DTG: Portal 2 Is Not A Triumph

Dedicated to Gamers takes a scathing look at Valve's most recent title, Portal 2. While the game is entertaining and funny, it fails to deliver the content that a $60 game deserves. Should Portal 2 have been a full retail release, or did Valve make a mistake by making this Portal sequel a stand-alone game?

[Jio]

I think it's worth the $60 dollars, really great game. Can't wait for Portal 3 :)

[dedicatedtogamers]

We will see if the public thinks it's worth $60. I have a strong hunch it won't sell more than 1 million.

[Jio]

Sales don't make the game. Most of the best games don't sell much.

[Pandamobile]

Hahaha, it sold close to or over a million on day one including Steam sales.

[dedicatedtogamers]

@ Pandamobile

Sorry but I meant consoles.

@ Jio

Sales meant that customers wanted the game. How is such a basic concept so hard for gamers to grasp?

[Jio]

Troll, I will feed you no longer.

[frelyler]

@ Jio, ah...it sold 675000 units day one. So you should take any strong hunch you have in the future and do the exact opposite of that.

[jrbeerman11]

your hunch is already wrong, hasn't been out a week yet lol

[BattleAxe]

Well I've got almost 11 hours into playing both single player and co-op and I haven't beaten either of them yet. I think I spent 11 or 12 hours playing God of War 3 and I was super happy with that game. When I look at what I got with Portal 2 with a full single player campaign, a great co-op experience, a free PC copy of the game, Steam/PS3 integration, shared game saves and trophies/achievements through the Steam Cloud and cross platform Voice and text chat(which I've tested with friends of mine and the voice chat works flawlessly between PS3 and PC), I think that there is alot of value here. Personally I think this site is just trying to be contoversial so that they can get hits.

[Vaud-Villian]

http://www.thatvideogameblo...

Your article is fail.

[MaxXAttaxX]

Portal 2 was an amazing game. It was like 3 times longer than the first game. Loved the ending. The new gameplay elements are great.

Definitely worth my money.

[earbus]

Best cross platform game released is shadowrun with out a doubt as its actually multiplayer not just co op.

[Motorola]

Should have been cheaper. I beat it AND the co op. Now its just sitting there....

[Pandamobile]

So wait for the SDK then play some awesome user made challenge levels.

[b163o1]

You already beat it?? Dude get a life

[undercovrr]

Ok so if he doesn't beat it now, he'll beat it in a week. $60 for a week's content that is not re playable is not enough

[TheMysterion]

why does everyone keep saying it's not replayable? give it a month then see if you remember how to solve the puzzles and why are you done so fast? chill yo

[Motorola]

Its only like 5 hours and I got it a day early. two hours a day almost. I CLEARLY DO NOT HAVE A LIFE/S The only reason it will take you long is if you cant solve simple puzzles. I may be inclined to call you stupid then

[NoobJobz]

What's wrong with the game? It's something different. It makes you think, it has some great humor, and it can be great fun. I mean sure, replayability may not be there but I love this game so far.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I love the game too, but the lack on content is something that should be addressed. The first Portal launched with three full-length games and an awesome multiplayer mode. And The Orange Box wasn't even full price. Portal 2 has a brief, low-replayability storyine and a brief, low-replayability co-op mode and it is a full-price game.

Clearly there was a drop in value.

[silkrevolver]

Yes, the Orange Box is maybe the greatest deal of all time, but we can’t expect Valve to give us stuff like that all the time. They’d go bankrupt. The fact of the matter is it has two full game modes, prospective DLC and what is there is amazing. I think it’s worth it, and many other people do too.

[jrbeerman11]

you will find that most will disagree with you.

Orange box was a great value yes, but were all separate games before that. valve put together a great package, shouldnt take away from future releases.

portal 2 will give you average length single player, a co op mode, and with ps3 and pc you will get tons of updates and custom levels.

Assuming you wrote article, where are you seeing lack of a good fan reception, and what are your sources. I have seen borderline worship for this game. stop using hunches and trying to put them as fact

[BattleAxe]

@ Dedicated

If you are so concerned about the amount of content that comes with games these days, I would have been super critical about Killzone 3. Three game modes and 8 multiplayer maps out of the box, in a genre that in order to keep things interesting they must have more than 10 maps on release. I felt the same way about Bad Company 2, it got released with 4 game modes and 8 maps. I think you have to pick the games and the specific types of genres a bit better if you're going to criticise games for lack of content. Some games you are buying for the storyline and perhaps a co-op experience, and some genres like shooter rely on a busy online experience that has enough content to keep gamers happy over the long term. I didn't buy Portal 2 because I figured that I would be playing the game for months on end, but I bought Modern Warfare 2 with different expectations.

[undercovrr]

I think most of the people disagreeing with you did not play Portal 2 and see for themselves. I can't say I played it either, but my friend bought it on release and he is almost done with it. You're completely right, portal 2 is a great game, but the biggest problem (as the article also states very clearly) is content. Even single player games like God of War for example are lets say 12 hours long. The difference is that you can re-play those games. Puzzle games are not re-playable at all, no matter what anyone says.

$60 does not justify a relatively short non-replayable game. valve should have released a puzzle creator, and that would have definitely added huge value.

[silkrevolver]

Why would we defend something we’ve never played? I, for one, have certainly played and beaten it. Yes, it was short... but now I have Co-op to look forward to, and I was already satisfied with what I played.

[Kakihara]

Dedicated to Gamers takes a scathing look at their hit count and decides to take drastic action.

[STK026]

Portal 2's only flaw has to be a rather low replayability factor, however, it's not like it's the only game suffering form that, story-driven games like Heavy Rain, adventure games like Monkey Islands, Sam and Max or Full Throttle, as well as a bunch of action games (like the first Assassins creed) all give you little to no reason to play them more than a few times.

Portal 2 is a great game, it's fun, it feels fresh and stands out in a genre dominated by Call of Duty. I think it's easily worth 50$ (on PC) and would have no issue buying it at 60$ on console if I didn't have a PC able to run it properly. I'd rather have a great, solid, fun game that last a few hours than have an overly long game that feels like yet another CoD/Halo/generic shooter that overstays its welcome.

[gorebago]

When Glados came back from the dead all scary-like, I was like "hell yes! this game is such a triumph!"

Now I'm told it's not. I don't know what to believe anymore. Perhaps life isn't worth living.

But as a sequel to Portal being more of Portal only improved, not sure what this dude expected in order for it to be a grande experience. I paid the same price for games with much less value or worth so the standard has already been set. At least it's an awesome game.

Perhaps Portal Kart-Racing? Portal darts? Lego Portal?

[ylwzx3]

You are a very horrible person.

[Christopher]

I would buy a Lego Portal game. Day 1.

[gorebago]

I think it would be cool. Perhaps author would be satisfied with a Portal box where there are six Portal-themed games including Portal Sports, Lego Portal, Portal 2, Portal 2 Ep 1, Portal 2 Ep 2 and a multiplayer variant like Battlefield:Portal. Only then would it be considered a Triumph!!!!

The Orange Box came out before the recession. We won't see deals like that for a long time. I could be wrong but when a big mac is almost $5 because of rising food cost due to inflation, don't expect a huge company like EA to hand out bargains. They probably don't even pay their taxes. We got lucky there wasn't an online pass. That's the best we're going to get.

[undercovrr]

Maybe you're happy with paying full price for short games, but most people in this economy are not. Also, most games have some replayability but Portal 2 has NONE - there is no point of redoing the same puzzles if you already know how to do them. If the majority of the fanbase are complaining about value, then there is a problem. Sadly this is something reviewers do not emulate, which makes me wonder about their credibility

[gorebago]

In my case I'll be going away in a month and will be far removed from normal society for four months meaning no internet and no videogames. For me Portal 2, length withstanding is a great send off.

Also I've bought plenty of blu ray and dvd boxsets like ones from HBO and the BBC (which are always expensive) over the years that cost way more and that I've only watched once. Like this game, I don't regret buying them.

[Ashriel]

quality over quantity

[jrbeerman11]

can easy say this is a very smart and witty game, a rare thing in gaming nowadays. very refreshing and enjoyed every second of it.

I want to know what "audience" this article is talking about.

[silkrevolver]

There’s a small group of Valve fanboys that are simply insatiable. When Valve tried to give you a full sequel to Left 4 Dead, you cried “Should have been DLC!” When they tried to give you a full sequel to Portal, you cried “Should have been DLC!” Fine, if Valves’ lesson from you is to never make full sequels, then you’d really be complaining if they didn’t.
/end rant

[Neko608]

Replayability =/= content

There is not a lack of content in this game by any means. I'll play through it again a few times just because I think it's ALMOST perfect, but it would have been easy for Valve to add some challenges like the first one (complete in x amount of time, using less than x portals, etc)

Unlike Cave Johnson, the writer of this article is NOT saying what everyone else is thinking :D

[Urmomlol]

What a terribly written, stupid article that was clearly written just to troll and try to get hits.

Might as well add this crap website to my list of garbage sites never to visit again.

[nano88]

portal 2 is a masterpiece nuff said

[gamestorecowgirl]

Portal 2 is a lovely game. I'm on Chapter 7 now and have plans to play couch co-op this weekend. I dont know how long I've been playing or how many chapters I have left but I'm really enjoying the ride. Seriously awesome game.

[Fireseed]

GTFO!