I feel that Portal 2 is a great game, not only because of it sharp story and compelling gameplay, but because of the lack of a specific mechanic that forces a player to grind over and over.
Many many people have complained about the length of the single player game, but what they tend to forget that most games nowadays that boast having a long playtime almost always have some sort of feature that forces you to do something over and over again just to access another ability. I am not just referring to rpgs, where grinding for hours on end just to get to the next level is the norm, but also to the Call of Duty multiplayer mechanics where only by scoring a certain number of points can you unlock certain weapons and whatnot. A good portion of these mechanics are simple skinner box techniques designed to make it seem like you are have a meaningful game experience, when all you are doing is doing the same thing over and over just to access a new piece of equipment that barely raise your stats.
Portal 1 & 2 have almost no mechanic like this whatsoever. Every sort of new ability you earn and every new game changing mechanic you come across is earned not through repeating the same motions over and over for a few hours, but by genuinely getting better at the game and progressing. Portal 2 is the only game in recent memory that I have played that grants the user experience, rather than just EXP.
Many many people have complained about the length of the single player game, but what they tend to forget that most games nowadays that boast having a long playtime almost always have some sort of feature that forces you to do something over and over again just to access another ability. I am not just referring to rpgs, where grinding for hours on end just to get to the next level is the norm, but also to the Call of Duty multiplayer mechanics where only by scoring a certain number of points can you unlock certain weapons and whatnot. A good portion of these mechanics are simple skinner box techniques designed to make it seem like you are have a meaningful game experience, when all you are doing is doing the same thing over and over just to access a new piece of equipment that barely raise your stats.
Portal 1 & 2 have almost no mechanic like this whatsoever. Every sort of new ability you earn and every new game changing mechanic you come across is earned not through repeating the same motions over and over for a few hours, but by genuinely getting better at the game and progressing. Portal 2 is the only game in recent memory that I have played that grants the user experience, rather than just EXP.