Review: Portal 2

     Some reviewers make you wait until the end of their reviews to see their final scores. I may sometimes, but this needs to be said right off the bat: Portal 2 gets a 5/5. It's a great game and if you have any love for the first game, then you owe it to yourself to pick this up immediately. If you've never played Portal 1, I strongly urge you to pick it up before attempting to play Portal 2. The first game is a great game in its own right and entirely necessary to play through in order to truly appreciate its sequel.

      With that out of the way, let's get into the review proper. I just don't have enough good things to say about Portal 2. The writing is stellar, the voice acting is phenomenal, the puzzles are clever, and the game design is brilliant. What more could you ask for?

     I know that a major concern going into Portal 2 is the length of the game, considering how short the first game was. The single-player campaign in the second game is no marathon, but it certainly feels complete. In my opinion, it's just the right length. It took me somewhere between 8 and 10 hours to complete. I did take my time looking at the world and taking in as many of the sights and sounds as I could, but it's a pretty solid campaign length. Honestly, I'm not sure if I would have wanted it to be any longer. In my opinion, Portal 2 is well worth the $60 asking price for the single-player experience alone and the co-op campaign (which I have yet to try) only sweetens the deal.

     As I said earlier, everything about this game is great. Each time a new character was introduced I loved them almost immediately and pretty much any time dialogue was spoken I stopped what I was doing so I could just listen. It has some truly breathtaking moments mixed in with some of the most hilarious lines I can ever remember hearing in a game. GLaDOS is a treat once again, Cave Johnson (voiced by JK Simmons) is a welcome addition, and Wheatley (voiced by Stephen Merchant) is entertaining throughout the entire game. Valve somehow manages to stay away from the easy jokes at every turn and most of the jokes from the first game have been retired with style here.

     To be quite honest, when Valve announced Portal 2 I breathed a sigh and thought to myself, "I really just want Half-Life 2: Episode 3." Even though it isn't the game I wanted from Valve, Portal 2 surpasses every expectation I have for a video game. I was blown away by it from the very beginning and that feeling stayed with me throughout the entirity of the game. I won't talk plot at all, because I won't spoil the experience. It's best discovered for yourself.

     I can truly say that Portal 2 is one of the best games I have ever played and will remain very high up on my list of favorite games for a long time to come. It lifts itself up way over the bar in everything I could have hoped for and knocked my socks off. I can't say how much I love this game. I can't wait to jump back in to the single-player to clean up some achievement points and I definitely can't wait to get started on that co-op campaign. Valve, you've done it again.

Portal 2: 5/5

What I paid: $55 + $20 credit

What it's worth: $60

I pre-ordered Portal 2 from Amazon for $55 dollars with a $20 credit in addition. I played through the entire single-player in about 8-10 hours on the XBox 360, accruing 290 achievement points and 3 Avatar awards. I never launched the co-operative campaign.