Why the original Portal is a better game than Portal 2

Made2Game.com - Portal 2 may be a quite brilliant title, but James Bowden argues it doesn't quite reach the same dizzy heights achieved by the original Portal.

[fluffydelusions]

Sorry, but the 2nd one is leaps and bounds better and that is coming from someone who loves the original as well.

[-Alpha]

I loved it-- the one complaint I here from P1 fans is that P1 had multiple ways to solve a puzzle while this only has 1 or 2.

Basically, they made things a bit more casual. In the last boss fight, they make the means to kill the boss easy for the sake of the cinematics, for example.

Personally, when the user generated content comes out, I am going to have a blast with what the community creates. IMO Portal 2 wasn't THAT hard, but I was definitely stumped 4 or 5 times for over 20 minutes. The difficulty felt just right, and with UGC and DLC the game will easily reward those who may have been disappointed in the game's easier gameplay

[Venatus-Deus]

As somebody who has enjoyed both, I remember the first being a lot harder.

Not saying better, just harder IMO,

[RedDead]

Finished Portal 2. So overrated it's not even funny. Way too easy. I would give an 8/10. Somehow being different means it's 96/100. No. No it does not.

...imo

[fluffydelusions]

They intentionally made it not so difficult. If you view past interviews you'll see Valve tracks everything and noted where people gave up on the first one. Also, they did tons of play testing to find the right level of difficulty that would appeal to a wider audience.

[-Alpha]

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

The dialogue is the best I've ever heard this year (or this gen for that matter), the writing is immensely clever, the puzzles are very enjoyable, the story is awesome, the characters are lovable and unique, the co-op is a blast-- it's the best game I've played this year.

[Wizziokid]

really? the second one is 10x better and I'm only on chapter 8. and yes I have played and completed the first Portal

[kyl277]

There are 9 chapters so you are virtually at the end now.

[CrazyOrange]

lol@ "I'm only on chapter 8"

[theonlylolking]

Yeeeaaaahhhhhhhhh, NO!

Portal 2 is way better than portal 1. Portal 2 IMO easily the best valve made game ever.

[Lamarthedancer]

Portal better then Portal 2......Not really

The only thing which bugged me about Portal 2 is that they cut the single player in half for co-op and it's made Valve take this "Co-op added someway in every game we make" path.

I know it was longer then the first but when you got to the end you wanted more from it :)

[TheTruth89]

no.

[kyl277]

I love P2 but I do think that the first is better. The article sums up why pretty well.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Troll article

[kyl277]

It's not, the points are all valid and I agree with them 100%, I know that you didn't read the article or you wouldn't have made that troll comment.

[Emilio_Estevez]

you got me I didn't, but p2 is def better imo

[Downtown boogey]

Yes. Yes it is.

[Dalagonash]

That sub header links to one further down the page - 'It's about why not' to form a quote from Aperture Science founder, Cave Johnson.

[Tired]

After finding I could 'cheat' in test chambers I gave up on portal. I saw the easy option every time. No fun in that.

Two years later, and after some great reviews for P2, I decided to finish it...Very glad I did.

Currently on P2 and loving it....

[Downtown boogey]

Exactly... The author is complaining about not being able to cheat in the second one.

[iHEARTboobs]

Not really cheating, but rather finding alternate means of solving a puzzle. Which would then increase the replay value.

[Raider69]

You cant cheat in the first!

[spongeboob]

Here's a headline you could shove in your pipe and smoke.

"Why any other gaming site is better then made2game.com"

I'm so sick of seeing these stupid opinion articles trying to pass their opinion off as fact. You want to write a gaming article then go interview Rockstar and try to get me some new info on GTA5 and Agent. Go do some foot work and get out there don't just sit in your basement and throw together another opinion piece of SHIT!

Rant Over. I miss good gaming journalism.

[iHEARTboobs]

I enjoyed the read. What didn't you like or not agree with?

[nick_gamestribe]

Goodness me. I've read some inane comments on here but this surely takes the biscuit (or cake, as the case me be with Portal) for sheer idiocy.

"I'm so sick of seeing these stupid opinion articles trying to pass their opinion off as fact."

The keyword here is 'opinion', my friend. If you've bothered to read the article you'll see that it's well-argued and not sensationalist. It's the opinion of the writer, one with which you are more than entitled to disagree with, and you would also be more than entitled to disagree with our 10/10 review of Portal 2, which can also be found on the site, along with a link to an interview with Portal 2's script writer which was conducted by one of our staff but appeared on one of our partner sites. Is that proper journalism enough for you? I could cite plenty of other examples on both made2game and our other 6 sites but life's just a little too short and the sun is out.

If I read your comment right, you don't like seeing opinion in games journalism full stop (in which case, I presume you're anti people coming onto sites like this and offering their opinions). I presume you're also sick of all the reviews of all these games, too. Because what are reviews except opinion pieces with a score attached? What a very boring time we'd all have of it if no one expressed any opinions.

My apologies that our site doesn't deal exclusively in regurgated press releases and 'just the facts' reporting but, y'know, we thought that it might be more interesting to, y'know, offer some opinions on stuff.

Perhaps you should move to North Korea. I hear they're pretty down on freedom of speech over there.

[GoldPS3]

I haven't played either yet but hopefully soon so I can't say which one is better yet.

[ILikeTurtles]

I finished the portal 1 singleplayer during my first 2 hours and it's only 6 bonus levels after that. The game was awesome, but not even close to portal 2's awesomeness.

[GamerSciz]

I am really excited for user content. But you can definitely tell (as they did it on purpose) that regardless of the added complexity of mobility gels, excursion tunnels, light bridges, aerial faith plates and such, that the difficulty level wasn't as high as the original Portal. I am hoping for some difficult user-generated content when the SDK comes out but I also kind of wish the devs would have made a "challenge room" type of game mode with some very difficult and perhaps long puzzles.

[AfricanWoolf]

Portal 1 feels better because it was a tighter package.

Its easy to make the perfect treat, it's harder to make a perfect meal.

[Raider69]

Portal 2 is too easy!Im Portal 1 you really have a test to your intelligence.Not so in Portal 2!The game was dumb down for casual and especially due to co-op

[ILikeTurtles]

What are you talking about?
Portal 1 was/is easy as fuck while portal 2 isn't. ¨

This is coming from a person who owns and loves the original aswell,