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The year was 2007. Valve was going on the success of Half-Life and their more recent entry, Half-Life 2. To spread their joy to the world, they submit upon the masses the Orange Box, containing three games of their own creation. Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and a small little off-to-the-side game known as Portal. Little did Valve realize...Portal would soon gain a cult following with its little seemingly-simplistic puzzle game, which ended up in turn, not only being the center of 1000 memes on the internet, but four years later, coming out with a sequel to the renowned puzzler.
Now I know what you're thinking, probably. Blizzard? REVIEWING A PC/XBOX 360 GAME!? Shut up. I can appreciate other platforms too, thank you. Besides, I just recently got a new laptop, mostly not out of choice considering my last laptop was starting to show severe signs of heavy wear, probably since years ago when I got that laptop, I hadn't even imagined myself line arting and coloring pictures on Photoshop or even greater still, capturing footage from my video game consoles. That isn't to mention, I wouldn't have minded trying a few games from other platforms, namely the PC platform anyhow, so I got myself a Dell XPS laptop equipped with a i7 Core Processor and a 3 year warrantee and had at it. As such, I decided to get me a couple of games for this new laptop of mine. Namely Portal and Portal 2, which speaking of Portal 2, expect a review of that here very soon. So, for now, how does Portal stand in my hands? Find out.
Warning: If this picture alone gives you vertigo, let alone if you are severely prone to motion sickness, do not play this game.
Story:
As far as story goes. It can almost be compared to that of the original Mario Brothers for the NES. You pretty much knew all you needed to do, and there was not much reading into it. You are person, travelling levels, probably hoping to get some from a princess at the end of each stage. Which, in turn, the princess was a lie until the very end. In Portal, you were a person stuck in Aperature labratories. Your incentive for getting to the very end of all the test chambers? CAKE! Yes. You're a lab rat in a maze. Congrats. However, don't fret. Aperature Science pretty much fills out the details to you right from the get go...
Yep...that just about covers it.
In going through the test chambers, you will pick up a nifty little piece of science which has a absurdly long name, which in layman's terms is the Portal gun. You use this to help you through all the various obstacles Aperature Science puts up in your way. Such as:
Guns. Lots of Guns. Turrets, actually...
And whatever the hell this crap is...
Get done with all the test chambers and the cake is your final reward! But not really.
....so, the cake really was a lie? Or am I supposed to be the cake?
Being double crossed, its time to bust out of this place by any means necessary. You got a portal gun. Use it.
There isn't a lot there in the story department. But really, in this game's case? You don't need it. You know what you need to know, just like old time NES games. And its all good.
Gameplay:
The game play in general is as simple as the story. As mentioned the whole premise is puzzle solving...coin the term 'thinking with portals' because thats exactly what you will have to do to make it through every last area of the game as well as getting the various achievements that Valve gives to you to see if you can pull off. To say the least. Not easy. The Controls are actually easy to get into also, and this is coming from someone who used to not PC game often like this. Typical WASD for movement, E for carrying whatever you need to carry. Mouse to aim and fire your Portal gun. Not much to say here, other than the fact it is done very well.
Audio/Visual
The audio and visuals really make the mood of this game and then some. To make a long story short, there is a lot of dark comedy within the audio tracks, when you start reading between the lines, which in turn will make you no longer take the Half-Life universe, which this game takes place in, seriously at all. That said, once you get far enough into the game, it makes a serious mood whiplash from the mostly sterile test chambers, to the various inner-workings of the Aperature Science Facility, which in turn could make the game into nightmare fuel. Trust me, I actually did have nightmares being here.
They must of had Umbrella Corp.'s interior designer.
Extras
There isn't much else going for this game, other than you attempting to get all achievements out of this game, few of which you have to go a bit far out of your way for such as "transmission received". There are also the Advanced chambers, which are six of the latter test Chambers you go through normally that are reworked a bit to make said test chambers fairly harder. There is also a challenge mode, going through the test chambers in certain ways such as fewest portals, or even, fewest steps taken in the chambers. But really, you're still just going through the same test chambers over the over in new ways. I'll admit the challenge mode is interesting to go through, but in essence there's not too much there.
The Final Say
All in all, it does show that when Valve made this game, it was just an off-to-the-side thing. And it shows hard. However, I can very well understand why this game also got the following like it did and to say the least I am glad to have played it. With the various comedic lines, the ambiance that the game provide, the simple to navigate controls and the challenge each area provided. Despite it being such a outrageously short game, in essence, I give this game a 9 out of 10.
Now if you will excuse me, back to torturing this turret.
Oiew, please submit yourself to the 'review-goer lying submission position'. Oh wait its over?
