Story:
The altered via patch finale of the first part had already guessed it: After their victory over GLaDOS at the end of "Portal" was the silent protagonist Chell, the Aperture Science was almost escaped already, still caught by the Party Escort Bot and back into the bowels the plant abducted, where she was transferred in Cryoschlaf.
A not further specified, but significantly longer period of time later, she is woken up again by the robot Wheatley. The Aperture-complex is located in a dilapidated condition, apparently many decades have passed since Part 1. Wheatley would escape together with Chell the plant, but by the carelessness of the bumbling robot the disconnected GLaDOS is reactivated and so takes equal its deadly tests from the first part again ... and this time it's personal because GLaDOS finally their " murderess "in front of him.
During the other story that I do not want more spoilers here, we learn quite a bit of background to the emergence of the supercomputer GLaDOS and look deeper than ever behind the scenes of Aperture Science. Besides the futuristic modern test chambers, the player encounters also in insular, forgotten areas of the complex. The story is not a lame rehash of the first part, the old jokes about cakes and co. are not reheated. Instead, the story expands the universe of Portal enormous and comes with many successful, sparkling new ideas therefore.
And of course there at the end again serenaded by GLaDOS personally.
And that was not all: At the end of the single player joins seamlessly Coop campaign, which I here storywise can not write much without spoiling.
The puzzle solving makes for two definitely a lot of fun and opens up new possibilities. The two robots are certainly well done and care with their gestures for some laughs.
Gameplay:
While the essential elements of the Portal gameplay remain unchanged, come with Portal 2 new elements. Among the well-known test elements (automatic firing devices, buttons, and cubes) are also new. Laser that must be diverted, light bridges that enable an access to otherwise inaccessible areas, "Excursion Funnel" that can be a hover over bottomless pits, and three kinds of gel. Blue Gel allows enormous jumps, orange gel accelerates Chell, and white gel allows the creation of portals on surfaces where this would not be possible otherwise. Sometimes the player can distribute the gel using the portals everywhere and so change the environment to his advantage. A truly ingenious addition that harmonizes very well with the portal mechanics.
All in all, Valve has done here is a very innovative game that has only minor flaws. The game time is significantly longer than that of "Portal" is, nevertheless been rather short. Personally, I had reached the end after 8 hours, and who by rushing through the game without let the story to themselves or to look for achievements, who might be ready even faster. Unfortunately, a puzzle game like Portal 2 is also the drawback that the replay value is not particularly high, because one already knows the solutions to the puzzles. With the hopefully imminent publication of the Mod SDK to PC gamers can however look forward to new custom maps that are certainly also offer higher difficulty than the main game. And that is equal to the perfect transition: The difficulty is in some places really much too easily. Which is understandable for the introduction of new test elements at the beginning, is angry at the end. It is the final test chambers and the final battle would but may be much crisper. Thus the difficulties restrict straight from the middle part of the game too often only on finding the white surface for a portal creation in a sea of black surfaces. Also, the player is taken with unnecessary auxiliary icons in some places by the hand.
The German translation is, as in Part 1, very little success. Although the speakers give their best, too much is lost from the puns. Therefore, I absolutely recommend to play the game in English.
Overall, "Portal 2" but is nonetheless become an ingenious game that has very carried away myself and the world of Aperture Science still continues to expand. The game is still "sick" and "crazy" as part 1 and brings a sometimes hearty laugh. It will be formally drawn into the game world. I think a lot of players that the genre "puzzle games" otherwise rather negative attitude towards, could have in this game their joy. Therefore, I give in spite of criticisms, the full 5 stars and an absolute buy recommendation.
