Once a week for the last 3 weeks I have been playing Portal 2 with my friend Jamie. Developed and published by Valve Portal 2 is effectively a puzzle game where players place portals on surfaces in order to either teleport through them or to redirect various game mechanics to help them reach the end of a level. I must admit that I am not very good at puzzles so was to some extent carried by Jamie in the games 2 player cooperative mode which we completed earlier this week.
In the cooperative campaign Jamie and I played as robots ATLAS (blue) and P-body (orange) who have an array of funny but also at times sweet emotes. We were given instructions from GLaDOS, a sort of sinister yet funny artificial intelligence. It’s clear to me that Valve wanted this game to be both humorous and challenging, even the end credits were funny. Ordinarily I wouldn’t play a game like this, but I enjoyed every minute of it and was kind of sad when it ended.
Honestly the main reason I enjoyed playing Portal 2 was because it was nice to play a game with a friend. I have always found it difficult to make friends and I am usually wary when taking the necessary steps to cultivate a friendship. I have however known Jamie for a number of years now, she has shown me nothing but intelligence, kindness, understanding and seems to accept me for who I am without being judgemental. I have mad respect for Jamie and hope very much we can play some other games together soon.
I don’t think I will be playing any more of Portal 2 (which has a single player campaign) but I have a feeling this might have kickstarted more cooperative gaming with Jamie and given time perhaps with other people as well.
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