It’s rare to find myself being so easily engulfed by the torrent of hype surrounding a game, but Valve Software’s Portal 2 has proven to be a special case. The original game demonstrated a whole new level of innovation that I thought would remain unmatched in the history of innovative video games. That is until Valve took the original Portal formula and multiply every component by two: twice the portals, twice the players, and twice the challenges. Folks, allow me to help ease you into the new multiplayer co-op adventure that Valve kindly unveiled to the ecstatic attendees of the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo.

Aside from GLaDOS’ battery of sarcastic remarks and lies, the “sterile” ambience of the original Portal had always left me feeling intentionally isolated, a kind of loneliness that effectively strengthened the emotional link between me and the hapless protagonist, Chell. In the Portal 2 co-op mode, that feeling of being far removed from other living, compassionate entities instantly melts away as the two subjects in this experiment are introduced: a tall, lanky robot and a short, rotund robot. You instantly fall in love with the two new faces (or shiny face plates, in this case).

The two robots exhibit surprisingly more colorful personalities than you’d expect from this tag-team duo of mechanical beings. They bumble around the test chambers and get a feel for the obstacles, oblivious to the mortal dangers that lie ahead. In one segment, the smaller robot ends up accidentally pulverizing his partner. Looking a little concerned, the smaller robot realizes the gravity of his blunder, but after a few seconds the other robot re-emerges in one piece. The pair hugs it out to make up, a display of affection that elicits laughs from the audience. A touching, “no hard feelings” reunion indeed.

In addition to now being able to blast your way through Aperture Science test chambers with a buddy in tow, there’s a real feeling of camaraderie between the two players since you rely on each other’s assistance to overcome challenges after all. Each player can perform a variety of friendly gestures, which I thought was a nice touch to the co-op. 

Valve proceeds to show very small snippets of several co-op levels while reassuring us that the overall game (both single and co-op separately) would be doubled in length of the original Portal’s single player mode. The game so far looks, feels, and plays true to the first Portal, except the addition of a second player certainly adds an interesting dynamic to the challenges. The correct placement of Portals is tantamount to completion of the various test chambers, and now with twice more portals at your disposal orchestrating proper portal usage would pose a challenge in itself. Valve anticipated this and created a ping system. The ping system allows players to paint a marker on the exact spot they’d like their partner’s portal to be planted and bypasses any miscommunication (“You want it more to your left or my right?”).

One level reinforces the concept of cooperative playing. Utilizing two of many new features, the players take  a refraction cube, whose role is to basically re-direct the laser being emitted by the thermal discouragement beam to an intended direction—whether it be friend or otherwise. In order to work around the solid blocks of mass standing in the way of the travelling beam, the players combine their portals to form an unhindered pathway for the beam to activate the exit.

The next level introduces the hard light bridge, which is basically a physical bridge made of light that the players can use to walk on and cross dangerous acid pits. The hard light bridge like nearly everything else in the game can also be re-directed to a direction of your choice, preferably towards the exit in this case. Again, this segment proceeds to underscore the importance of coordination between the two players in the successfully relocating the hard light bridge.

In the final level, the speaker helps us recall the ability to fall vertically and infinitely through connecting portals in the first game. Now you can use this to your advantage to propel yourself or your partner across great distances. Of course, the speaker neglects to mention the wall in the way, which consequently brings the launched player to a highly corrosive end, but that becomes a non-issue after a hugging session to make amends. The real comedy comes from GLaDOS’ snide yet hilarious comments throughout, which seems to be in abundance this time around.

My initial fear with Portal 2 about the sequel overstaying the predecessor's welcome ebbed with the wave of thunderous applause following the demo. I walked away feeling even more excited than ever for Valve’s new offering. Maybe the free awesome shirt helped with that.

The final product is slated to launch in February 9, 2011, and you can damn well bet that I (and probably most of the GameXplain crew) will be all over it.