E3 2010 - Portal 2

This year’s E3 revealed some pretty impressive stuff that is to be unleashed into the world of gaming.  I think anyone that is really into gaming and technology will agree that Microsoft’s Project Natal, revealed to be named Kinect for release, was one of the most impressive pieces of kit to be shown and if nothing else the most technologically advanced.
 Along with Kinect, Microsoft also unveiled their, smaller more stylish Xbox 360 with a 250 GB hard drive and built in N Wireless for the same retail price as the current Xbox 360 Elite.

As for the games that were shown, there were some titles that will be well anticipated as it gets closer to their release dates, including; Driver: San Francisco, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Gears of War 3 and for some of the more retro gamers out there, Nintendo’s GoldenEye 007 originally for Nintendo 64 remade for the Wii. But anyone that has ever played and enjoyed Half-Life and Half-Life 2, like myself, will have almost certainly played Valve’s Portal, the game in which the player must reach one side of a level to another using 2 gateways created using the only weapon given in the game.

So Valve’s big announcement an E3 was not, as a fair number of people had believe, Half-life: Episode 3 but in fact an equally appreciated Portal 2. 

Portal 2 clearly uses an updated version of the Sources engine, the game engine used for all of valve’s games.
It has a huge amount of additions to games physics are present in Portal 2.  Here is a list.

·         The Excursion Funnel – The Excursion Funnel is a funnel of what is describe in the Demo videos are “Liquid Asbestos”, not the safest sounding thing in the world.  But in game they can be piped through portals and objects can be transported along them, from Cubes and turrets to yourself.

·         Aerial Faith Plate – Aerial Faith Plates are catapulting platforms and when contact is made between them and any object they bolt upwards and cause the object to completely change its course and catapult in the direction the platform pushes it.  As with The Excursion Funnel, effected objects include Cubes, the Character and most likely any other object that can be picked up.

·         Thermal Discouragement Beams – These Beams are basically lasers that can be diverted using specially designed cubes that contain what appears to be a form of mirror.  The beam can pass through portals and used to destroy objects such as turrets, this looks especially fun as they explode shortly after bursting into flames.

·         Pneumatic Diversity Vent – The vents are very similar to the pipes that dispense Cubes in the first Portal, with the exception that instead of dispensing, they do the complete opposite and suck objects up and along the tube.  The demo videos show the force from the pipe sucking up a turret and even panels off the walls, the force can even be transferred through portals.

·         Repulsion Gel – Repulsion Gel is what appears to be a rather viscous, blue liquid that does exactly as the name suggest, Repulses.  When it makes contact with the ground it layers into a puddle and the player can then walk onto it to be propelled in a rather upwards motion.  As with all the above, this can be funnelled through portals, but only whilst in it “Blob” form, not once it has become a puddle.

  

·         Propulsion gel – Just like the Repulsion Gel this element lives up to its name quite nicely.  Unlike the Repulsion Gel, it doesn’t come in singles blobs but rather a flow of smaller, randomly shaped, orange blobs that create a layer of orange slime the player can run along and be “Propelled” forwards on.

These are just the elements of Portal 2 that have been shown so far.  Will there be more?  And will they be just as exciting?  I hope so, and I’m sure you do too.

All in All, Portal 2 is set to be one of the biggest games of 2011 and will be well anticipated by the gaming community.  Available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, it will certainly have a wide scope of gamers to interest.