Game Review: Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative

Hello (subject name here)! Welcome to another series of tests at Aperture Science! I briefly talked about this new testing initiative in my Thinking With Time Machine review, but now that I have performed the tests, I will have to talk about this new series of tests. This is Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative!

Aperture Tag is a fan-made mod for Portal 2 released about a week ago. This game is based on Tag! The Power of Paint, the indie game that inspired Portal 2's gel mechanics. In the game, you play as a new unnamed female test subject. You are woken up from your cryo chamber by a little robot named Nigel. Nigel tells you that he is in charge of a brand new series of tests, The Paint Gun Testing Initiative. In this new series of tests, you use a paint gun which sprays Repulsion Gel, which is bouncy, and Propulsion Gel, which is speedy, to solve tests. Everything is going great! The test guide isn't evil and the tests are fun! However, later on, you learn that Nigel, perhaps, isn't such a nice guy after all...

This game is pretty good. Is it better than Thinking With Time Machine? Well, some things Aperture Tag did better and some things Thinking With Time Machine did better. I'll start with the better. The game is much longer than Thinking With Time Machine! It is still pretty short compared to Portal 1 and 2, but this game should last you longer. This game has brand new full voice acting, which is nice. Nigel is a pretty good character! However, the voice acting isn't great. Definitely not on the level of quality of Portal 1 and 2, but it stands on it's own pretty well. The voice acting isn't bad, and it is better than no voice acting, making this game feel more like a Portal game. The writing and humour is pretty good, almost on the level of Portal 1 and 2! This game has an original soundtrack by the one and only Harry101UK! If you don't know who he is, he makes great Portal songs and videos on YouTube that look and sound like they were actually made by VALVE! This is probably his masterpiece! However, I was disappointed that there was no vocalized song during the credits, like Still Alive and Want You Gone in the other Portal games. Harry101UK makes great vocalized Portal songs! Why didn't he make one for this? Oh, well. I'm still gonna buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp! This game has all the Portal game mechanics and more, making the game feel much more complete. The story actually ends this time! There are no Easter Eggs, but there is developer's commentary and Community Test Chamber support! I feel this game has a long lifetime ahead of it! Now on with the things Thinking With Time Machine did better. It barely feels like a Portal sequel. Thinking With Time Machine was an obvious continuation of Portal 2, but in Aperture Tag, it is extremely unclear about where this is supposed to fit in with the Portal timeline. Where is GLaDOS? Who is this lady you play as? It isn't Chell, but Chell was the last one alive in Portal 2! Is this taking place during Portal 2? After? Before? I don't know! I guess this game is trying to be more it's own thing and less of a Portal sequel, but when you set your game in the Portal universe, you actually have to fit it into the Portal universe! Another thing that bothers me is that you don't really get to see anywhere new in Aperture Science. Sure, there are the fake outdoor environments, but those are at the end of the game and there aren't a lot of those. The only other places you see are ruined Aperture test chambers from the first game, and run-down old Aperture, where most of the game is set. Old Aperture was my least favorite part of Portal 2 visually, so you can see why I'm a little disappointed. In Thinking With Time Machine, you had all new environments that complimented the Portal test chamber design, but turned it into something that was completely different from anything in the other Portal games and it looked great! Most of the environments in Aperture Tag are pretty boring. The game is not as finely polished as Thinking With Time Machine or Portal 1 and 2. There is a lot of trial and error, which can be frustrating. Some of the tests are supposed to be solved in really weird ways that you would never think of because it doesn't look like it is the correct way, but it is. This makes the game needlessly difficult sometimes. The game can also get quite repetitive sometimes. In conclusion, this is still a good game! It is fun and fresh. This game isn't perfect, definitely not as good as Portal 1 and 2, but you should still get a lot of enjoyment out of it. If you want to try it out, it is 7 bucks on Steam AND you must own a Steam copy of Portal 2 to play. I would recommend this game for ages 9 and up because the game can be very difficult and frustrating. I'd give this game a 4 out of 5 stars! This was a triumph. I'm making a note here, huge success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction! Next mod: Conversion! Summer 2015! I can't wait!

Have you played Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!