Thirteen Games To Blow Your Mind Off In 2011

PORTAL 2 (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)

Valve’s 2007 compilation The Orange Box was notable for three things- one, for the shoddy PS3 port that we’d like to forget about. Secondly, because it marked the debut of the long awaited Half Life 2: Episode 2 and of Team Fortress 2. Finally, because of a small, unassuming first person puzzle game that Valve launched which was known as Portal.

By now, Portal is legendary. Be it for its dimension bending gameplay that forced the player to think, and that marked a dramatic departure from Valve’s style until that point, be it for its superb villain, GLADoS, and the ‘Cake is a lie’ meme, be it for its great soundtrack, which of course refers to the song Still Alive, Portal was an absolute revelation, and without a doubt the best game to have been released from Valve’s stable in a very, very long time.

The sequel would be worth looking forward to, then. And sure enough, when Valve unveiled Portal 2, there was joy and celebration everywhere. When they revealed that they will finally be sharing the love with PS3 users, and that they will be porting over Portal 2 to the PS3 as well, there was even more joy. When they unveiled trailer after trailer, and gameplay video upon gameplay video, there was even more joy. That’s how much the allure of Portal is- it caused everybody to drop their fanboy allegiances, and to rejoice together in anticipation of what is sure to be a great game.

Be excited, people. There are so many reasons to be excited for Portal 2. It’s Valve. It’s the sequel to Portal. It’s Valve. It looks great. It’s Valve. It sounds great. It’s Valve. GLADoS. It’s Valve. The same gameplay we loved in Portal. It’s Valve. Really, everybody should resolve that if there’s one game they’ll buy in 2011, it’ll be Portal 2.

The game is due for release soon (it was delayed, yes, but surprisingly enough, the delay was outrageously short). And when it does, be prepared to give yourself over to the pure, distilled, unadulterated joy of playing a game as fun as Portal again.