E3 Preview: Portal 2 - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 21 June 2010 / 4,385 Views
Ah, Portal. Originally simply a collegiate student project a few years back and a mere "pack-in" for the Orange Box, in a small span of time the Portal name has exploded in popularity. For some particular reason, those who play Portal share a special bond with the title, and during my 20 minutes or so in the Valve meeting room, Valve shared with me reasons why Portal 2 will no doubt continue your love for the franchise with what appears to be a beautiful balance between new gameplay mechanics and the classic visceral Portal experience fans have come to expect from the creative minds at Valve. And there might even be cake…
Our Valve spokesperson kicked off the briefing by stating that Portal 2 is all about one particular key component, and that’s the element of originality. If you recall the very first time you booted up the original title, whether you were playing on PC, 360, PS3 or even the Mac, you’ll remember the feeling you had when you transcended dimensions and passed through a portal for the first time. And while interacting with portals always remained the key component in the game, with progression passing through portals and using them to your advantage did begin to feel a bit routine. The more you used them, the more familiar you became with them and how they operated. In Portal 2, Valve wants players to re-immerse themselves in a new sensation that they can’t quite experience anywhere else. But how do you do that if players have come to know what to expect? Valve said it was of utmost importance to capitalize on three important aspects: comedic timing, surprise, and use of music, all of which would be explained more in depth as the preview commenced.
For the unaware, 2 will take place a few hundred years after the original title. In the preview video that Valve had up and running in a fantastic 1080p. Blu-Ray disc display, we were shown a very much different looking Aperture Science. The labs were still mostly destroyed and in the arduous task of being rebuilt by none other than GLaDOS, the in-game AI instructor from the original title. Lush, green, overgrowth abounds the ruined area. It will be here where Chell will be cryogenically unfrozen to resume explorations of the Aperture Science laboratories.
The very next snippet of information Valve then let loose was that throughout the adventure, Chell would be joined by the new character Wheatley, a small black personality ball that has been locked away at Aperture Science as long as you have. His main purpose will be to aid you in escaping, but Valve let it be known that he will serve many comedic roles as well. Video footage had Wheatley chatting up a storm to Chell in a thick British overtone. He cracked a variety of jokes and stated that while he would help Chell in escaping, she can’t always be watching his movements, as he found it quite embarrassing.
Gameplay-wise, Valve stated one of the first new items added to the sequel was a tractor beam that can be found both hooked to walls and floors. It will be important that players use these beams strategically with created portals, as they are integral in transporting certain items to particular areas. Without the portal-beam conjunction, it’s highly unlikely that many items will be able to traverse certain areas, of which video was shown.
Speaking of transporting objects, the new aerial face plate will transport Chell in a way never quite seen before in the series. It seemed as though the item functioned as a miniature trampoline, no doubt useful for acquiring that extra forward momentum that you might need to leap over large gaps or hard to reach areas.
And if that’s not enough to get you where you want to be, then the new “gel” repertoire will give you that extra oomph that you desire. Gels are essentially exactly what you think of when you think of the word – a liquid-like substance that will have the ability to splash all about walls, floors, and ceilings. Different types of equipped gels will have different uses, with all gel types being separated by their own unique color. When you run over splattered blue gel, you will gain the unique ability of being able to jump a large distance in whichever direction Chell is facing. Gameplay not only showed off the player jumping lengthier distances, but from blue gel wall to blue gel wall in wall jumping fashion. Very cool. The other type of gel was orange, and while I didn’t quite catch its name, it allows players to run at advanced speeds wherever it lies. The gel system is easily one of the most promising aspects of the title. Valve is unquestionably spending a lot of development time on the gels, and promised to unveil more before launch.
Other new items showcased were just as interesting and featured a GLaDOS touch to their names (she named them after all). One such item, the thermal discouragement beam, captures certain beams in a small cube with a circular hole in the center and redistributes them where ever you desire elsewhere. The pneumatic diversity vent vacuums enemies into a large air vent, only for them to never be seen again. This item was shown off by having the player shoot a portal underneath about ten turrets and shooting the other next to the vents entrance. As soon as the latter was created, all turrets were then sucked up immediately into the vent, all at the same time.
At the end of the event, Valve concluded by stating that the original game had received a lot of warm reception and praise for its ending theme song, Still Alive, and that they’d like to replicate that success in some shape or form in the sequel if given the opportunity. It was emphasized that the new single player will be twice as long as the first game and that co-op would feature an entirely different set of levels from the single player mode. We at VGChartz can’t wait to see what the sequel looks like in its final form when it ships next year. If it’s anything like the E3 2010 build, then we can consider ourselves very happy.
