Widescreen Gaming Forum

Editorial contributions to the site by me, I file under the name "The Ramblings of a Moron" for naming continuity, and to warn of non-perfect editorial skills. (Not to mention the high probability of completely moronic things being said.) This is me trying to improve my written communications as well as contribute at the same time. Without further delay:

The Ramblings of a Moron, Articles by Cynagen
This post does not reflect the views, opinions, or stance of Widescreen Gaming Forum and it's staff. It is only of my own, so anything you have against it, PM me or comment.

"Look at you soar through the air majestically.. like an eagle piloting a blimp." -GLaDOS. Yes, she's back, and she's very bitter. She's not afraid to show it and make sure to demoralize at every triumph and huge success. As you run through the new levels she's laid out for you, you learn more and more about how physics don't apply to this game, and to good effect later on.

Waking up in a room sparsely decorated, on a very comfy bed, you're treated to some minor exercise before being asked to go back to sleep. You wake up again to find that the room you inhabit (and the facility in general) is in massive disarray, but that's to be expected when the operating system for the entire facility has been offline for, well... I still haven't figured that one out yet. Only after you're awakened are you alerted that there is to be an emergency evacuation, and shortly thereafter freed from your room by a sprightly little bugger by the name of Wheatly. Given only minor direction by a ball that doesn't seem to have a clue, you navigate your way through the wreckage that was and is Aperture Science, only to run across the nightmare that was GLaDOS. Through some "minor" (I'm trying to be objective here) accidents by Wheatly, GLaDOS is brought back online, and quickly puts you back to work testing.

The new test environments while still in disrepair, are fun, they're not exactly challenging. Think of the time spent here as a warm-up for what's to come, and what's to come, is bloody insane. Without giving away too much of what to expect, you're going to be pit against au natural environments, no longer the predesigned (by GLaDOS at least) test chambers. Armed only with your portal gun, your wit, and some ingenuity are you going to be able to navigate an environment with little to no guidance, a freedom never before experienced in Portal. With your new found sense of accomplishment, you'll go far, but only so far as your brain can take you, and I will say, my brain fried after about 5 hours of non-stop gameplay, and yes, your reviewer had to rely on a walkthrough in order to figure what turned out to be a simple puzzle, go figure. If you wish to give yourself the best fighting chance at this game, you must be at the top of yours, it is definitely a bigger challenge this time around. I would detract from the game for this, but alas, I've only gotten to play after I've been at work for 9 hours straight and my IQ is in the crapper because of it. Keep your chin up, make sure you're well rested (as the game encourages right from the get-go), and you should be just fine.

The slightly steeper learning curve combined with my worn-out brain, almost, alllllllmost made me want to throw my keyboard down and say "screw you GLaDOS, I'm going to play some Rock Band." I will admit, I'm thoroughly hooked on this game, and I very much look forward to completing it here in the next day or two, but as always, this isn't a postmortem review, this is me, in the trenches, trying to make sense of what my brain is comprehending and putting it into words for you to understand. I would still very much recommend this game to anyone really, but especially to those who have played and beaten Portal first, and if you haven't played (and beaten Portal), then what the heck are you doing here? Go get it and finish the game already!

Scoring:
Graphics: 9/10 (Plenty of new things to see, lots of old things with refreshed graphics and models, turrets look shiny-er now, I guess that's a bonus?)
Audio: 9/10 (The dialog provided by GLaDOS, Wheatly, and other incidental characters is very unique and fun, breathing lots of life into this title.)
Action: 8/10 (There are plenty of fast moving action parts, and quick reaction times needed, tests keep it up, but there is an overall lull that I can't get over.)
Re-playability: 8/10 (I admit, I have not done Co-Op yet so I don't know what the test chambers or how the multiplayer would affect this, but thinking about the long run, it's still worth plenty.)
Value to Cost: 9/10 (I only award such a high rating because, well, let's face it... The game deserves it. Very polished, well done artwork, characters, levels, everything! Kudos Valve!)
Overall: 86% (Only suffering because of re-playability and action... the lulls in the game are just too much, make it more fast paced Valve!)

P.S. I'm planning on doing a live broadcast of the game, non-stop, this Saturday (April 23rd), end to end Portal 2.

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Current build: Intel i5-4670k | 32GB DDR3 | RAID0 2x250GB 850EVOs | nVidia GTX980Ti (MSI G1 Gaming Edition) | SoundBlaster Zx | Dell 2405FPW (Landscape, primary) & HP w2338h (Portrait)

I haven't finished the SP either and was playing it yesterday and today after work. So far steam reckons i've spent 6.3 hrs playing it and I haven't finished yet. (Though i'd say i've only got an hr or so left I think)

It is brilliant. You would have almost thought Valve would fail to deliver on what Portal did because this is a full retail release of what was really an experimental game originally so people are now conscious of the money they're putting down (whereas last time some people thought of it as a freebie), yet it just follows up the first game perfectly. The audio, dialogue, portals and level design are all top notch and 10/10, I think I'll give the game 9/10 as it's not setting a new benchmark for all gaming of all time ever but it is a damn fine game. Loving it.

http://www.destructoid.com/valve-fans-whine-and-cry-about-portal-2-like-idiots-199220.phtml
:doh


Portal 2 has penetrated my top 5 of all time, I'm not sure if it will stick up there but it will end up in the top 10 for sure.

I just completed the Co-op stuff with a friend today. My only regret is that there is not more content! Bring on the User Created Content!

Love the link fox. Some people... :doh

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Professional... well I'll figure that out.



"I sense something, a presence I've not felt since......."

Oh, yeah, guys I'm sorry about the one year unexplained hiatus on the Ramblings, life kinda caught up with me fast and I had to re-enter the real world. *bummed*
Alas there are benefits... I could afford Portal 2 to review for you guys. Also, I'm setting a soft start time for my stream at 1pm Pacific/4pm Eastern on Saturday. And what I mean by soft open is a little bit of open-mic chatting with viewers, and a start of the game at 3pm Pacific/7pm Eastern and won't stop until the game is finished, followed by a short closing open-mic discussion of the game, possibly a Ventrilo so you can voice chat into the stream, yeah, I think I might do that, only 10 people though, 9 visitors, good little forum, maybe do Ventrilo throughout the game... That would be very interesting indeed.

I'm going to start planning this now... while the idea is still fresh...

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Current build: Intel i5-4670k | 32GB DDR3 | RAID0 2x250GB 850EVOs | nVidia GTX980Ti (MSI G1 Gaming Edition) | SoundBlaster Zx | Dell 2405FPW (Landscape, primary) & HP w2338h (Portrait)

Its a good game and all, but people need to see it in perspective.

Its a 7-8 hour puzzle game made with 2003 graphics.

Yes the game is well polished but its still the same old source engine from half life 2. If you ask me, Half Life 2 is a larger, more varied, more detailed game than portal 2 which featured lots of small, cube like rooms with little detail. The few areas that were open and large featured fog.

Im sorry, but I have to call out valve for still using the Source engine. Im surprised so many people are letting it go like its nothing.

Is portal 2 better than Assassins Creed Brotherhood?
Is Portal 2 better than Shogun 2?
Is Portal 2 better than Bulletstorm?

Most people seem to think so according to the reviews.

Personally I think you people are crazy, but whatever makes you happy I guess.

Serioulsly, 9/10 graphics, compared to recent games?

I would give graphics 6 outta 10 because animations are very well done, but the bland sterile envionment is still there. My Gtx 260 barely sweat playing portal 2, only getting up to 55 c compared to say 74c that crysis brings it to.

I thought the graphics were really quite nice and modern.

A developer released a game that looks good and runs on average hardware? :x

Graphics should be one of the last things to concern yourself with over a game. If the game is fun is way in the lead, good graphics are just icing on the cake. Now I'm going to go fire up Master of Orion.

What?! It's been a year since your last Rambling? Oy, how the time flies. It was a fun game. I loved it. Jsut have to find more CO-OP buddies, now.

Ahem, if anyone wants to add me on Steam, I go as "C.H.U.D."

I think I'm going to have to break this down and explain it...

Its a good game and all, but people need to see it in perspective.

Its a 7-8 hour puzzle game made with 2003 graphics.

Yes the game is well polished but its still the same old source engine from half life 2. If you ask me, Half Life 2 is a larger, more varied, more detailed game than portal 2 which featured lots of small, cube like rooms with little detail. The few areas that were open and large featured fog.

Im sorry, but I have to call out valve for still using the Source engine. Im surprised so many people are letting it go like its nothing.

Okay, I have to stop you right here. You don't understand the value system here, you're talking a whole separate branch that I don't even delve into because, frankly, i'm not qualified to judge anything in that means. You're looking at graphics from the technical standpoint, and how far they COULD have gone, and giving a value based on that. That's not how I do it, I rate the game based on the graphics that the game does use, and how it uses them. Yes, Portal is "bland" but it does have character in the artwork when needed. Also, I'd like to take a second to point out, that Portal 2 is NOT using the original Source engine as you so blatently claim. It's using the Orange Box engine (practically every game since the Orange Box has used the Orange engine), which by a general search turns up that the engine is only from 2007. And so what the engine is a little dated, as I mentioned before, it's how they use the resources to paint the picture, not what resources they used. Do you really give that big a deal about how they painted the Sistine Chapel? No, you care about the artwork on the ceiling, but oh, the engine used to paint that image is hundreds of years old, so the painting must be crap right? GTFO.

Is portal 2 better than Assassins Creed Brotherhood?
Is Portal 2 better than Shogun 2?
Is Portal 2 better than Bulletstorm?

Most people seem to think so according to the reviews.

Personally I think you people are crazy, but whatever makes you happy I guess.

Serioulsly, 9/10 graphics, compared to recent games?

I would give graphics 6 outta 10 because animations are very well done, but the bland sterile envionment is still there. My Gtx 260 barely sweat playing portal 2, only getting up to 55 c compared to say 74c that crysis brings it to.

First off, I refrain from comparing games, and try to show you what the game is worth on it's own, and frankly, Portal 2 lived up to what it needed to be, and above in some respects. It doesn't matter the software/hardware/developer/whatever that was behind it, I look at the game for what the final product is, and if you're going to be anal about whatever, that's your deal. I figure if you're always going to be so critical of every tiny aspect, you might as well get used to never being happy, especially when you're a consumer, not a developer yourself.

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Current build: Intel i5-4670k | 32GB DDR3 | RAID0 2x250GB 850EVOs | nVidia GTX980Ti (MSI G1 Gaming Edition) | SoundBlaster Zx | Dell 2405FPW (Landscape, primary) & HP w2338h (Portrait)