Recent reviews by Alca

I don't leave reviews that often, but after nearly 10 years I decided to come back and play through this series again. What can I say? It's Portal. If you haven't played it yet I'm not sure what you're doing with your life.

It's pretty rare for sequels to live up to the original, but Portal 2 takes everything that made the original game so successful and bundles it into a full AAA package. The graphics and gameplay mechanics are a huge upgrade, but Valve also did a great job of weaving a whole new story while staying faithful to the original. It took me around 8 hours to complete the campaign itself, but although it's on the shorter side it always felt like the perfect length. There wasn't a single point where the game ever felt repetitive or stale.

As far as the story goes, Portal 2 is a great example of how less is sometimes more. It never runs the risk of dumping too much information. Instead you're generally encouraged to piece together the lore yourself by listening to recordings and paying attention. The voice work from Ellen McLain, Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons was phenomenal and I found myself going back and listening to every single piece of dialogue. I'll also admit that by the end I found myself a little teary eyed.

As a side note, while it's not necessary I'd also recommend playing through the original. It provides a good deal of context and it's just an excellent game in general. Anyway, stop reading this review and go play it.

Even though I only have a few minutes on the steam version I poured hours into these games during my youth. Anyone who grew up during the golden era of flash games will probably understand the appeal of this series.

The gameplay itself is simple for the most part and mostly consists of trading cargo, fighting pirates and making a name for yourself. Tradewinds 2 introduced a good deal of quests, and while they mostly consist of delivering goods or defeating pirates they're enough to keep you occupied for a while. If you're a fan of Sid Meier's Pirates then all of this will feel like familiar territory.

In short, given the price it makes for a fun little distraction and you're sure to get a few hours out of it.

What am I doing with my life.

Makes your arm really tired. And not just because of all the clicking.