Sulphur on 31/12/2011 at 12:10

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I've got several essays-worth of write-ups in my head about this year's games, but I'll spare you all the prodigious amounts of purple prose for now.

I've got one best game for 2011!!!one.

And it's Portal 2.

Specifically: Portal 2's co-op campaign. Not the single player. I know. I'm as amazed as you are.

henke and I blitzed through it earlier this year, and it was, by far, the most impressive multiplayer experience I've ever had the pleasure to play through since, well, Lara Croft and the thing of the thing in co-op. (Which was something henke and I also smashed through in a bit. Hmm, I see a bit of a pattern here. Hey henke, how about some Mortal Kombat next year to break the chain? :p)

Portal 2's co-op, if you haven't tried it yet, is the exact counterpoint to all the fragfests that are endemic to every other game out there. You don't kill a thing in P2 -- well, except for some unfortunate turrets, and your co-op partner occasionally when they're floating across a bottomless pit in an excursion funnel (it was an accident, I swear!). There's a healthy sense of actual co-operation in it because neither of you is going anywhere without the other guy/gal. The levels are built to exploit the two-player dynamic completely, leading to some incredible puzzles which give the two of you a real sense of achievement when you work together to get where you need to go.

Valve also realised that a game like this needs tools better than voice chat to make it a fluid experience, so they've implemented all the things you'd need - gestures, being able to point where you need a portal placed, countdown timers, and being able to press Tab to see your partner's POV. All crucial to the experience, and all effortlessly deployed through the interface.

There's also a brilliant amount of slapstick infused into the entire thing, from GlaDOS's little comments in your ear to the hijinks two people with portal guns can inflict on each other. Yes, people die by accident quite often. There are no penalties for dying, so you could, say jump into the wrong portal and find yourself sailing off into space before smacking into a wall and falling into an acid bath; it's not game over at this point. You just respawn and continue where you left off. It's frustration-free, and also hilarious. I've lost count of the amount of times I laughed as henke plummeted to a watery death, or we had a little in-game argument and he used my robotic head as a football, or GlaDOS had another bemused comment about her robotic team. Plus, while the set of gestures you get in-game includes the usual high-fives, you also get a taunt, a ridiculous bear hug, and your robot doing... the robot, amongst others. I'm sure you can imagine the palette of actions you can sweep across the game's canvas. It's brilliant.

And that's why it's great. There's never been a multiplayer game as full of concentrated fun and shenanigans as Portal 2's co-op; it's the one thing that really stuck out for me in a year that had games like The Witcher 2, Dead Space 2, L.A Noire, Saints Row the Third, Deus Ex: HR, Bastion, Batman: AC, Bulletstorm, and Driver: San Francisco.

If you have P2 but haven't given the co-op a spin yet, stop dithering around and go for it. Rope in a friend or a spouse or a loved one or your kid. It's some of the most fun you'll ever have had in front of a screen.

Firefreak on 31/12/2011 at 15:13

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I really would like to, but the friend I was reserved for doesn't seem to want to anymore. Any nearly a year later, there's hardly anyone left who hasn't played it yet I guess, is there?

SubJeff on 31/12/2011 at 22:14

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I'll bromance you up on Portal 2 in the new year if you're still an MP virgin in the new year.

Scots Taffer on 1/1/2012 at 00:33

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OK, I'll buy Portal 2 just to coop with someone soon.

nicked on 2/1/2012 at 07:57

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On a PC powered by your own sense of self satisfaction no doubt...

Sure the top 5 list is the obvious AAA sequels, but that hardly means no-one pirates indie games, even when they're (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/05/humble-bundle-gives-pirates-what-they-want-gets-ripped-off.ars) a penny. It just tends to hurt the developers more when it's an indie game. Amnesia, despite being relatively successful, (http://beefjack.com/news/frictional-amnesia-piracy-rate-due-to-lack-of-replay-value/) still got pirated loads. The figures are obviously going to be lower for the same reason the sales figures are lower, because indie games are smaller, have less exposure etc. If you find a list of the most pirated Indie games, I would not be at all surprised to see Minecraft or Amnesia on it.