The Best Things In Life Are Free | Songs To Test By

Well it seems GladOS is back in the big chair - where she should be! - because yesterday, someone finally tested some sense into the great and glorious cabal that is Valve, insisting that they release some of the awesome music from Portal 2.

And when I say "awesome," I mean awesome.

I confess, when I first heard that there'd be a sequel to Portal, I had my doubts. But from the moment that first trailer was released on out, I was all in - and in no small part thanks to the exhilarating electro the resurrection of GladOS was set to.

Nor did the game disappoint in that respect... in any respect, truth be told. The soundtrack was but one of Portal 2's innumerable high points - the perfect music to read or perhaps even write some bonkers sci-fi by - so it was cause for something of a sad face when I realised there was no way I could buy it.

Apparently that was only so Valve could give us the thing, piece by piece. Strike my complaints from the transcript, please! Composed and arranged by the Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory, Songs to Test By Volume One is the first of three free CDs' worth of songs from the stupendous Portal 2.

And it is, as I may have mentioned, somewhat awesome. I'm only on my first listen and already I've heard a wealth of music that wasn't in the game proper - or else was, and I missed, because I'm such an obedient little test subject. I hear I missed a wealth of dialogue too, by solving puzzles before Wheatley or some such could complain I wasn't testing fast enough.

...oh well. Replay! :)

In the meantime, you'd be well advised to hit up this link forthwith, and getcher gosh-darned download on.

Not only, but also: please, consider the comments of this post a Portal 2 spoiler section. I'd say the time to be respectful of those folks who haven't had the time or the inclination to beat Valve's latest masterpiece is officially at an end. Besides, I'm practically dying to discuss some of the late-game events of what has to be the best game of the year to date with you all.

In fact, I'll get the cube ball rolling and everything...

News Flashing | The Cube Cometh!

Oh. My. God.

You do know what day tomorrow is, don't you?

Why, it's Portal 2 day! :D

Have you been doing your homework in readiness? Have you been duly replaying one of the most significant video games of the past decade? Come on: it'll only take you a couple of hours. Lay off your latest rewatch of Beyond Reanimator tonight and get reacquainted with GLaDOS and Chell!

If you're up for a few new challenges to ease your your puzzle-solvin' noggin into the mind-bending of Portal 2 proper, you can download Portal: Still Alive on XBLA for thirteen new challenge rooms in exchange for a few puny spacebucks.

If that's not enough to satisfy you, or else you're too cheap, or just can't be arsed, well. There's this, too. Portal 2: Lab Rat is a short comic book which serves to bridge the gap between the events of Portal 2 and its storied predecessor. It's by Powers co-creator Michael Avon Oeming and it's really quite good. Fascinating - and funny, that too.

Oh, and free as a bird over on IGN right now.

Wait, you want more?

Well, I guess. Here's a neat Quick Look at Portal 2 from the folks at Valve and Giant Bomb, for instance. It's a good laugh, if a little spoilery.

For myself, I've done all of the above this past week. I've replayed Portal, read the comic book, watched the Quick Look. I've even gone above and beyond. Here, for instance, is my coffee mug, as of this morning:

Let us all eat cake once more! Or else be cruelly deprived of cake by an adorable yet unabashedly evil AI whose promises us cake though in truth he means us ill! :)

So, do you think Portal 2 will live up to the huge success of the little game that could? The game that gave us companion cubes, the song "Still Alive" and the long-con of the cake?

Me? I really think it might. I have faith in these Valve folks. They tend not to release anything till it's good and cooked... golden-brown like demerara sugar... on a cake.