GDP2 - Emotional Contagion #2

In this blog, I want to talk about a game that really got me attached to for many reasons. It is called Portal 2 developed by Valve Corporation and published in 2011. It had won many awards such as game of the year in 2011, which evidently showed that Portal 2 is a game with quality and, most importantly, fun to play with.

There are so many things I love about this game. Before I get into the story I want to start off with the game mechanic. Portal 2 is a sci-fi puzzle solving game. Players use a portal gun to create 2 portals on portable walls to help themselves get through the map and solve puzzles (Sounds broken, doesn't it?). The challenging part is, it introduces many new mechanics in Portal 2 that do not exist in Portal, the prequel.

They are:

• Tractor Beam
• Light Bridge
• Bounce Gel
• Speed Gel
• Conversion Gel
• Cleansing Gel

They all have different functionality to help players solve puzzles. Feel free to look them up if you have never play portal before. The most fascinating thing about these items is that not only they come with their own unique functionality, they are able to combine with each other to create different effects. For example, tractor beam, aka excursion funnel, can send players across the map while defying the laws of gravity. However, it can also be used to get other items.

The above image illustrates the use of tractor beam can bring the bounce gel, the blue gel, across to the turrets, and the turrets are affected by the gel hence bounce around and become dysfunctional afterwards.

The above image is another example demonstrating the various use of items on each other to enhance the game mechanic. The light bridge, a hard surfaced made out of light where players can walk on it if lays flat or almost flat, can allow bounce gel to stick on it. In this particular puzzle, players are able to create more assets in the environment to help them progress. These are all driven by the ideas players would have in mind, with multiple times of attempt and failure, to come to the realization that the items can work together this way. I feel like this is a spoiler for those who have not play Portal 2 and are reading this, because this is what I was amazed the most when I first play Portal 2. The diverse function of each item can make a level looks simple, clean, and organized, yet can be extremely hard to solve. Therefore, players like me would like Portal 2 a lot not only because the levels are challenging, but the process of manipulating things in the scene to help us get across is extremely fun and could be very though-provoking.

After the introduction of game mechanic, the story in Portal 2 also a big factor to its success. There are merely less than 4 characters who can speaks during the story mode. They are Wheatley(bottom left image), Chell(left side of the middle image), and GLAdos(right side of the middle image) or it can be a potato(bottom right image).

As there are only a few characters, players would have more focus on the puzzles, storyline, and, most importantly, the development of each character. Long story short, as the story begins, Wheatley stands out as a character who helps players escape the lab, whereas GLAdos is a hateful and sarcastic program that just wants Chell to die. As the story progresses, things change. Wheatley becomes arrogant and dominating as it takes over the lab, whereas GLAdos falls to becoming an useless potato battery and Players have to carry it for the second half of the game while GLAdos is still as sarcastic as always. However, when Wheatley is exiled to space at the end, it reveals its innocent side where it is programmed to be, and GLAdos remains the same attitude and exile Chell back to wilderness as the best solution for both parties. These two characters have developed strong comparison, and are able to carry and develop players' emotion towards them throughout the story. The one-on-one dialog also helps emphasizing on their personalities and how they react to certain events. I would say this is one of the benefits of having only a few characters in the story, which I enjoy it a lot.

Overall, Portal 2 has excellent gameplay, story, and nice-looking graphics. The experience players can have is incredible and what grips me the most are the emotional development throughout the story, and the innovative way of solving puzzle with the use of game items and some imagination.