We are introduced to one set of tools, then hurled toward another set with no clear relation to the first, then we run haphazardly through both at once after forgetting the majority of what either set did, and when the final boss shows up, we don’t even get to use half of what we were supposed to learn. We can sense that the same attention to pedagogy exists somewhere within its framework, but unlike the first game, it meanders - entertainingly, certainly, but in an unfocused way, nevertheless. You would expect work like this to come from students as, in fact, it did.
Skills were introduced, reinforced, then layered upon a second set of skills, which were also reinforced, et cetera, right up to the fight with GLaDOS, which served as a final exam. The first Portal was essentially a crash course, but it was a crash course thoughtfully designed to resemble actual course instruction. See, if I had one major criticism of Portal 2‘s single player, it is that it lacks the pedagogical cadence so essential to the original’s skill-building. Far and above its single player campaign, the co-op mode of Portal 2 is the part that most resembles its predecessor in terms of length, style and pacing and - for that - strikes me as the more memorable of the two. And of puzzle games, Portal 2‘s co-op certainly shines as one exquisitely well put-together play experience.
If ever there were a genre of play which benefited from multiplayer, it is probably the puzzle game. Frustration and exhilaration ensued, both I must assume to be intentional, so I can safely say that it is a veritable truckload of fun whether or not you are a co-op player by nature.
For the task I enlisted the companionship of fellow podcaster and blogmate Nick Dinicola (of Utter Miscellany), and despite a few setbacks involving mic problems and work schedules, we were able to complete it within two play sessions. Now that the entire internet is aware that I have no friends, let’s get to the business of talking about Portal 2‘s cooperative mode. But maybe that’s just the social outcast in me talking.Īll right. Still, to be quite frank, it’s beyond me why multiplayer has become the celebrated commonality of gaming experience that it has. At any rate, it’d be hypocritical of me to criticize. Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you. I would go so far as to say that game journalism significantly selects against social individuals - something about sitting down and devoting 10 to 50 hours on a $60 toy does not strike me as compatible with the vibrantly extroverted lifestyle enjoyed by certain other professions. As, I suspect that many game reviewers are.
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