I have officially beaten my first video game: Portal 2.
I must say: I had no idea how satisfying the experience would be. I really feel like I accomplished something sitting on my ass for hours on end with controller in hand.
Anyway, now that I’ve beat the game, I find myself wanting more. I haven’t played Portal 1. I haven’t been able to figure out how to make that happen on my PS3 or my PS4.
So, any suggestions on other games I might like in this vein? Or is there a way I can play Portal 1 on either of my two systems?
The only place I found Portal 1 on my PS3 was as part of the ‘Orange Box’ collection which I picked up cheaply second-hand at the time. I’m not aware that either game is out on the PS4 though (sadly).
Portal 1 is old enough that you could probably play it on nearly any PC. It’s $10 on steam, which is a little pricy considering it’s length, but it does go on sale a few times a year.
For the PS4, you might enjoy The Talos Principle. It’s similar in that it’s a “puzzle room” type game although the tone is different and the puzzles are solved via directing light beams rather than portals.
Another puzzle room style game is QUBE. In this one, you extrude sections of the walls to solve physics based puzzles. Has some interesting bits with rotating rooms, etc. The story is sort of hokey and was tacked on in the “Director’s Cut” to give you some context for what you’re doing but the play is fun.
Quantum Conundrum was made by one of the lead designers for Portal (Kim Swift) but failed to take off in the same way. The gimmick in this one is that you shift dimensions to solve the puzzles. You may be blocked by a steel safe but can flip to a dimension where everything is made of pink fur and bounce it out of your way, for instance. John de Lancie (Q from Stark Trek) narrates.
Despite the Steam links, the above games are all available on console: PS4 for Talos & QUBE, PS3 for QC.
The problem with playing Portal 1 after 2 is that the cat’s out of the bag. The first one had a nice slow burn beginning where you gradually realise that something is very wrong the further you go.
I got Portal 2 in December of 2016, when I bought a used XBox 360 from a friend. Got a few levels into it and got stuck. I should probably return to it and see if I can figure it out.
Played it the other night with my 10-year-old granddaughter, and made it through a few puzzles. Then we ended up in the room with the machine-gun lasers (the second room with the lasers). We could set the portals on the walls inside the chamber with the machine-gun lasers, but couldn’t figure out what to do next. Of course, playing with a 10-year-old who simply delighted in jumping through portals willy-nilly without rhyme or reason and getting blown up got old really fast.
There’s a number of ways to deal with them. What I’ve usually done is to set a portal in the ceiling directly above them and drop a dead turret (which is what the lasers are called in the game) through another portal so that it lands on them. Once I’ve taken out the front ones I can sneak up behind the back ones (by way of a portal in the wall) and pick them up and drop them (which usually results in them falling over and dying after firing off a few desperate but inaccurate rounds). When you pick them up from behind they’ll yell and look around, but they won’t be able to turn clear around to shoot at you. Just lift them up high before you drop them. Sometimes it’s fun to just pick them up and set them gently in a corner where they can’t see you.
I don’t remember which ones because it’s been awhile, but there are some that you can shoot a portal in the floor under them so that they drop through a ceiling portal somewhere else.
“Most people emerge from suspension terribly undernourished. I want to congratulate you on beating the odds and somehow managing to pack on a few pounds.”
“Science isn’t about WHY. It’s about WHY NOT! Why is so much of our science dangerous? Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won’t hit you on the butt on the way out, because you are fired!”
you realise that you can avoid being disintegrated after completing all of GladOS’ tasks. I didn’t realise that the game had two endings until quite some time after “finishing”
I’ve played through the solo Portal 2 twice, but isn’t there also a cooperative version for two players controlling two robots? I want to try that, but haven’t found anyone to do it with.
Wait, you thought your death after Room 19 was an ending? As I remember it, if you died there, the game restarted you at the last checkpoint, it didn’t end. So obviously it wanted you to keep trying.
