Portal 2 videos reveal Aperture Science’s Repulsion and Propulsion Gels

Today’s vids, part of Valve’s week of Portal 2 reveals, show off two new game mechanics, the Propulsion and Repulsion Gels. Apparently intended by Aperture Science to be used as weight loss aids, the two “largely non-toxic liquid forms of fiberglass insulation” were pulled from the shelves after testing revealed that people need to digest food before expelling it, and that trying to bounce food out of a dieter’s stomach is impractical.

The Repulsion Gel is a blue liquid that works like a portable trampoline. From the video it seems to endlessly leak out of a tube in a sphere shape, allowing Chell to redirect the blobs to where she needs them. Once the blobs hit the ground, they create a large blue puddle that launches Chell to areas much higher than she could reach normally.

The Propulsion Gel works a lot like the classic "ice floor" effect in games, slicking to the floor and causing you to build up speedin a straight line, but making it hard to stop. The orange Propulsion Gel seems to come out in a constant stream, allowing you to paint the level with it via the portals. When used in conjunction with some ramps, the gel looks like it’ll be able to launch Chell clear across big gaps and timed hazards.

While it’s pretty clear what these two goops do, it’s unclear if they evaporate or remain in place for the duration of the level. While it seems you can get pretty liberal with slopping this goop everywhere, we bet that later levels will require very strict usage lest you bounce into a Thermal Discouragement Beam or slide into a wall of spikes.

Jul 1, 2010