Portal

Before the release I took little interest in Valve’s 2007 puzzling First Person Shooter known as Portal. To me it was just an extra bit of fun in The Orange Box but from the first few minutes of playing I knew I was exceedingly wrong. Portal takes place in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center – an unexplained laboratory which is believed to be a testing site for the American military – where the player is placed into the shoes (or metal springs if you like) of Chell, a female scientific experiment who we know little about. Throughout the short 3-5 hour single player the player progresses through various different test chambers which put their Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device skills to the limits.

is the setting throughout the game, it is a scientific laboratory featuring test chambers designed to be used with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device which is the hands of the

You really will be thinking with portals.

player. This device simply shoots blue and orange portals which form an entrance and exit. For example going through the blue portal will make the player appear through the orange portal and going through the orange portal will make the player appear through the blue portal. The ability to shoot portals is limited to certain parts of the chamber, only some walls can have portals placed on them. It’s a simple game mechanic which at first can seem confusing but is quickly picked up. The later test chambers require a more advanced use of the Handheld Portal Device as the player learns how to build up speed to outcome the “flinging” technique which is all about building momentum to execute the harder jumps or to quote GLaDOS "In layman's terms: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out."

The 19 test chambers all contain different puzzles which require different solutions. Some puzzles are simply create portals to reach the end whilst others require the player to manoeuvre around deadly turrets, missile launchers as well as placing orbs and cubes in the correct position to activate the next part of the test chamber. The game does well to not force you to do the same thing over and over again which is something many puzzle game struggle with steering clear of. A lot of the puzzles are all about timing and placement, you will sometimes find yourself thinking for a minute about how you should go about it and may even become baffled for a short period of time, but all in all it’s quite an easy and relaxing road through to the end of the game which can be reached with little difficulty.

Speaking to Chell through a loudspeaker in each test chamber is GLaDOS - a highly intelligent “Genetic Life form” and “Disc Operating System” – who guides Chell through the test chambers as well as being used as a tutorial to teach the player the ins and outs of the Handheld Portal Device. GLaDOS provides a comic effect to the game with her use of black humour through witty comments and puns about various concepts, objects and events the player encounters with the running subject of cake being the majority of her jokes. She also taunts, aggravates and leaves you suspicious at times over her and the whole of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center all of which combined cause you to develop a slight relationship as well as a “love” of her which you have probably noticed from how I refer to GLaDOS as a she when “she” is actually, to all of our dismay, just a robot. GLaDOS is made to be who she is due to the superb voice acting of Ellen McLain – also known for her voice acting roles in Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 – who really helps form the engaging personality that Valve wanted to put across. To a certain extent, GLaDOS makes the game what it is.

Chell on the other hand is our silent protagonist which appears to be a beloved concept of Valve in their single

Chell, the silent protagonist.

player games. We don’t know a whole lot about Chell, she’s just a scientific experiment in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center as far as we are aware; we are unsure how or why she is there. The small amount of knowledge we have on her helps to create an uncomfortable atmosphere along with various other elements such as the semi-hidden rooms scattered across the test chambers that give out peculiar suspicions on what the Aperture Science Enrichment Center actually is, they contain objects and odd scrabbling on the walls which really can make you feel uneasy. As the game progresses the player’s understanding of the Aperture Science labs grows and it appears to them that the place is deserted moreover that they are being watched.

Graphically Portal looks stunning; of course we would expect that seeing as it runs on Valve’s Source Engine. The highly detailed Handheld Portal Device and the portals themselves all fit together nicely into the 3D environments which are specifically designed to create challenging but believable levels.

Given that the game is running on the Source Engine it plays in a similar way to Half-Life 2 and other Source Engine based games therefore people who have played any of these games will feel right at home with Portal; to be honest if I hadn’t already known that Portal was developed by Valve, it could well have been an extremely remarkable community made Source mod. The smooth movement system combined with the standard First Person Shooter control configuration help the player to easily manage to gain the right amount of speed and height to successfully execute the all important portal “flinging” technique.

Portal’s soundtrack is all very science fiction themed and often quite tension building with an eerie feel to it. It’s another element of the game which helps build the uneasy atmosphere I mentioned earlier. However obviously, as most people know by now, there is one song that stands out from the rest which is the credits song, “Still Alive” written by Jonathan Coulton and performed by Ellen McLain (GLaDOS). In my eyes, this song is one of the most well written and performed video game tracks ever.

The main single player mode is fairly short, the average player could without a doubt complete it in 3-5 hours on

Some test chambers can take a lot of thought.

their first play through however after you have played from beginning to end it once or twice it can easily be done in two if not one hour. Thankfully this isn’t all there is to Portal; once you have finished the single player mode you unlock several extra advanced maps which are made for the more skilled Portal players. The advanced levels are test chambers from the single player which have been slightly modified with more obstacles in addition to fewer areas to place portals. Alongside this there are also challenges to take part in, each advanced level has three award categories which are: completing the chamber in the quickest time, using the least number of portals possible and walking least number of footsteps possible; there are bronze, silver and gold medals available in each award category.

On the whole Portal is a solid, revolutionary game which firmly does its job of providing a short yet highly entertaining experience. The witty humour of GLaDOS, well thought out gameplay and effective atmosphere all come together to build the unique experience that is Portal. Valve once again has succeeded in giving us a wallet-friendly some what bizarre, yet remarkable, five hours of gaming satisfaction.