Portal 2 is a triumph, but will it be a huge success?

Developer Valve Software is a rarity in this digital age. While their commitment to the modding community or their digital distribution network could be pointed to as what sets them apart from other developers, Valve possesses another attribute not all game developers have – an ability to create a deeply believable and utterly captivating world. For example, Left 4 Dead can be played as a straight forward first-person shooter but for those who explore and do a little digging, the world they are playing in becomes deeper and more realistic.

Great science-fiction writers like Philip K. Dick understood that creating a deep, believable world is important, but making that world seem alive by alluding to other interesting events is just as important in captivating a readers’ imagination. For instance, in “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said” another civil war has caused America to become a police state but outside of the main character contending with the police force, not much info about the conflict itself is presented leaving you to wonder just what pushed the country to another, dividing war.

While Portal 2 is a story about a prisoner of Aperture Science trying to escape a crazed A.I., many details of the world around you are presented but not necessarily explained. We know that Aperture exists in the same world where another Valve series, “Half-Life,” takes place, as Black Mesa is referenced numerous times. We also know Black Mesa is a direct competitor of Aperture but we gamers are left in the dark about the rest of their interactions and when, exactly, the events of Portal 2 even take place.

Despite Chell’s apparent escape at the end of the original Portal, she finds herself again the prisoner of Aperture Science to begin Portal 2. Only this time she isn’t alone. No Rat Man (a scientist still living in the walls of Aperture, evading GLaDOS) isn’t going to be playing a bigger role in Portal 2, rather, Chell is aided by a personality core named Wheatley (played by the hilarious Stephen Merchant). Bumbling Wheatley initially wants to help Chell escape but manages to cause more trouble than anything else. Chell’s adventure in Portal 2 will take her to places you’d never expect as she learns an incredible deal about Aperture Science and herself in the process.

Valve didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken with Portal 2, keeping many aspects of the acclaimed series similar to its predecessor. Chell can’t do much to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center test courses outside of jump, grab objects and, of course, use the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (or portal gun). However, new testing elements have been added to make the already mind-bending puzzles even more insidiously difficult. The most notable additions are the gels. Repulsion gel will act as a trampoline, bouncing Chell to new heights, while the speed gel will increase Chell’s movement when laid down in a straight line.

Atlus and P-Body

Perhaps the greatest addition to Portal 2 is the cooperative mode, where you and a friend (in splitscreen or over the internet) can team up to tackle original courses, designed to be completed by two portal users. Players take on the roles of P-Body and Atlus, robots designed to complete Aperture Science Enrichment Center test courses. These robots face the same obstacles that Chell does but their puzzles are twice as hard, as they both can utilize portal guns to complete tests.

Chell, as a protagonist, is pretty boring. She doesn’t say anything and nothing ever seems to sway her. Luckily the other characters in Portal 2 more than make up for her lack of dialogue. Wheatley offers a lot of great comic relief as Stephen Merchant (you may remember him as Ricky Gervais’ ineffective agent on the HBO series “Extras”) expertly delivers perfectly timed jokes. Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson (voiced by the incredible J.K. Simmons) plays a role in Portal 2 as well, but perhaps no character is as important as GLaDOS.

GLaDOS (or Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), though a computer, has an incredibly dynamic relationship with Chell. Though GLaDOS admittedly murdered everyone in the Aperture complex in the first game, she keeps Chell alive for some unknown reason. Maybe it’s because she’s the only one who has ever completed many of GLaDOS’ tests but there are other reasons you may be able to uncover in Portal 2. Also, there is something just hilarious about being made fun of by a computer. And GLaDOS is especially salty in Portal 2 (well you did murder her after all – you monster), which leads to some great jokes. Some favorites of mine being, after Chell completed a test course, GLaDOS informs her, “We have your test results – ‘You are a horrible person.’ That’s what it says, ‘horrible person.’ We weren’t even testing for that.” Or the time where GLaDOS states she’s making a note in the commendations section of your personal file and that there is plenty of room in that section.

Portal 2 is a triumph (Get it?? Brilliant, I know, no one has ever used that line from “Still Alive” in a regular sentence before.) in every sense. The writing is stellar, the gameplay is simple but incredibly fun and being able to play coop with a friend will be enough of a draw on its own for some. Though I was easily won over by Portal 2, some may find fault with the (relatively) small amount of content as there is only the single play story and the coop story to play, with nothing unlocking after completion. However, I just today read that Valve has announced the first (of many, hopefully) DLC pack for Portal 2, which should be releasing this summer. This pack (titled “DLC #1”) will allegedly include new test chambers, leaderboards, challenge modes for single and multiplayer and capped off with the vague wording “and more.” The DLC pack will be available for PC, Mac, PS3, and Xbox 360 but the best news? It’s going to be completely free for every platform. So go out and play Portal 2 now so by the time the DLC comes out, it’ll be almost like getting another game’s worth of content for free.

XBLA Sega games on sale

If you were a child in the early 90s (or just a gamer) you either had a Super NES or a Sega Genesis. If you were lucky, you had both but if you were like me you had just one - the Genesis. Though Nintendo's catalog of games featured all the usual suspects (Mario, Samus, Star Fox, Donkey Kong, etc.) the Genesis had its own unique list of games like Gunstar Heroes, Kid Chameleon, and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog. While Sega got out of the console business years ago, their games are timeless classics and now you can own them for a pittance.

Many Xbox Live Arcade Sega games are marked down to half off - more are marked down even to even less. Check out the list below and pick yourself up a few gems to play. I know I'll be checking out a few to keep me occupied in between sessions of Portal 2 and until Brink releases on May 10.

• Streets of Rage 2 400 200 ($2.50)
• Ecco the Dolphin 400 200 ($2.50)
• Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram 1200 600 ($7.50)
• Golden Axe 400 200 ($2.50)
• Sonic Adventure 800 400 ($5)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 400 200 ($2.50)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 400 200 ($2.50)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 400 200 ($2.50)
• Sonic and Knuckles 400 120
• Phantasy Star 2 400 200 ($2.50)
• Happy Tree Friends 800 400 ($5)
• Crazy Taxi 800 400 ($5)
• After Burner Climax 800 400 ($5)
• Altered Beast 400 200 ($2.50)
• Gunstar Heroes 400 200 ($2.50)
• Comix Zone 400 200 ($2.50)
• Outrun Online Arcade 800 400 ($5)
• Shinobi 400 200 ($2.50)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode One 1200 800 ($10)
  

From Joystiq

The wait for Brink may be killing me

From everything I’ve seen, Brink seems to be a combination of the most entertaining FPS styles – over-the-top, all-out gunplay carnage and team-based objective gameplay. Though I haven’t gotten my hands on it yet, I’ll be getting to play it sooner than I thought as Splash Damage recently announced that its release date has been moved up a week – from May 17 to May 10.

I’ve been playing Torchlight like crazy for the past two weeks but put that aside for a foray back into Call of Duty: Black Ops with a friend. It’d been a long time since I had played Blops (have I mentioned how much I love that word?), mostly because I tend to get fed up and frustrated with constantly getting dominated in nearly every game I play. After numerous rounds of successfully ruining my KDR even more, I thought that a switch to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 would be in everyone’s best interest (the best interest of my sanity and anything breakable within arms reach – controller included).

If asked, I’d pick BFBC2 over COD any day but that isn’t to say it doesn’t have its flaws. While the large, destructible maps are a plus, many are so large that in games of Rush, you can sometimes spend as much time getting to the action as actually participating in it. Because of this, the multiplayer experience often feels unfocused and uneven.

As I see it right now, Brink should meld together my favorite elements of both COD and BF while strengthening their weaker aspects. For instance, I love gunplay and fast-paced action of COD. All the weapons, attachments and perks consistently give you goals to work towards. But on the other hand, I really, really dislike the cheap tactics most employ (camping being a big one) and that most people in the community are more concerned with their KDR than actually winning. Whereas the team focus of Battlefield is a huge draw, the large (and long) multiplayer matches sometimes hurt the game more than help.

Brink’s classed-based objectives, crazy gunplay and emphasis on teamwork is looking likely to replace those two FPSes in my gaming rotation. The maps all seem to be large enough to create many interesting battles while still pushing the action forward. I’m really looking forward to testing out each different character class – not only the skill classes but the class types as well. Being able to choose a small, medium or large character is very reminiscent of Tribes – a game that provided countless hours on fun on the PC in my younger days. I also really like that Brink offers each class its own specific objectives in addition to the larger, team objective on each map.

In one gameplay video I watched, a team of Security soldiers were tasked with escorting a security robot through a Resistance controlled area. The robot would only move when teammates were close by and needs to be defended from enemy fire but that is only the main objective on the map. Each class have their own special objectives they can accomplish to help their team, such as soldiers blowing up obstructions in the robots path. Classes can also be changed on the fly (at special terminals) so that you don’t have to stop playing if you get tired of your character.

Other little character class additions, some that seem so simple, are pretty ingenious. The medic can heal teammates and pick up injured teammates, but that last mechanic is slightly different from a game like Battlefield. Medics in Brink hand out revive syringes that you can use on your own time to get back into the action, if the area where you went down is still hot, for instance, and they can even buff their own or their teammate’s health. Another example is the engineer’s abilities. This class has the ability to put down an automatic turret – a skill typical for that class in FPS games. Engineers in Brink can also give themselves and teammates damage buffs to make them more deadly on the battlefield.

Even with its release date being moved up a week, I still feel like it’s going to be forever until I actually play Brink. I guess I’ll just have to make do with the shooters I already have but…will they be enough??

Torchlight: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Of all the PC games I played as a kid, few stand out from the crowd like Diablo. Though it was just a simple dungeon crawler, the formula came together so perfectly it created one of the most well-known and loved PC games of any generation. I spent countless hours scouring musty, dank dungeons for loot and demon blood. I eventually moved onto to Diablo 2 and, while a lot of fun, just didn’t have the same charm as the original.

Last week, while taking advantage of the XBLA deal on Deadliest Warrior, I happened to notice Torchlight in a queue of recently released or featured games. I’d heard plenty of good things about the title but never checked it out. Being that I decided to put Dragon Age on hold (read: given up on it. Maybe if the fight with Branka wasn’t impossible I would finish it), I was really jonesing for something new to play. I’d played Deadliest Warrior before and knew what to expect – and also knew that it wouldn’t keep my attention long. (It’s a fun fighter akin to Bushido Blade but without much depth – but that’s another piece altogether) The moment I started playing Torchlight, I was hooked. I knew I had stumbled onto something special when Torchlight’s background music kicked in, immediately returning me to Tristram – the hub town where players began in Diablo. I wasn’t aware of it before playing, but Torchlight was created by many of the same people who created Diablo and its sequel.

The influence of my all-time favorite dungeon crawler was evident in nearly every aspect of the game – the descending level structure, the hub world, the music and sound effects, even the “town portal” and “identify” scrolls seemed straight out of Diablo. Upon entering the Ember mines of Torchlight, I knew it’d be a while before I would have my fill of this game.

Like any other RPG, Torchlight gives gamers three character classes to choose from at the game’s outset – the Destroyer (melee), Alchemist (mage) and Vanquisher (ranged). Each character has their own backstory relating to their business in Torchlight but each will end up following the same path. Upon arriving in Torchlight, a mining boomtown for the powerful mineral Ember (which can imbue people and objects with magical powers), players enter the mines for their own gain but eventually are swept up into a larger conflict and must explore the mines to defeat an ancient evil.

Players aren’t alone as they venture through the numerous levels of the Ember mine. When choosing a character, you’re offered three companion pets to choose from – a wolf dog, a lynx and a lizard-type creature (the last of which, I think, is exclusive to the XBLA port). Your pet will join you in battle and you can also teach it spells (I have my dog casting Flaming Spirit Swords as well as a Heal All spell). Your pet will also be able to mule your extra junk around and you can even send it back to town to sell everything in it’s inventory – an ingenious idea to save you if you ever find yourself without any town portals. You probably won’t though. Playing on Normal, I was almost never experienced a shortage of essential items.

The Diablo style of gameplay translates perfectly to a console dungeon crawler. Players earn XP to upgrade stats and unlock new abilities that can be mapped to the B, Y, and Right and Left triggers. There are two sets of mapable skill sets which can be changed on the fly with the D-pad – essentially giving players 8 abilities to choose from instead of four. (I’ll be honest, I didn’t figure this last part out until I was almost done with my first playthrough - I’d go into my skill screen to switch my sets over.)

Of all the things I really enjoy about Torchlight (the art style, the gameplay, the atmosphere), I especially liked the addition of steampunk elements to the formula. Rather than just equating everything to magic, Ember is the source of most of the magical elements of Torchlight. The Alchemist, for example, has special Ember-powered gauntlets he uses to launch different attacks and pieces of Ember can be socketed into armor and weapons. Firearms, such a pistols and rifles, have also been added to the standard dungeon crawler weapon fare.

I’ve tried coming up with negatives I’ve encountered in Torchlight – so as not to sound like a big commercial for the game – but I really haven’t come across one element of the game I dislike. Everything about it is so familiar, well-made and fun that I couldn’t help but start a second character before I had even finished the main quest of my initial character. My only complaint would really be that Torchlight could’ve been a prime multiplayer experience but the mechanics behind that addition are undoubtedly more time-consuming to create - I’d rather have a solid single player affair than a bungled mess just to feature multiplayer. That and it would’ve been nice if they included more concept art for the load screens (than just the same image [the one at the top of this article] over and over again).

At just 1200 MS Points, Torchlight offers an incredible amount of content that will have any fan of Diablo or dungeon crawlers occupied for a long time. I can honestly say it’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made from the Xbox Live Arcade and will easily keep me busy until Brink comes out in May.