Monday, July 18, 2011

Can Your Relationship Survive Portal 2 Co-op?

Want to test the strength of your relationship? Play some Portal 2 co-op. Five courses. Thirty-five test chambers. Timing, accuracy, and patience are essential. Pick your partner in science and dive in.

The first thing that should be known about Portal 2 co-op is that it is exactly that, co-operative. If you are in a bad mood, feeling stubborn, require constant control, or just not feeling like a team player, don't even bother putting the disc in the tray.  You and your partner will be at odds within the first test chamber.

If you decide to give it a try, your need for teamwork will be evident from the very beginning.  Look for light bridges, gels, excursion tunnels and more. The pacing of the co-op chambers is very similar to that of the solo campaign. Different elements are introduced one at a time while the complexity goes up. By the end, the difficulty level has increased significantly but is still manageable thanks to the learning curve. To keep the mood light, the writers have struck gold once again.  The timing and dark humor of GLaDOS keeps the game funny and entertaining when you need it most.

Outside of that, the co-op is very similar to the solo campaign. There are no real surprises and nothing out of the ordinary. I wish they had developed the two player story a little more. I also wish there was the capability to do an XBL search for other players. Then I wouldn't have to wait until a friend is online and in the mood to play.  

If you haven't already, give Portal 2 co-op a try. Just be careful who you chose to play with, it may be the last thing you every do together.

"I said shoot your red portal, not the orange!"

1 comment:

Linz said...

hahaha awesome. I'll play this with people I don't like, and then shoot my blue portal and throw them into it with no orange portal to leave! trapped in portal limbo!