Portal 2
| Portal 2 | |||
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| Studio |
 Valve Corporation
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| Publisher |
Valve Corporation (Download) Electronic Arts (Retail)
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
April 19, 2011 April 21, 2011 April 21, 2011 April 19, 2011   |
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| platform | Windows , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , macOS , Linux , Xbox One | ||
| Game engine | Source | ||
| genre | Action adventure , puzzle game | ||
| Game mode | Single player , co-op mode | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard , gamepad | ||
| medium | Download , DVD-ROM , Blu-ray Disc | ||
| language | Multilingual | ||
| copy protection | Steamworks | ||
| Age rating |
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Portal 2 is a computer game by Valve and the successor to Portal . The game was announced on March 5, 2010 and released on April 19, 2011 for PC and Mac via Steam and on April 21, 2011 by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles . A version that supports Linux followed on February 25, 2014 . Portal 2 has also been playable on Xbox One since June 2016 .
Portal 2 combines puzzles and platform elements that the player must master from the first person perspective using the so-called Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device , or Portal Gun for short . With this device, two interconnected portals can be created within the game on certain flat surfaces, through which the game figure and objects can be moved. In addition, new play elements have been added to Portal 2 , including three different gels that change the surface properties of ceilings, walls, floors and objects, as well as tractor beams, light bridges and lasers.
In the single player campaign, the player once again takes control of Chell, a young woman who was in a long deep sleep after the events in Portal . The Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS), an artificial intelligence and the antagonist in the predecessor, as well as the rest of the Aperture Science research institutions are left to decay. Chell is visited by the clumsy Wheatley and unintentionally brings GLaDOS to new life with him. GLaDOS is visibly upset with Chell's return and begins to send Chell through a variety of new tests again as she gradually rebuilds the research facility. With Wheatley's help and the portal gun, Chell tries to escape the test rooms.
With an expanded story compared to its predecessor, Valve is also introducing new characters into the game. In addition to the sterile test rooms, some spacious areas were also implemented. Portal 2 also has a co-op mode for two players who slip into the roles of the robots Atlas and P-Body and have to master levels through cooperation.
Portal 2 was praised for its humor as well as the dialogues and their speakers. The game hit a metascore of 95 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 .
Gameplay
Portal 2 is a puzzle game with platformers Run -elements that from the first-person view is played. In addition to the normal movement options such as running, jumping and crouching, the player can also interact with various objects. Both in the single player part and in the co-op mode, the goal is to overcome a series of test rooms that are peppered with numerous obstacles and traps. Among other things, the player has to overcome deep abysses and acid pools or deactivate self-firing systems in order to reach the exit.
The introductory minutes serve to convey the basic control and interaction with the environment. The player then has to use the portal gun to solve the puzzles in the test rooms of the Aperture Science research facility. With the Portal Gun, two portals can be created on certain flat surfaces such as walls and ceilings, which are connected to each other in such a way that an object entering one portal or the player himself can instantly exit the other portal while maintaining speed and orientation exit. The functionality has not changed compared to its predecessor, but in Portal 2 the player also has to bring liquids (gels) and laser and tractor beams into interaction with the portals.
The three colored gels introduced, which are pumped through large pipes in the research facility, can be used to alter the physical properties of surfaces. The blue gel (repulsion gel, from English repulsion = recoil) enables the player to jump higher, while the orange gel (propulsion gel, from English propulsion = drive, propulsion) is strongly accelerated. The third, white gel (conversion gel), on the other hand, allows portals to be created on surfaces on which it is usually not possible. Valve originally implemented a fourth gel that made it possible to walk on walls and ceilings. After some test players complained of nausea and disorientation, the gel was removed again.
The player has to spray the gels around the room with the help of the portals in such a way that the relevant surfaces are covered by them in order to allow progress. Objects such as cubes can also be “painted” in order to influence their physical properties in the manner described. Several gels cannot be mixed, but cover each other and can also be completely removed with the help of water.
In addition to the cubes known from Portal, there are now cubes with reflective surfaces to deflect laser beams. The Companion Cube decorated with hearts from the predecessor, with which GLaDOS tried to create an emotional bond between Chell and the lifeless object, in order to then destroy it in an incinerator, is also represented in Portal 2. In some places in the game there are catapult-like plates embedded in the floor and walls that can throw the player and objects through the air.
As a further play element, so-called tractor beams are used, which can move players as well as objects and the gels in the area of influence of their force field through the air and thus also over abysses. The tractor beams pass in a known manner through the portals created by the player.
Two new characters have been added for the cooperative two-player mode, as well as a separate framework with new levels. The characters are the robot Atlas, a modified personality sphere, and P-Body, a modified turret. Both robots move on two legs and each have their own portal gun, so that a total of four portals can be created. Once part of the research facility, they are now independent functional units that are now being sent through a series of test chambers under GLaDOS 'abuse (referred to by GLaDOS as the “Cooperative Test Initiative”). The robots use gestures and sounds instead of dialogues to communicate and they have to help each other in order to successfully complete the tests. GLaDOS seems to get into trouble through the cooperation between the two and tries to incite them against each other by praising only one of them or not recognizing his efforts. The co-op mode takes place after the single player campaign and also indicates some connections, but does not necessarily have to be played in this order to understand it.
Valve stated that both the single-player part and the co-op mode had a playing time that was around two to two and a half times longer than its predecessor.
As already known from previous Valve games, Portal 2 also has a comment mode within the game, with notes and comments from the developers and authors, in which, for example, significant changes to original ideas and discarded scenes are discussed.
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Portal 2 takes place after the events of the first part. The player again takes control of Chell, who is pulled out of the picture at the end of Portal by a figure with a metallic voice, outside the player's field of vision - this scene was retrospectively updated to the Game inserted. Chell is apparently in a hotel room when she is guided through a medical test by a robotic voice and then lies down in bed. When she wakes up again, the decay of the room furnishings suggests that a long time must have passed.
Wheatley, a clumsy ball-shaped robot that moves on a rail system on the ceiling, helps Chell to escape when the entire room - which is located in the middle of a huge number of freight containers in a huge warehouse - suddenly begins to move and threatens to break apart. Wheatley steers the container towards a wall, which he breaks through. The two are then back within the “Aperture Science” research facility.
Wheatley is one of many personality spheres, also known as nuclei, that were activated after the alleged destruction of GLaDOS and that independently built their own microcosm with the automatic systems of Aperture Science. The robot is affected by the disintegration of the facility and tries to remedy this condition. At the beginning Wheatley acts as a guide and guides Chell through the first few minutes of the game. After a short time, the two reach GLaDOS and accidentally awaken them to new life. She accuses Chell of killing her years ago and begins to rebuild the destroyed research facility. In order to "put their mutual differences behind", GLaDOS sends Chell to further tests.
Wheatley instructs Chell to take part in GLaDOS 'tests in order to later flee together. Finally, he opens an escape route from one of the test chambers and takes Chell to the central factory for the gun turrets and the production facility for the neurotoxin, so that Chell can destroy or sabotage the facilities, and then leads them to GLaDOS, which is without the guns and the neurotoxin is defenseless. Chell can replace GLaDOS 'with Wheatley's personality, whereupon the latter takes control of the entire research facility and wants to take Chell to the surface in an elevator. Megalomaniac due to his newly acquired power over the plant, Wheatley changed his mind. It transfers GLaDOS 'personality into a memory module, which is operated by a potato battery.
Wheatley recognizes the same shortly afterwards: He is dealing with a personality sphere that was conceived as particularly stupid and idiotic. His presence was originally intended to slow down GLaDOS 'computing power in order to keep her deadly personality under control. Wheatley reacts to this revelation with a fit of anger ( “I'm not a fool!” ) And transports the two of them through the elevator shaft kilometers deep into the most remote halls of the Aperture Science laboratories.
After the fall, GLaDOS is kidnapped by a bird while Chell tries to get back to the higher areas of the labs. She is accompanied by automatically played sound recordings from the former managing director of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson, and thus gets information about the company. On her way through the old test chambers, Chell learns that Johnson was becoming more and more mentally confused by poisoning from ground moon rock, and that the company shifted from its original goals to focusing only on the testing of test objects for science. If elite soldiers were initially used for this purpose, they later switched to using volunteers for a fee, and finally to employing employees from their own company. This test protocol was deeply rooted in GLaDOS 'programming.
Chell also finds out that GLaDOS 'intelligence comes from an assistant to Johnson, Caroline, who was a test person for the transfer of a human mind to a computer system. Later after that program, Caroline was transferred to run the company from the terminally ill Johnson.
Meanwhile, Chell finds GLaDOS and the two agree to a truce to stop Wheatley before his incompetence destroys the entire facility. Eventually the two reach Wheatley, but GLaDOS 'plan to outsmart Wheatley's mind with a paradox fails miserably because he doesn't understand it, but rather the self-contradicting sentence "This sentence is wrong." simply stamped as true.
Wheatley, influenced by GLaDOS 'core protocol, sends the two through the most dangerous test chambers and ignores the warnings, thereby destroying the entire power supply and building systems. In the end, the two of them escape the test chambers and face it. GLaDOS initiates another personality transfer, while Chell throws Wheatley off the hook by connecting defective cores to his infrastructure. When the roof of the facility collapses, Chell shoots a portal at the surface of the moon, sucking her and Wheatley into space. GLaDOS succeeds in pulling Chell back to earth through the portal and leaving Wheatley behind in the vastness of space.
Some time later, Chell wakes up and GLaDOS introduces her to the two robots Atlas and P-Body, which were designed for cooperative tests. She explains that she learned important things about humanity through Caroline's personality. She then erases that part of her personality and then dismisses Chell from the Aperture Science research facility with the words: “The best solution to a problem is usually the simplest. Honest! Killing you is hard! […] You win! Please go! [...] Don't come back! "
The game ends with Chell after a long elevator ride, including an opera of singing turrets, in the middle of a wide field. The door opens again, and the affected Weighted Companion Cube from the first part lands at Chell's feet. As with the predecessor, the credits are accompanied by a "report" GLaDOS 'in song form (title "Want You Gone").
In the epilogue, Wheatley glides aimlessly through space and regrets the betrayal of Chell.
synchronization
For the English dubbing, Valve carefully selected its voice actors to maintain the atmosphere in the game.
Since Chell doesn't say a word in the entire game, it didn't have to be dubbed in either English or German.
As in the first part, GLaDOS is spoken by Ellen McLain and in German by Gertrude Thoma.
British comedian and actor Stephen Merchant speaks Wheatley. Tobias Meister , best known as the spokesperson for Brad Pitt and Robert Downey junior , was chosen as its German spokesperson . However, the British accent of Merchant, which is characteristic of Wheatley in the original, is lost.
Another new character is Cave Johnson, the former CEO of Aperture Science. He is not personally present during the entire game, but the player gets to hear his voice memos that he recorded during his time as head of the company. In the original, the American actor JK Simmons lends him his voice, in German it's Rüdiger Schulzki .
reception
Portal 2 was a favorite among journalists and critics when the game was unveiled at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2010. It won the Game Critics Awards for Best PC Game and Best Action Adventure Game , and for the Award for Best Exhibit and Best Console Game nominated.
After it was released, the game received very good reviews. GameStar magazine praised the entire game concept, which was known from the first part, and viewed it with the innovations as a successful successor to Portal. However, it was criticized that some levels are very complex and that a help function would be appropriate to avoid frustration when playing. The game received a rating of 91 out of 100 possible points from the editorial team.
On July 15, 2014, the Mod Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative appeared on Steam , which replaces the previously known Portal Gun with a Paint Gun , so that you can shoot with blue jumping gel and orange acceleration gel instead of portals. The mod was approved via Steam Greenlight and brings new characters , maps and gameplay elements with it. The game also has a connection to the Steam Workshop.
Web links
- Portal 2 official website
- Portal 2 at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Portal 2 Beta for Linux released
- ↑ Benjamin Jakobs: Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead are now playable on the Xbox One. In: Eurogamer . June 17, 2016, accessed September 21, 2019 .
- ^ Portal 2. In: Metacritic . April 22, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011 .
- ↑ Portal 2 - Fourth gel caused nausea. In: GameStar . April 26, 2011, accessed October 4, 2011 .
- ↑ Wheatley with Brad Pitt's German voice. In: Half-Life Portal. April 15, 2011, accessed May 21, 2011 .
- ↑ 2010 Winners. Game Critics Awards , July 6, 2010, accessed May 4, 2011 .
- ↑ Mike Snider: E3 2010: Game Critics Awards nominees announced. In: USA Today . June 29, 2010, accessed May 4, 2011 .
- ↑ Portal 2 in the test - conclusion of the editors. In: GameStar . April 19, 2011, accessed May 21, 2011 .
- ↑ Portal 2 in the test - evaluation. In: GameStar . April 19, 2011, accessed May 21, 2011 .
