A million years ago (read: not a million years ago) when we started Fridays in the Key of Geek, the Portal 2 soundtrack was our first feature. It released the same week we were considering making the column a reality, and we took the timing to be a sign to get on with it. It only seems right to celebrate the two month anniversary – which would actually be next week, but I’m impatient – of our musical corner of Mash Those Buttons with the second volume of Songs to Test By.
Much like the first volume, this set was released in its entirety by Valve, and is totally free. There’s even a plethora of ringtones available on their page if you want to be reminded of your days spent being tortured by testing with GLaDOS while you’re on the go. There’s 18 tracks in all on this go ’round, and they have just as much variety between them as volume one. One thing that amazes me about these soundtracks is the fact that there was this much music in Portal 2. Even considering co-op, it feels like the soundtrack would be much shorter than it’s shaping up to be right now. There’s still volume 3 to go, for crying out loud! The game is simply packed to the brim with music. And yet each time a song comes on, I’m taken back to where I was in the game when I heard it. As much music as there is, it all has a place; none of it is wasted.
There’s a parallel somewhere in there about the Portal 2 experience on the whole, but today we’re just here for the music. You can listen to a couple of album tracks below, and download volume 2 here. Enjoy, Button Mashers.
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/9m63qci86bj29gm/Portal2-01-You_Will_Be_Perfect.mp3|titles=Portal 2 Soundtrack: Volume 2 - You Will Be Perfect]
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/10pj9c71vljri6q/Portal2-10-Dont_Do_It.mp3|titles=Portal 2 Soundtrack: Volume 2 - Don't Do It]
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/0j78a9oudyt42dn/Portal2-16-PotatOS_Lament.mp3|titles=Portal 2 Soundtrack: Volume 2 - PotatOS Lament]
