Mario Portals

Portal: No Escape

This is one heck of a fan film.

Portal 2

Portal is one of the most respected video games of the last decade, created in relative obscurity for the Valve Corporation bundle pack called The Orange Box. Now, the name Portal is better known than The Orange Box and most of the video games it originally contained. Portal ascended quickly to the top of most peoples' favorite video games of the 2000s lists, and the rumored Portal 2 became one of the most highly awaited games of all time.

As the legend of Portal became getting more and more bloated, spreading by word of mouth, the idea that Portal 2 could be a satisfactory sequel to Portal began to seem impossible. Portal 2 finally came out in April of 2011, and it exceeded most of our expectations. Not only was GladOS back, but we found two more comedic characters to play with: Wheatley and Cave Johnson. The puzzles and physics of this game are fantastic, as are the graphic and music. And surprisingly, we dig deep into the Portal universe to find the origins of the actions of the original Portal as well as what the future holds.

I give Portal 2 all of this acclaim having only completed the single player campaign. Almost everyone I've talked to says that the two player challenges are the reason this is one of the best games they've played. Considering the fact that this is already one of my favorite video games ever, I fear that my heart may stop while playing the two player co-op. Luckily, there will be someone else on-line with me who can call the ambulance if I am AFK for too long and don't respond to stimuli.

Excelsior!

Portal 2: Lab Rat

After the surprisingly interesting Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice comic, I was gung ho to read Portal 2: Lab Rat, a comic book available on the Portal 2 web site that links the action of Portal with its forthcoming sequel. The comic captures the interesting and comedic jargon that, combined with fantastic game play, made Portal such a catchy video game. It even has an interesting take on Schrodinger's cat. I would definitely check out Portal 2: Lab Rat. It is a great way to pass the time until the game is released.

Portal 2: Lab Rat is available via the Portal 2 web site here. The comic can also be downloaded in PDF form here.

Portal