Portal

"Still Alive"

I warn you beforehand: I grade on a 100 scale, like school papers.
Now you might compare this game to Metroid Prime. The first in a new idea: In this case, another First Person game. A puzzle through the first person perspective. And despite the obvious insanity of the idea, Valve did a grand job.

Visual: 90/100
The graphics are, as with most Source games, very good. Nearly too good to run on my computer. Valve did an excellent job making the entire place look like a large scientific experimentory station. Meaning: It's supposed to look bland and boring. Considering that they had to make those bland textures from scratch while already having smooth beautiful textures from Half-Life 2, they did well. It does become a little boring after too long, seeing more white walls and white floors, maybe a bit of grey area which is un-portal-able. The ‘secret' areas look good as too. Overall, they did a very commendable job on the decals. One small thing that brings it down, the character could be a little better.

Auditory: 93/100
Hilarious. Truly humorous. The first sounds you will likely take notice of are the female voice telling you about what is going on. The ‘voice' is not faded or too quiet or overly loud. It is as perfect as could be. If you listen closely to the Portal Gun, you will notice that when it fires, it makes a strange sound which, in my opinion at least, sounds like a weird energy portal being generated. And when you get far enough to find turrets, if you so desire to pick up one that still is alive, you will be amused by its quiet complaints. If you're careful enough to get close to one without setting it off long enough to kill you, you can hear it ask where you've gone. The song at the end also shares the same clarity as all the others, if not even better.

Gameplay: 93/100
This game's true domination is at hand. The idea is simple enough: Use the Portal Gun to create two ends of a portal so you can jump between areas. The catch? It's not as simple as it appears to be. Puzzles that will make your brain go off the hook unless you manage to look at things from a certain angle. One level may have you propel yourself by jumping through one portal and making another one below you before you hit the ground and then do it again to reach a ledge, press a button that will open a door that you have to use another portal to send an energy ball through to hit a trigger on the other side of the door that will close in about three seconds. That's step one. I'll let you use your imagination for steps two, three, and four. There is one drawback, and that is that the game is a tad too short for my tastes. I beat it in about four hours, give or take ten minutes or so when I had to go grab a snack or a drink. The bonus to make up for it is that there are special challenges. There are some of the levels that have new problems with them, such as a certain part of the wall now becoming un-portal-able, or some that now have time limits on them. One note to add that is quite humorous is that there is a ‘boss battle', if one could call it that (Too many RPG's, I know)

Storyline: 87/100
While some people may disagree with me, I found very little story in the game. I did give points because of the obvious Half-Life 2 references (Which I had to look for, considering I've played about an hour of HL2), but I didn't give as many than as if it was a sequel with references from the first. There was a mediocre story in the game: You are a new test subject by the Aperture Science company to test out the Portal Gun. The ‘voice' from before will taunt, promise, and just make comments to inspire you to continue. The most famous promise is that of cake, commonly described as moist, and after a while, a party with the cake. A huge online joke has actually spawned from the cake promise, which most people will use without recognizing its reference: The cake is a lie (Which, it is in fact not).

Overall: 91.25
A great game for anyone that loves to think, and thinks to love (well it sounded good to me). I recommend getting it with The Orange Box, as opposed to the game on its own for $20. Not only does OB have Portal, but it also has TF2, HL2, HL2:E1 and E2. An excellent game in an excellent deal, one of my personal PC recommendations.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/08