Blimin’ heck, what a month. Indeed, while April’s been the gaming equivalent of a sumptuous smorgasbord of mouth-watering treats, I have a feeling that anyone will have a hard time casting a reflective glance back on this period without being drawn to the PlayStation Network hacking affair. A disastrous predicament for Sony and consumers, no two ways about it, but hopefully one that will soon be resolved. Nonetheless, we’re here to celebrate April’s best, and just like the previous few months, is no mean feat considering how much we’ve been spoiled for the past 30 days or so.
Before we get down to the nitty gritty of naming our Game of the Month, we should extend our thanks to Prince William and Kate Middleton; after all, UK gamers get an extra Bank Holiday to mark the wedding day, and what better way to celebrate than snapping someone’s spine in Mortal Kombat? Jolly good show, old boy! Speaking of the bloody brawler, MK represents just one of the many wonderful distractions scrapping it out for your hard-earned cash this month, among which includes prolific puzzler Portal 2 and tactical shooter SOCOM 4. Oh, and there’s also been a couple of stonking PSN-releases (that is, if you were able to grab them before the aforementioned hack job) including the retro-tastic Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
I know we keep harking on about it, but these past few months have been decidedly tricky to pick a defining winner. Since the year kicked off, the games industry has been in a perpetual state of spoiling us rotten, with massive games releasing every month in a trend that doesn’t look set to stop anytime soon. Nonetheless, after battling it out amongst ourselves, we ultimately pinned this month’s accolade on the mighty Portal 2. Hardly surprising really, though in fairness, Mortal Kombat was an extremely close second.
So, why Portal 2 you ask? Well, as the follow-up to the brilliant original, Valve’s puzzler does just about everything a worthy sequel should do, and then some. While the first Portal was more of a bite-sized effort, Portal 2 is the equivalent of a blockbuster movie – bigger, bolder and more badass in every conceivable aspect. Aside from offering a highly cerebrally-challenging adventure packed full of eye-popping level design, Portal 2 chucks also in cooperative play, letting you and a mate put your heads together to make it through the maze of puzzle-based platforming antics. What’s more, the game also offers a surprisingly strong narrative component, and its characters are just as witty and memorable as the original. Plus, there’s Steam functionality to boot, letting PS3 owners team up with PC purists. What more could you want? Well, perhaps Portal 3, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. For now, this is unequivocally the best platform-puzzle romp out there.
Check out a snippet of our review below, and be sure to have a gander at the full thing here.
“The first game introduced such great technology with the portal gun and laid down a solid framework from which to gain further inspiration; the sequel simply had to be even better. The good news is that Portal 2 doesn’t disappoint; in fact it’s exceeded our expectations. From the captivating storyline and the casting of the brilliant Stephen Merchant as Wheatley, to the sheer volume of puzzles and the ingenuity that has gone into their design, Portal 2 is everything it promised to be and much more.”
Don’t agree with our choice? Let us know what game you think deserves the accolade for Game of the Month below.