Recent reviews by SGT. Conagher

Well, holy smokes... this game.

I remember hearing about the series around the time I got into TF2, when I became aware of Valve's many properties. Portal intrigued me the most; it was unlike anything I had ever seen before; a puzzle-based first-person shooter featuring a gun that makes interconnected portals. I remember fully wanting to get the game on my Xbox 360 around the time of the Perpetual Testing Initiative's release, unaware that the console versions didn't have it. I was disappointed at first, but that disappointment quickly dissipated after playing through the campaign for the first time.

(SPOILERS INBOUND)

The main campaign begins with Chel, the protagonist from the original Portal game, being woken up by Wheatley, a personality core that is frankly a little dim-whited. After breaking open a "docking station" wall, you find yourself hopping through some of the old test chambers from the first game. You eventually have access to the single-Portal gun, and begin going around the facility, eventually arriving at GLaDOS's chamber, where she is still dead. Eventually, Wheatley accidentally wakes her up and sends you through some new test chambers, obtain the Dual-Portal Gun and come accross new puzzle elements, like lazers, special redirection cubes, light bridges and meet up with some old "friends" like the companion cube and Turrets. Eventually you and Wheatley escape the chambers and shut down GLaDOS's Turrets and Neurotoxin. You are sent to GLaDOS's chamber and perform a core transfer with her and Wheatley.

Wheatley is now in control of the facility, quickly turning on you. He sticks GLaDOS in a potato-battery and hurtles you down through Aperture's old testing facilities from the 60s to the 80s. You encounter a new mechanic while down here: gels as well as reuniting with GLaDOS. You also learn some very interesting lore while down here, referring to Cave Johnson, the former CEO of Aperture Science and to GLaDOS's possible ties with him. After rising up the facility, you arrive at the current Aperture Science, where Wheatley has utterly ruined everything, constantly hearing explosions go off in the distance. You and GLaDOS eventually reach Wheatley's chamber and defeat him, sending him into space. GLaDOS is now in control of the facility and lets you go.

That was a brief summary of the campaign.

The CO-OP mode takes place after the main story, involving two robots; Atlas and P-Body, solving test chambers as a pair. You can either play with a friend locally, online or with a random stranger (good luck finding one in 2019). The tests require utmost communication and teamwork to solve, with an additional set of levels opening up after completing the main levels. The gestures are there to make actually doing the tests a little more fun, and the ping tool is pretty good at pointing out something to your partner. Very well engineered test chambers as well.

A couple of years later, I bought the game on Steam and gave the Perpetual Testing Initiative a shot. It's my favorite part of the game. It's a level editor, allowing you to make custom test chambers (both for single-player and CO-OP). My main issue here is the small amount of assets to play around with (though BEEMOD fixes this issue immensely). The tools are simple and powerful; letting you make just about any level you want.

In short, I love Portal 2. The levels are much bigger and more genius (in my opinion), and the visual/sound design is much better than the original game, which kind of felt like Half-Life in terms of look and feel. This game feels distinct enough from every other VALVe-made game for it to stand out in a good way.

Is Portal 2 one of the best video game sequels of all time? I would say; taking every aspect of the original game and vastly improving on it. For only 10-12 bucks, this game is a steal, and 15-18 for both the original and the sequel? You don't need me to tell you that that is a good deal. If you haven't played the game before, do yourself a favor and PLAY IT. It is too good to pass up on.

Who boy, TF2. I have never seen a game that has lasted as long as this one. And there has to be some reason why people constantly want to play this game.

Let me clear a few things up before I begin:
1. I have over 3000 (almost 4000) hours in this game and have played it since the Mecha Update in 2012. So, I've been around. Not release date-around but still.
2. I have played some competitive, but I mostly still play this game casually, like most of the player base.

Let's start off with the part that matters: the gameplay. TF2 features 9 classes, all with unique roles. Each class has a unique set of weaponry, ranging from rocket launchers to miniguns. While some classes are better generally than others, in a casual 12v12 server, usually the best team wins by having both more skill and a good team composition. (Here's a hint for newbies: if your team is missing a class, even if you don't like playing said class, play it. It will do your team a world of favors.) Skill is acquired by simply playing the game; getting better at it. Picking a main is a good idea, but like Overwatch (yea, I know I'm comparing TF2 to Overwatch, deal with it) being good at multiple classes is better. Trust me. If you don't know what to pick, Soldier is always a good pick.

Every class also has unlockable weapons, which benefit the player in one or many ways, while offering significant downsides. Weapons are earned randomly while playing the game (for the most part), doing certain tasks like completing achievements or by crafting new weapons from old ones. For the most part, the stock weapons are the best ones.

TF2 also has a wide variety of cosmetic items to aid in making yourself look more visually distinct. Again, they're cosmetic so the only thing that will affect gameplay would be the unlockable weapons.

Got too much of one item? No problem, just trade it away! Not only did this game introduce Steam Trading, but the trading itself introduced a whole new economy. Never would I have thought that a game would encourage the trading of fancy virtual hats.

Did I mention that the game is free? 'Cause it is. The game has been free to play since 2011. Most of the items can be either found randomly, crafted, traded for or purchased directly in game from the Mann Co. Store. However, since the weapons you start out with are the best ones generally, and the cosmetics are simply that, you don't need to buy anything in order to get the best that the game has to offer. The store is there to help support the dev team and to prove that you're dedicated to it, rather than buying features that should be in the game for free, WHICH IS HOW A INGAME STORE SHOULD BE DONE.

To wrap this up, the game is great. Fast-paced gameplay combined with a relatively lukewarm community and downright hilarious antics make this game a masterpiece. This game is THE reason I joined Steam and I imagine that many others felt the same way. I could not recommend it enough for people wanting something to play in their spare time (if you're willing for it to eat up your spare time).

And yes Gabe, I can truly say that nearly 11 years later it was definitely worth the wait.