Thinking on rails: why Portal 2 isn't as good as the original

ARS: Valve's Portal 2, the long-awaited sequel to 2007's landmark Portal, was one of the most eagerly awaited games of the year. The Potato Sack Alternative Reality Game and the prospect of unlocking the game early stoked the fires of anticipation still further.

[NukaCola]

The shock value wore off but the game itself is still amazing. And it's 4 times the game the original was, plus it's much more polished, amazing story, challenging, very long, lots of replay. It's like Bioshock 2. Although it's a great game, the original is so amazing that it's hard to compare. But of course that is a bad comparison because Portal 2 is so much better than BS2.

[Nes_Daze]

There's always been so much pure hype surrounding these games and I've never had the opportunity to get the damn game. Can't wait to get it to see why people love em so much.

[Lirky]

Portal1 was ok, but it made me more motion sickness because the speed of chell made me nausiated, but Portal2 the speed for chell was more reasonable and everything felt less-motion sickness. That is why portal2 was superior than the first for me.

[NukaCola]

Agreed. I think there are people who like the first one cause of it's imperfections, but I love how dynamic the flow is in Portal 2. Your portals hit where you want them and when you are flying through the game, everything flows so smoothly. It's just an all around polished game, which I really do enjoy and very much appreciate.

[GamerSciz]

Portal one was new and challenging and had a lot of extra puzzles via the community. It's still early for Portal 2 as DLC is coming this summer but as far as comparison Portal 2 was easier then Portal but focused a lot more on story and presentation. Not to mention Co-op is tons of fun.

[DaReapa]

Totally agree. Even though Portal 2 is a much bigger game than its predecessor in almost every facet, I also felt it was much easier. And I have to agree with the author in regards to the "on rails" nature of the game. It seemed that while solving puzzles, you could either do extremely right (almost too right at times) or just plain couldn't get it. With Portal 1, particularly during the later stages of the game, I always got those "sit at the edge of your seat" moments when solving puzzles because you never knew if you did just enough when timing that perfect jump or droping at that perfect angle to advance to the next challenge. In P2, I never sensed that. It was either hit or miss. But make no mistake about it - Portal 2, IMO, is the best game to come out at this point of the year and is every bit of entertaining. Hopefully the DLC won't feel as "on rails".

[ntrailz]

Portal 1 was a throw away game stuck on the end of triple A titles which became a legendary puzzle game pushing boundaries.

I was concerned about Portal 2 but all I can say is that it has enhanced every feature of the original.

[Ness619]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that felt this way away Portal 2. This review hit it right on the head as far as I'm concerned. I thought I was crazy when the game started getting 9.5's and 10's across the board while I was sitting there saying "What's the big deal? It's not even as fun as the first one." so I'm glad someone wrote a review that isn't all praise.

This game truly is too easy and it kind of ruined it for me. A+ dialogue though.

[ct03]

This is a great article. It's really well written and masterfully describes the almost scary solitude I feel myself when playing Portal (except I play games ONLY at night with no lights, for maximum immersion).

This creepy, empty, sterile setting always reminds me of the Cube movies. The first two are pretty good, third one not so much.

[mastiffchild]

Well, as a self confessed non lover of the series(not a hater-I can take it or leave it)I think a bit of the extra gloss has, kind of, shaken the original's appeal a little if my missus(big fan) is much to go by. to me the new one is a bit more colourful, a bit slicker all round, quicker but because the first time the hit was the gimmick of the portal gun itself and the personality of Glados(which made it seem more than just a clever physics puzzler for people)it qwas always going to be hard to repeat that impact.

Valve have, in many, many ways, made a better and more digestible game but you lose a little of the freshness and coolness purely because we all played with the gun before and the new game adding co-op feels somehow a bit less authentic than even playing SP this time round does. For me the robots are a little cutesy as well. I know the companion cube became a much loved gaming icon in it's own right but that wasn't really by design and like a lot of what the first game did right seemed to just happen rather than being part of a big, sleek operation. So, technically the new one's possibly twice the game the first was but in terms of magic, for those who fell in love with everything aperture first time out maybe it never had a chance of matching the original or, at least, matching the way the first time using that gun made you feel.

Don't hate me or anything(for not loving the series), I'm just trying to give an outsider's view of why a few people(certainly some I know myself) haven't had quite the same excitement with Portal2 as with the first or that they expected.

EDIT:Thought, personally, they tried pretty hard with the writing as well. Still don't get the big deal but you can't love everything and I can accept a game's good even if it isn't pressing MY buttons these days. I wish more people could tbh!!