Best game foes?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Yeah, It's kinda like that

Take a simple game concept of portals, combine it with FPS elements, and add Valve's historic magical touch to it and you get the recipe for one of the greatest games ever: Portal. Portal puts you in the shoes of Chell, who wakes up in a contained facility controlled by unseen observers and narrated by a critical robot named Glados. I don't want to ruin the story, but things get a little creepy and crazy, and manages to keep you interested all the way to the end. The puzzles start out as easy as putting a box on a button to open up the door to the next level, but get more intense over time as different methods get elaborated on such as the infinite fall. Eventually there are hazards such as turrets and energy balls that easily can kill you, and you need to use your portals to control these hazards such as having the turrets shoot each other. A few times you can get stuck and frustrated, but you will always find a way out to the next level. If the game proves too easy however, there are challenge levels that are near impossible. A few times I feel like I cheated because of how ridiculous the method to solve the puzzle was. The best part of the game though was the atmosphere. As soon as you feel that the white tiled surroundings may look boring, the game changes it up a bit and keeps it looking fresh. For fifteen bucks, this eight-hour memorable masterpiece will hopefully get you as excited as I am for Portal 2.

The Good:
+ Great story-easy to follow yet keeps you interested and entertained by the mystery of your surroundings.
+ Innovative gameplay-portals are a very simple concept, but made into a game, you will never forget the first time you walk through a portal and see yourself on the other side. Incredibly entertaining and perfectly executed. The combination of puzzle and reflex elements is excellent.
+Good difficulty-advanced levels will satisfy anyone looking for serious challenges, but if they are too difficult there is no real reward for beating them. The main levels are easy enough for anyone to eventually figure out.

The Bad:
- Only real downside is the ending is somewhat of a let down and doesn't satisfy the curiosity and only makes you want a sequel. The story seems like a demo for the upcoming Portal 2, which will hopefully follow up on these questions.

Final Verdict: 8/10. I would recommend purchasing if you are looking for a new game to keep you busy for a while, but the lack of replay value makes me suggest that you rent it or borrow it from a friend.

26 comments:

  1. Ah, Portal! Now THAT'S a game! Yes, I too look forward to the sequel!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think Valve has ever let me down I love them

    ReplyDelete
  3. ,,,,nice point of view dude..keep posting this kind of stuff

    ReplyDelete
  4. The ending is a letdown? With THAT song??

    Portal is a complete joy from head to toe. The gradual peeling back of the fourth wall, as you discover the grafitti and the various scrawled messages, hidden behind the pristine facility walls. GLaDOS, willing you to continue, mocking you when you fail, daring you to push past where you should. I can remember how dizzyingly brilliant that ending was, the first time i played through it. For me, it never occured there would even BE a sequel; the game stands alone quite nicely as it is.

    But really, the song encapsulates the feeling you get from playing it, in it's opening line:

    "This was a triumph...i'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS"

    ReplyDelete
  5. you think the portal gun will appear in Half Life 3? I think so!

    ReplyDelete
  6. just wait, there is a lot of new tech coming...

    ReplyDelete
  7. portal is a great game cannot wait for two.

    http://operationaloptional.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don;t know why everyone loves portal

    ReplyDelete
  9. I liked Portal, but it was kind of shallow in terms of storyline. Like you said, I don't really care about a continuation because I don't feel like it's continuing anything.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love gmod + portal. I swear i could play those game for hours and never get bored.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Portal is one of the most inventive puzzle games I have played in a while, complete with an interesting storyline... it's great!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chad: try it and see dude, it's friggen great :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've been replaying the orange box. After I beat episode 2, I'm going to play through portal again. It's a great game.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've really been wanting to play this game.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Good review. Though I thought the ending was great.

    My review of Portal can be summed up by the facts that I pre-ordered Portal 2, and I think Portal is good enough to give to my father as a present.

    ReplyDelete