"The first of its kind, Portal does an Excellent job of entertaining"

Portal was, in all aspects of the word, great. It was new. It was exciting. It was creepy to the point that you would not know what's coming around the corner, and you moved slow because of that. It was, oddly enough, hilarious (I was full blown laughing at many a part, which is hard to do in a video game). Portal is short and sweet, which may be to your particular liking, but for what the game is, it works with that angle flawlessly.

Graphics - What can I say, it's the graphics of any source game. Exactly like HL2. Physics is also exactly like HL2. The area you're in, for most of the game, is extremely bland and boring, but you're in a test facility, what do you expect? Eventually you get to a more interesting area, but it's still inside and pretty dreary. Not my favorite in terms of colors and creativeness, but the actual graphics were nice.

Difficulty - I blew through this game in an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours. If you got help on really tough areas from someone who had already played, it would probably be about an hour. It's EXTREMELY easy. The puzzles get harder, but they never get to the point where they give you a headache at the sheer magnitude of them. There are tense moments where you must act quickly or face a certain death, which were FANTASTIC, by the way, but for the most part, portal was a simple puzzle game that relied on it's unique features to make it fun.

Replay Value - Until the game gets modded and new maps are created, all you can do is beat the game once, then try and better your score. Since you know the puzzles, you'll get through them faster and faster each time, so there really isn't any replay value unless you enjoy the monotony of moving bricks or jumping through the same portals over and over again, which would only be fun on one level.

Innovation - This game shines here. Not only is it the only game which uses portals as a form of solving puzzles, rather than the generic Zelda/GoW type puzzle, it's also the only game that makes being a test subject fun. You play a test subject in a facility that seems to be abandoned. This is hilarious at times because the only thing you interact with is a robot that you can't see, which makes comments that are both random and humorous.

Story - There really isn't one. You wake up, you test a gun, I won't spoil the ending, but there is one twist. But with a game like this, who needs a story.

Portal is a very interesting experiment in gaming. Extensively, it looks boring. A puzzle game with no enemies at all. But then you get into it and it's flawless in it's execution. You're constantly being barraged with secret areas that have writings on the wall that freak you out. The computer you're talking to is slightly malfunctioning, which freaks you out. Not only that, but the game's credit roll is probably the most enjoyable part of the entire game, which is also a first.


I loved portal. It was a nice way to spend an hour and a half. Plus, when you watch your friends play it for the first time after you've beaten it, you can laugh at them as they try things that are so far from correct that it'll seem ridiculous. Try it, or buy it, you won't be disappointed, and even if you are, so what, you only wasted an hour, right? You can buy the orange box which includes other fantastic games, such as Half Life and Team Fortress 2, which are alone worth the buying price.

Play/Buy/Rent Portal. It's not a game to be missed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/07