I really liked the game, all my post-playthrough analysis after my LP was just one word: "Wow.".
As for Battuta's complaints, I can't stop thinking that Portal 2 is obviously going to fail against Portal 1 when measured to Portal 1's standards. I liked the story a lot, the game elements as well - the puzzles, not so much, they were really simple. There were some nice classic literary themes going on
power corrupts, the fall and rising back again, a new era beginning at the end of the game (both CJ and Caroline are gone and GLaDOS is subsequently becoming 100% "self") etc.
and it was a lot of fun. I agree that the humour was different and I considered it a bit over-the-top sometimes but all in all - when not compared with P1 - I really enjoyed it and liked the writing.
I had two major problems, one of which was already present at the end of the first game: the PSoPCs (Portalable Surface of Plot Convenience) and the invisible walls.
The PSoPCs made me cringe in the first game as well but they were even more blatant here. Just one of them missing and the protagonist has no chance of continuing. It really broke my suspension of disbelief every single time. "Wow, how lucky I am! There is one portalable surface! Not two or three but hey, at least not zero!"
As for the invisible walls, I understand that the scale and the sense of size kinda make it necessary, but it was lazy. Not once I tried to access a ledge when I was at the "backstage", so to speak, in order to make a jump easier but every time I ran into the invisible wall. It also happened when
I tried to jump into the "pit" where Wheatley puts GLaDOS in the potato battery before it closed
and that really made me cringe, more than any other ones.
As for the ending, I really liked the final cutscene, I really did. I haven't played the co-op mode yet so I cannot be 100% sure about all that but I can't help but wonder about Portal 3. For pure financial purposes, it seems almost like a necessity. However, looking at the story, seeing
how distanced the characters are in every sense of the word,
I am not sure if it is a good idea to try it. Sure, we could always
have new characters established
but frankly, that would be a waste. Any other solution might happen to be a bit forced though. It might actually be a good idea to end the "series" here, on such a... not necessarily high, but a great note. I wouldn't like that solution but plot-wise it might be the best.
As for the very end, I think we can all agree that this game has laid down one of the finest examples of foreshadowing with... you know, that thing. Someone has already mentioned it in this topic, I believe. And
Wheatley's final remarks only say 'her'. While it is obviously false, I kept toying around with the idea that he was referring to GLaDOS, not Chell.
By the way, I'd say that the best part of this game was that
it had an evil adversary that was still hilarious and while trying to murder you, still not 'that' evil, if you know what I mean.
Compared to Portal 1, most of the puzzles (if not for the amount of gadgets and puzzles themselves) were disappointing, but I played this game caring a lot more about the plot so I definitely give it high marks. But even the other way around, it really is a good purchase in my humble opinion.