane and enjoys trying to psychologically torture you through sarcasm, lying, and constant promises of cake. GLaDOS has a huge fan base based on her witty, humorous attacks and her serenade at the end is almost more popular than the game.
The new Portal 2 is about four times as long as the original and now boasts a cooperative mode, so you can solve puzzles together. GLaDOS is back, angry as ever and ready to stop you at every turn. Rumor has it that there is a new song at the end too. For those interested in learning more about the game, I’d advise checking out it’s website. Otherwise I’m not going to say anymore, unless I accidentally spoil something I’m not suppose to and then lose what little gamer street cred I have.
“This was a triumph….”
