"It's hard to overstate my satisfaction with this game"

Welcome to the world of Portal. A world that looks, feels, and plays like a lot like Half-Life 2, which is no surprise when you consider that both games were made by Valve. However despite it's looks, Portal is no ordinary shooter by any means. Hidden behind that silky smooth first-person shooter veneer lies an astoundingly unique and occasionally hilarious puzzle game. Based on Narbacular Drop, the 2005 independent game released by students of the DigiPen Institute of Technology, Portal allows the player to solve inventive puzzles through the use of blocks, buttons, energy orbs, and the game's signature portals.

Set in the testing facilities of Aperture Science, a rival company to Black Mesa of the Half-Life series, the player, a woman named Chell, is forced to perform various trials assigned by a quirky computer AI named GlaDOS. The focal point of these trials is the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, otherwise known as the "portal gun". The portal gun allows Chell to open, naturally, small portals between set points, differentiated by their two colors, either orange or blue. After Chell first receives the portal gun early on in the game, it can only open blue portals. These connect to the already placed orange portals and require very little problem solving. After enough of GLaDOS' challenges, Chell receives the upgraded portal gun, which allows her to fire both the blue and orange portals. This effectively allows the gamer to place portals almost anywhere applicable and opens the game up to more difficult challenges than those that appear in the earlier levels. Redirecting momentum, flinging herself, dropping objects onto turrets, sending energy orbs spiraling out of control and getting yourself killed, all of these options open up with the newly upgraded portal gun.

It is no question that this is when the game really comes alive. Although in most cases the gamer is actually following a fairly linear channel throughout the game, you can't help but feel that you are doing something fresh and exciting in every new room and area. The answer to challenges are often times hidden from immediate detection, but through some investigation, experimentation, and simply having some fun, none of them are too difficult to figure out. A good example is a challenge near the middle of the game in which the player has to redirect an energy orb into a nearby receptacle. The quandary that our hero faces is that their is no clear way to move the orb from it's current trajectory. Touching the orb means instant death. The walls are made of a portal resistant material. Willing the orb to move doesn't seem to work at all. The crafty gamer will soon grab her trusty companion cube and use it to deflect the orb into the receptacle. Of course, this occasionally goes horribly wrong, deflecting the orb into the air and inevitably back into yourself, but that is the fun of the game.

In essence, that is what makes Portal so truly entertaining. There are no real repercussions. You can't waste ammunition, you have no set timer, no set amount of lives. Players are free to run around and play and die carelessly in the name of entertainment. All in all, Portal manages to be one of the most addictively relaxing games to ever make it's way to your PC.

Another huge ingredient to Portal's success is the humor, which subtly permeates every corner of the game. This can in large part be contributed to the character of GLaDOS, voiced by Ellen McLain, whose constant stark proclamations promising delicious cake and / or something more sinister as well as offering occasional terrible advice provide an excellent and borderline absurd backdrop to what would certainly otherwise be a very lonely affair. Indeed, it seems that at almost all times in the game GLaDOS is there, watching, analyzing, and taunting you with the promise of moist cake. Other examples of humor abound throughout the game, such as the child voiced gun turrets and the true nature of GLaDOS and why she exists, and it all culminates in the final credits. Yes, this is one game you actually enjoy sitting through the credits for. In fact, you may just want to beat it again once you're done to see them one more time. They are that good.

The game has little to offer in the way of fights or enemies, but a few do exist. These mostly come in the form of the before mentioned child-voice gun turrets. Although from behind these poise little threat, when in numbers or in a corner, they can be difficult to knock over without taking a few shots to the kidney. Beyond the gun turrets, there is one boss battle which nicely sums up all the skills you've learned in Portal, while sprinkling in some more humor and the finishing touches on the plot for good measure.

After completing the game proper, there's still plenty more to do. Challenge modes allow the gamer to revisit old levels with new twists added. These twists vary depending on which you choose, from using as few portals as possible in order to proceed, to beating a timer, to not taking any steps. The levels themselves are unchanged, but the new goals make beating them a completely different experience than the first time around.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Advanced Mode challenges gamers by taking the old familiar courses and adding new dangerous twists to them. For example, in Room 13 the floor has been replaced with deadly green liquid. Now completing what was once a simple puzzle has gone from moving some cubes onto a few buttons to a death-defying romp across pedestals suspended over green murky death. Although the potential for dying has gone up severely in these levels, they also provide a great deal more challenge and thought than the original rooms did, and are worth playing through if for no other reason.

Graphics ~ At least as good as the other games in the Half-Life 2 family. Lots of visually appealing eye candy, as well as the occasional eye-cake.
Sound ~ Between GLaDOS' constant dialogue and the song at the end of the game, Portal could be played for no other reason than to appreciate the sound in the game. Various other typical Valve noises make up the rest of the game, but nothing to complain about.
Gameplay ~ Why mess up a good thing? Essentially the same controls as the Half-Life 2 games. The portals themselves are an incredible feature and are implemented nearly perfectly. Great fun simply even to fling yourself around at random.
Story ~ Granted, the game clearly never tried to deliver an incredible story, but it did craft a fairly decent basis for everything that was happening and how it tied into one another.
Replay Value ~ With this being a skill based puzzle game, beating it once or beating it countless times will rarely get old. The only problem with the game is the length, it can be quickly beaten in a single run-through. The challenge modes give extra content to burn through on occasion as well.
Overall ~ 10/10 A great game and a great time, highly recommendable to anybody.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/07