Portal

Assassin · 02-01-08, 13:52

Anyone who hasn't heard of Portal has been living under a rock for the past few months. It was the only thing the internet would talk about for some time. Was it really worth all that attention or was it just some mediocre puzzle game?

Locked up
When starting the game you will begin in a small cell. You hear a voice explaining your situation and after a while a portal appears. You step in and get out at the other side of the room. This is what this game is basically about. Transporting yourself or other objects through portals which you can create yourself.

At first you can't create these portals yet. The game starts out teaching you how portals work. First you get one of the portal guns. You can then make blue portals. There are two portals, blue and yellow ones. When you step into a blue portal you come out of a yellow portal and vice versa. With this blue portal gun you can now make blue portals anywhere you want. After a while you also get the yellow portal gun and you can transport anything from one place to another. This is when the game really begins.

Solving puzzles
At this point the puzzles start getting harder and you find out what you can do with your portal gun. Since you can create portals not only on walls but also on floors and ceilings, you can use portals to shoot yourself to a certain place. For example if you create a portal on the ground and another one on the wall and then jump into the one on the floor from a ledge you will get shot out of the portal on the wall. While falling you gained speed and with that speed you get thrown out of the portal on the wall. By doing this you can get to places you can't get to by simply jumping.

There are also several objects in the game to help you solve puzzles. For example there are cubes, you can put these on buttons to open doors. Like yourself, you can also transport these through your own portals. At a certain part in the game there will also be turrets. You will have to find ways to get past these. Now you might think this is easy, you can just create a portal to get to the other side. But you can't create portals on every wall. There are some walls on which you can't create any portals, which means you will have to find different ways to solve some puzzles.

The Story
You'd think a puzzle game like this wouldn't have much of a story. As you progress through the game, you will have a computer voice talk to you. She appears to be helpful and trying to help you get through, but near the end you start to notice she is more sinister than that. At a certain point you get to care a cube with a heart through a level called your weighted companion cube. It's little things like this which make the game feel alive. The computer voice will make you think that you love this cube and it is your friend. At the end of the level you will have to make a choice, destroy the cube to go to the next level or stay there forever.

There are some other small things which make this game so likeable, like the cute voices of the turrets. It will make them seem very alive, unlike the normal turrets you'd see through Half-Life 2. Another thing is the promise the voice makes that you'll get cake after finishing the test. I will not go in on the rest of the story because I don't want to spoil the surprise. Just know that the ending is very interesting, with a nice boss fight at the end.

Best game ever?
If you haven't played this game yet, go play it now. The only downside of it is that after you finished it you still want more. In other words, it's a little short. There are still some things to do after finishing though. There are challenge maps, which are maps fro mthe main game, but a little harder. You can also try to finish some of the levels under a certain time or by using the least amount of portals you can. The game feels very alive and it makes you want to play the game over and over again after finishing it.

8,5/10

If you want to play more Portal or want to see what it's about, try the Portal Flash game.

xzKinGzxBuRnzx · 15-08-08, 06:35

Sweet review again Assassin, I've never got to play this game yet. Though I did find a link for you. Anyone that is using a NVIDIA GPU can download Portal for FREE and LEGALLY!
Portal: First Slice is free for all NVIDIA Gamers

InsaneNutter · 15-08-08, 18:59

Thanks for reminding me about that, I believe it’s an extended demo but it’s another game on my steam list for free

I still really need to play this, I have it on the Orange Box for the 360 but never got round to playing it.

DoctorJones7961 · 25-08-08, 01:02

I love that game, I just wish the new one they are making would continue a story along side GlaDOS.

daarkside · 25-08-08, 05:55

together with cod4 and tf2 one of the best games from the last years

i heard some ppl cant play that game and almost start to puke cuz all the wierd twistings, make the game even better tbh

Amphion · 25-08-08, 12:51

good game

, downloaded it, and finished it 2 weeks ago.
loads of funny moments. That Was Great.

Gekkeloko · 25-08-08, 13:20

Portal was great.
Can't wait for the second game.

vitorh · 28-08-08, 00:43

great puzzle game, but too short.
hope for some more levels

Bungieman · 28-08-08, 10:05

It was a great game, had all the good elements. But whats up with the length? Took me like 1 hour to complete the game.

02-01-08, 13:52	#1
Assassin Moderator Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 278	Portal Anyone who hasn't heard of Portal has been living under a rock for the past few months. It was the only thing the internet would talk about for some time. Was it really worth all that attention or was it just some mediocre puzzle game? Locked up When starting the game you will begin in a small cell. You hear a voice explaining your situation and after a while a portal appears. You step in and get out at the other side of the room. This is what this game is basically about. Transporting yourself or other objects through portals which you can create yourself. At first you can't create these portals yet. The game starts out teaching you how portals work. First you get one of the portal guns. You can then make blue portals. There are two portals, blue and yellow ones. When you step into a blue portal you come out of a yellow portal and vice versa. With this blue portal gun you can now make blue portals anywhere you want. After a while you also get the yellow portal gun and you can transport anything from one place to another. This is when the game really begins. Solving puzzles At this point the puzzles start getting harder and you find out what you can do with your portal gun. Since you can create portals not only on walls but also on floors and ceilings, you can use portals to shoot yourself to a certain place. For example if you create a portal on the ground and another one on the wall and then jump into the one on the floor from a ledge you will get shot out of the portal on the wall. While falling you gained speed and with that speed you get thrown out of the portal on the wall. By doing this you can get to places you can't get to by simply jumping. There are also several objects in the game to help you solve puzzles. For example there are cubes, you can put these on buttons to open doors. Like yourself, you can also transport these through your own portals. At a certain part in the game there will also be turrets. You will have to find ways to get past these. Now you might think this is easy, you can just create a portal to get to the other side. But you can't create portals on every wall. There are some walls on which you can't create any portals, which means you will have to find different ways to solve some puzzles. The Story You'd think a puzzle game like this wouldn't have much of a story. As you progress through the game, you will have a computer voice talk to you. She appears to be helpful and trying to help you get through, but near the end you start to notice she is more sinister than that. At a certain point you get to care a cube with a heart through a level called your weighted companion cube. It's little things like this which make the game feel alive. The computer voice will make you think that you love this cube and it is your friend. At the end of the level you will have to make a choice, destroy the cube to go to the next level or stay there forever. There are some other small things which make this game so likeable, like the cute voices of the turrets. It will make them seem very alive, unlike the normal turrets you'd see through Half-Life 2. Another thing is the promise the voice makes that you'll get cake after finishing the test. I will not go in on the rest of the story because I don't want to spoil the surprise. Just know that the ending is very interesting, with a nice boss fight at the end. Best game ever? If you haven't played this game yet, go play it now. The only downside of it is that after you finished it you still want more. In other words, it's a little short. There are still some things to do after finishing though. There are challenge maps, which are maps fro mthe main game, but a little harder. You can also try to finish some of the levels under a certain time or by using the least amount of portals you can. The game feels very alive and it makes you want to play the game over and over again after finishing it. 8,5/10 If you want to play more Portal or want to see what it's about, try the Portal Flash game. __________________ Last edited by Assassin; 05-05-08 at 18:38.

15-08-08, 06:35	#2
xzKinGzxBuRnzx Contributor Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Your MuMs House Posts: 410 Xbox Live Ranking: 15^th	Sweet review again Assassin, I've never got to play this game yet. Though I did find a link for you. Anyone that is using a NVIDIA GPU can download Portal for FREE and LEGALLY! Portal: First Slice is free for all NVIDIA Gamers __________________ KinG of KinG's \| God of God's Live Chat \| View My Site \| Private Message

15-08-08, 18:59	#3
InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Huddersfield, UK Posts: 1,062	Thanks for reminding me about that, I believe it’s an extended demo but it’s another game on my steam list for free I still really need to play this, I have it on the Orange Box for the 360 but never got round to playing it. __________________ Email Me InsaneNutter.com Digiex Image Upload

25-08-08, 12:51	#6
Amphion Interested Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 8	good game, downloaded it, and finished it 2 weeks ago. loads of funny moments. That Was Great.

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25-08-08, 01:02	#4
DoctorJones7961 Trainee Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 22 Xbox Live Ranking: 8^th	I love that game, I just wish the new one they are making would continue a story along side GlaDOS.

25-08-08, 05:55	#5
daarkside Trainee Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 12	together with cod4 and tf2 one of the best games from the last years i heard some ppl cant play that game and almost start to puke cuz all the wierd twistings, make the game even better tbh

25-08-08, 13:20	#7
Gekkeloko Interested Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 9 Xbox Live Ranking: 16^th	Portal was great. Can't wait for the second game.

28-08-08, 00:43	#8
vitorh Trainee Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 10	great puzzle game, but too short. hope for some more levels

28-08-08, 10:05	#9
Bungieman Interested Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 6	It was a great game, had all the good elements. But whats up with the length? Took me like 1 hour to complete the game.

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