Oct 22, 2007 - Portal Review

Addictive. Thought provoking. Fun. These are just a view of the ways to describe Portal, one of the five FPS games included in Valve's Orange Box. The premise of the game is simple: you must solve puzzles of varying difficulty by using a portal device. The portal device is akin to a gun. It can shoot a portal entrance and also an exit on most surfaces. If you walk through an entrance, you come out the exit and vice versa. It is a concept that is much easier to understand when you actually see it in action. 

There is more to Portal than just reality-bending puzzles. Portal also has a decent enough plot that fits into the Half-Life world quite well.  A portion of the plot is revealed by way of a bit of quirky comic relief.   The humor is conveyed via robotic audio messages that the gamer receives upon entering each level. The puzzles, the quirky robot humor, and the song that plays during the credits are all creative genius.  You really must beat the game so that you can hear the song that awaits you at the end. 

The difficulty increases as you progress through each level. Hazards are added, such as "goo" on the floor that will kill you if you fall into it and turrets that shoot at you. These turrets emit strangely child-like voices, which are quite funny considering their deadly purpose. There are 19 levels over all, and if anything, the game's length is the only gripe that I have. It's over a bit too quickly. However, once you beat the game you have the opportunity to play 6 advanced maps. These advanced maps are maps that you played before, but Valve has greatly increased their difficulty by adding hazards and removing items that had previously helped you. There is also a good chance that the community will "step up to the plate" and create custom portal maps, so Portal does have some extended value.

Overall, this is a great game that is wonderfully executed and genuinely fun to play. Valve has created a sub genre of "puzzle shooters" that's definitely different from everything else out right now. I'd recommend getting the entire Orange Box as opposed to buying Portal on its own. And remember, the cake is a lie.