A mod for Portal 2
Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative is a community-made mod for Portal 2, inspired by TAG! The Power of Paint. The familiar Portal 2 gels are now contained within the Aperture Science Paint Gun Device and it's your job to test it out! Featuring a new personality-core and an original story with 27 polished levels; the mod offers an exciting and fun experience in varied and interesting new locations throughout Aperture Science. Introducing gels as the core gameplay mechanic completely changes the way you solve puzzles, explore, and survive all the challenges thrown at you!
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Leaning on the weaker end of Portal mods, this game still provides a cute little experience centered around a very fun & new mechanic. The puzzles feel mostly in line with the franchise; however, I personally would have liked to see the parkour aspects of the paint gun more utilized. The writing is... certainly there. I found some of the dialogue cute, but most of it ended up falling flat for me. Mainly, the main core, Nigel, he's a fun character but just maybe not as colorful as the cores you'll find in other portal games, fan or official. Overall it's a very lovable experience; however, for the $5 price tag, I think you'll find more enjoyment out of "Tag: The Power of Paint"—the free title that inspired both this game as well as Portal 2's gel mechanics.
A short review for a short game!
Aperture Tag is a Portal mod that mixes up the usual formula by replacing the Portal Gun with a paintball gun, which is able to shoot the blue and orange gels introduced in Portal 2. It's really cool in theory, but in execution it leads to very easy puzzles in the first half and a bunch of cheesable parts in the second half. Turns out there aren't many approaches you can take with gel-based gameplay only, more than often it only boils down to "color this ramp orange" and "color this jump-pad-looking tile blue". Still, I believe the devs tried their best and it shows in the second half, where my enjoyment of the puzzles went up a fair bit with their more "innovative" nature.
Overall my highlight of the game was the narration though, Nigel is a great narrator and his voice is very pleasant to listen to; finding him slacking around in various locations on the screens in each room was also funny. Unfortunately I found the dialogue to get progressively more unfunny towards the end and the ending in general felt rather cheap to me. If you can live with that, Aperture Tag is still an entertaining and unique fangame. I'd recommend picking it up during a seasonal sale if you're interested, since 5€ for a mod can be quite the turnoff.
Aperture Tag is a Portal mod that mixes up the usual formula by replacing the Portal Gun with a paintball gun, which is able to shoot the blue and orange gels introduced in Portal 2. It's really cool in theory, but in execution it leads to very easy puzzles in the first half and a bunch of cheesable parts in the second half. Turns out there aren't many approaches you can take with gel-based gameplay only, more than often it only boils down to "color this ramp orange" and "color this jump-pad-looking tile blue". Still, I believe the devs tried their best and it shows in the second half, where my enjoyment of the puzzles went up a fair bit with their more "innovative" nature.
Overall my highlight of the game was the narration though, Nigel is a great narrator and his voice is very pleasant to listen to; finding him slacking around in various locations on the screens in each room was also funny. Unfortunately I found the dialogue to get progressively more unfunny towards the end and the ending in general felt rather cheap to me. If you can live with that, Aperture Tag is still an entertaining and unique fangame. I'd recommend picking it up during a seasonal sale if you're interested, since 5€ for a mod can be quite the turnoff.
Interesting game, very enjoyable, I always have a soft spot for Portal/Half-Life mods.
Instead of portals, you use a blue paint to jump, and another one to go faster, kinda like that Portal 2 co-op mechanic. The puzzles were nice, the story fits well in the Portal universe, and the gameplay is hella fun! I highly recommend this mod if you are a big Portal/Source Engine games fan!
Instead of portals, you use a blue paint to jump, and another one to go faster, kinda like that Portal 2 co-op mechanic. The puzzles were nice, the story fits well in the Portal universe, and the gameplay is hella fun! I highly recommend this mod if you are a big Portal/Source Engine games fan!
Now it's no Portal 2, but a nice short experience with a fun new testing idea. Played it twice even.
It manages to capture the portal 2 atmosphere, something I always long more of.
It manages to capture the portal 2 atmosphere, something I always long more of.
The core's not as annoying as the other mods, but it's way too short for the price and ends super abruptly.
I payed $5 for this, beat it in 2 hours, then saw it had just gone on sale for 99 cents.
I payed $5 for this, beat it in 2 hours, then saw it had just gone on sale for 99 cents.
The biggest critique here is obviously the voice acting and dialogue, Nigel just isn't a funny character, and the references to the actual Portal games only felt annoying to me, "for the people who are still alive," where have I heard that one before...
But, I do like the rest of the game. I do feel that a lot of the puzzles fall into the issue of not really feeling like puzzles but instead a series of events, there still were highlights though, Test Chamber 7 and Chapter 4's Chamber 8 were my favorite chambers. Seeing the older Portal maps, that were also seen in Portal 2, was disappointing for the game's length, but at least they took a different spin with them, since you no longer have a portal gun. So, it's not bad, it's just pretty underwhelming compared to the livelihood of Portal 2.
But, I do like the rest of the game. I do feel that a lot of the puzzles fall into the issue of not really feeling like puzzles but instead a series of events, there still were highlights though, Test Chamber 7 and Chapter 4's Chamber 8 were my favorite chambers. Seeing the older Portal maps, that were also seen in Portal 2, was disappointing for the game's length, but at least they took a different spin with them, since you no longer have a portal gun. So, it's not bad, it's just pretty underwhelming compared to the livelihood of Portal 2.