Portal (PC DVD)

 

 

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Every now and then a game comes along that requires serious attention, simply because it is pure genius. Usually such games are mind-boggingly simple, and feature an idea so obvious that it makes other developers slap themselves in the face in disbelief that they didn't think of it. Portal is the latest such game to follow in this tradition.

Portal follows the adventures of a young lady named Chell, who, for reasons never explained, has been held in stasis for an unspecificed amount of time at an Aperture Science Enrichment Facility, waiting to undergo testing and training on the Handheld Portal Device 04 (aka, 'the portal gun'). Chell doesn't encounter any other people, but is guided through the testing facility by GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), an extremely eccentric AI which becomes increasingly demented as the game proceeds, directing Chell into increasingly hazardous test chambers (including a 'live-fire course usually used to test military androids') but urging her to continue through the promise of cake.

Each test chamber consists of a puzzle which the player must overcome by use of the portal gun. The gun can create portals on certain wall surfaces. Two portals can be created. By simply stepping through one, you step out of the other. Puzzles can be very simple (crossing a chasm by firing a portal onto a wall on the far side and another next to you, and stepping through) or mind-crushingly complex. Since you retain your forward momentum when you pass through a portal, some puzzles involving crossing vast gaps (with non-portal-compatible walls on the far side) can be overcome by generating a portal at the bottom of the chasm, another one on the wall behind you, falling down the chasm at tremendous speed, which then gives you momentum when you pass through the portal to cross the vast gap. Dealing with sudden shifts in orientation and direction is key to progressing through the game.

The puzzles are complicated by the increasing addition of dangerous obstacles, such as energy spikes you have to direct through portals to generators to open up the next area of the test chamber but which will kill you if you touch them, and the sudden addition of robotic sentry guns to certain chambers (which comically tell you they hold no ill wishes when you inevitably destroy them). You also have some help in the shape of the 'weighted companion cube' or 'box' which you can use to press switches, bat aside energy spikes or deflect sentry gun bullets. For a non-sentient inanimate object, the companion cube soon becomes a trusted ally in the game and the puzzle which requires you to 'euthanise' one of them is strangely disturbing.

Of course, there's only so many times you can solve puzzles revolving around portals and the laws of ballistics before it becomes a bit old, and to their credit the developers realise this and only provide twenty test chambers. The completion of the last chamber triggers the second (much shorter) stage of the game where you have to use your carefully-gained portal skills to escape the facility once it becomes clear that something is not right in the world outside (this is where the link to the Half-Life universe is hinted at), leading to the fiendishly satisfying final confrontation and the best end games credits sequence ever.

Portal is a tremendoulsy simple idea, fantastically well-executed. I can imagine the Half-Life 2 team at Valve feeling a bit embarrassed about the fuss they made about the gravity gun when Portal shows off the capabilities of the Source Engine's physics engine with much greater finesse, elegance and originality. At about 2-3 hours in length, it doesn't outstay its welcome (and your brain will be aching by the time you get to the game's conclusion) but it does leave you wanting more. Where a possible Portal 2 could go is unclear, but the game hints that the Aperture Science facility has been abandoned due to something crazy happening in the world outside, and it isn't too hard to tie this in with the Combine occupation of Earth in the Half-Life 2 series of games. Whether this means that the planned sequel will see Chell taking on the Combine with the portal gun, or perhaps involve her meeting Gordon Freeman, is unclear, but it's an intriguing notion.

Portal (*****) is superb. It's original, it's funny, it's well-executed, it's perfectly-timed and has a sense of humour as black as midnight.

This game is incredable and revolutionary, it doesn't need a particularly good computer to run it and is a bargain at £12.

In Portal you play the part of the protagonist who finds herself involved in an "experiment" for "Appature Science". The game has a surprisingly good storyline as well as a great sense of humour!

The gameplay is unmatched in any puzzle game and you get a huge satisfaction from figuring out how to complete each experiment, which in my opinion, have a perfect level of difficulty.

The only downside to Portal is it's length, 4-5 hours. Although there are many extra levels you can download from the internet and you will almost certainly want to play it through for a second time. The first 12 levels (out of a total of 19) are more of tutorials and you will complete these in about an hour, it's in the last 7 levels where this game really shines, and these will take up most of your time. Once the game is completed you unlock variants of levels 13-18 where they are either made more difficult or you are given a challenge (i.e. in less that x amount of steps/time/portal creations).

Just in case anyones interested in how the game runs, it runs very smoothly with all settings on High or very High on my computer which has the following:
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD 5600 x2 2.8Ghz Processor
2gb 800Mhz RAM
ATI HD 2600XT 256mb Graphics card

This game is simply superb - thought provoking, fun, hilarious...it's just brilliant. The basic premise of the game is that you are a character testing out a special gun which fires portals which allow you to move quickly between two points. You have to use logic and physics to complete various challenges, guided by the rather bonkers and hilarious computer, GLaDOS. As you get further through the challenges, it becomes clear that GLaDOS is even more unhinged than you first thought, and that she isn't exactly crazy about keeping you alive. You have to use everything you have learned in previous challenges to make it out of the testing facility alive.

Although the game can be completed within a few hours, and the scenery is quite sparse, this game is a joy to play. Nearly everything that GLaDOS says is absolutely hilarious, and the challenges are fun and really challenge you to think. Additionally, they can be completed in several different ways and it is possible to pick up awards for doing certain things, so the game can easily be replayed with great satisfaction.

Another thing that's great about the game is that it isn't a shoot-em up, yet it isn't childish either. In fact, it's darkly funny and clever; it's just that you don't have to kill people in order to play it, which I find to be a good thing.

If you really need an incentive to complete the game, there is brilliant song at the end and you must finish the game in order to hear it. Sure, you can listen to it on youtube, but it's only really satisfying if you have earned it!

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4.0 out of 5 stars No cakewalk this one
This is one clever game. The concept is simple but brilliant: you're trapped in the labs of Aperture Science and you have to get out. To assist you you're given a portal gun. Read more

Published 4 months ago by sft

5.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT buy this game!
This is the best game I've played in a very long time. But in case you are unaware it is also included in a compendium called The Orange Box - which is also available on this site... Read more

Published 6 months ago by fredthe3rd

1.0 out of 5 stars Steam-ing pile of s**t
I'm an occasional rather than a serious gamer, and was looking for a game to keep me occupied during the summer months. Read more

Published 8 months ago by busstopp

4.0 out of 5 stars Careful buying Portal
This is a well known and very highly rated game. Be careful if you want only to buy Portal. Portal is rated 12+ but I believe is only available, unless NOS, as a bundle with Half... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Mr. I. M. F. Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you."
I cannot think of any way in which Portal could be improved. Despite the fact that a good part of the game is simply a series of stark test chambers within the so called... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Otherkin

4.0 out of 5 stars I do what I can, because I must
What a great game this is. Funny and witty and puzzle-based, fun for me, fun for my husband (ahem, who I bought it for) and generally fun all around. Read more

Published on 21 Jan 2010 by Ms. J. Atkinson

1.0 out of 5 stars Steaming with anger
My son got this game for Xmas, rushed off and installed it and had to connect to install Steam and connect to the internet before he could use it. Read more

Published on 8 Jan 2010 by Diane Spiedel

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful in every possible way
£15? Good lord, if you don't have this yet you should go buy it right away. Unbelievably, Valve have further cemented their deserved reputation as pc gaming's foremost developer... Read more

Published on 4 Mar 2009 by Mr. D. S. Boynton

5.0 out of 5 stars Now you are thinking with portals
Portal is more of a puzzle game than anything, and here and there are bit of humour, such an the main computer says stupid things

The game is a puzzle but has the... Read more

Published on 13 Dec 2008 by Xander

5.0 out of 5 stars Is the cake a lie?
Now, here we have something special. To be frank, Portal is a fantastic game, and I highly recommend you purchase it on any format, PC, Steam, via Orange Box or Live Arcade... Read more

Published on 25 Nov 2008 by Zabba

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