We review Portal 2 today with an emphasis on what makes the game so buoyant:
Portal 2 is still Portal, the sleeper hit that began life as an extra in The Orange Box. It’s still a game about using portals, pairs of doors that connect distant places, to navigate through a level. There is simply more Portal than ever. The campaign is longer. Robotic voices make even more slightly amusing quips. The puzzles, best described as Being John Malkovich with guns, have plenty of new metaphysical twists. But Portal 2 isn’t distinctly bigger, harder, or more extreme. All game sequels do that. What makes Portal 2 worth playing is how two-player co-op alters and enhances the genetics of the game.