A slew of new Portal 2 screen have hit in the wake of the weekend’s PAX festivities in Seattle, and while they don’t appear to reveal anything new about the game, they sure are pretty to look at. We thought you might want to look at them, too.
As we all should be aware by now, the sterile chambers that so vigorously tested Chell’s critical thinking skills in the first Portal have seen better days. At the game’s explosive finale, Chell managed to destroy GLaDOS, only to catch a bittersweet glimpse of the outside world before being (presumably) dragged back to cryo sleep by the Party Escort Bot.
The scraps of GLaDOS spent a lengthy, undisclosed time rebuilding themselves, and now that the murderous Disk Operating System is sentient once more, she’s woken Chell up to witness the rebuilding of the test facilities – and to get her revenge.
New puzzles will center around various environmental hazards like the Thermal Discouragement Beam, which melts Chell on contact but can be redirected and bent to players’ wills, and the Excursion Funnel, which carries objects like a science-y conveyor belt.
As anyone who’s seen the game can attest, the graphics looks far superior to the original Portal, which begs the question of whether they’re still using Half-Life 2 assets. My guess is no. In any case, Portal will be a full length, full price game, unlike its Orange Box pack-in predecessor, so we test subjects will have plenty to look forward to come February 9.
Also, I’d feel remiss if I let a post about Valve go by without wondering aloud where the hell Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (or Half-Life 3, for that matter) have gone. Now that that’s out of the way, just enjoy the Portal 2 screens and we can hear about the next Half-Life chapter when Valve is good and ready.
