Game: Portal
Console: Xbox 360
Developer: Valve
Release Date: 9th October 2007
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 7 years, it's likely you've at least heard of the video game Portal. Released to much critical acclaim in 2007, it quickly gained cult classic status with its inside jokes and memes becoming popular. With all of this excitement and buzz around the game, I thought it'd be good to take a look at the game now that all the praise for it has died down, and assess whether it truly is a game for the ages.
The objective of the game is very simple; navigate various puzzle/platforming test chambers within the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre, and escape from the compound with your life. Initially it seems that players are only taking part in a scientific experiment to test out portal guns, but as the levels progress it becomes increasingly more obvious that the cake promised to subjects at the end of testing is in fact, a lie.
Although initially the player's ability to create portals is limited, pretty soon it's possible to create both an orange and a blue portal using each of the triggers. Walking through a portal of one colour enables players to come out of the other one, wherever it is placed. Momentum is conserved through portals allowing players to jump higher and higher easily with clever portal placement and technique.
Other than creating portals players can also pick up, put down or use objects with the right bumper button, jump with the A button, and obviously move around and look with the analog sticks. While these controls might seem rather basic, the game's overall simplicity works to its advantage as there's always a creative way to solve problems with at least one of the available actions.
There are 19 test chambers to complete in total, followed by a short escape sequence and a final boss. The first 15 or so chambers are fairly easy to complete once you understand the concept and application of portals. After this the difficulty ramps up significantly, but not to a degree where there's too much thinking involved in solutions. After trying various ideas, the correct strategy can usually be worked out.
While I enjoyed the experience of the whole game, I found that the final levels really brought something special to it. The narrative and setting are given a much larger role by the revelation that subjects are not intended to survive the testing process. Escaping through various control and machinery rooms, players are able to see how much of a pawn they were in Aperture Science's tests. Finally discovering GlaDOS, the computer system that's been guiding them through the tests, players must put their skills to the test with the portal gun in order to escape and win the game.
Graphically the game is simple but generally impressive; everything has a simple and clinical feel due to the game's location in the Enrichment Centre, but whilst breaking out of the facility and at a few other times in the game, there are interesting backrooms which allow for a more detailed look behind the scenes. There's not a whole lot of music featured in Portal, but the music which is featured is atmospheric and adds to the experience. Also, the credits song for the game is one of the catchiest tunes in gaming, so check that out.
Overall Portal is an initially simple game which becomes increasingly more challenging in line with its plot to offer an exciting mechanic based platforming puzzle game with great level design, control and consistent physics. Although it can be completed within 3 or 4 hours pretty easily, the game doesn't feel lacking in any respect, and lends itself to being replayed every now and then because of this.
Rating: 89/100
Grade: A
No comments:
Post a Comment