Portal

I've been wanting to play Portal, for two reasons. One, because it looked awesome from even the first video. Two, because everyone is going crazy over it.

I swear, just about everyone who has played this game has nothing but good to say about it. Even the most jaded reviewers on the internet. I read that people were making Weighted Companion Cube porn before the game even came out, and I've personally seen porn involving the gun turrets from the game just days after its release. I had to see what all the craze was about.

It's roughly 3:30 AM as I type this. It took me a little over three hours to finish the entire game, in one sitting. I don't know exactly how that ranks on the average play time scale, but I'm proud to say I didn't use a single walkthrough. I rented The Orange Box on the PS3, specifically to play Portal. I use Linux, and while Portal is said to work well with Wine, I don't have the money to buy The Orange Box for the PC, and I wasn't sure if $20 for Portal would be worth it, given that I can hardly afford even that.

While I'm sure that most everyone who cares about Portal has played it, and has done so weeks ago, I feel I should give it a more proper review.

First up is gameplay. It's a very unique concept. Only one game, to my knowledge, has featured gameplay like this, and that was Narbacular Drop, a class project done by DigiPen students who ended up being hired by Valve to turn their idea into a full-fledged game. So, you could say Narbacular Drop was a tech-demo for what would become Portal. I have to hand it to the developers, because Narbacular Drop has most of the physics-related fun you'll find in Portal, and for a class project, that's really impressive.

Anyway, once you get access to both portals, the game is basically about spacial recognition. Being able to look around your environment and figuring out exactly how to place your portals. Later puzzles involve figuring out angles and momentum. Some puzzles take some work to figure out, but there will be some where you figure out the answer quickly. However, on the later puzzles, while the solution may seem easy, the execution isn't. That's not a game flaw, it's the precision timing or placement needed.

The audio is really nice. There's not a whole lot to it for most of the game. GLaDOS is humorous at times. The way she says certain things with that monotone, robot voice is sure to make you laugh. It's more just a few moments than the entire game, of course. Also of note are the voices for the gun turrets. I read that the voices sound really cute, and I have to agree with that. The sweet and rather deceptive voice of the turrets is off-set by the fact that it can kill you quite easily.

Also, I only noticed the Weighted Companion Cube in one single "Test." The rest were Weighted Storage Cubes. (The Companion Cube has pink hearts on it, while the Storage Cubes have the Aperture logo.) Which makes me wonder why there is such a craze over this cube. I guess I'm just not getting it.

The story is almost non-existent. The player character has little or no back story, and GLaDOS doesn't start showing much personality until the last level. Still, this is a kind of game that doesn't really need a story. It's like adding a story to Tetris. Puzzle games don't need story, and Portal is a puzzle game.

Overall, I think Portal is amazing. It's quick, which is a shame, but it's a lot of fun. If you're into games that really make you think, Portal is a must have. I'm just hoping for a sequel or expansion pack of some kind.