GlaDOS is my hero - The superquick and very late Portal review

Typically when I go to visit Muddy we geek out like there's no tomorrow. Usually there's some game or subject that can keep us occupied until the wee hours of the morning, and this weekend was no different. We started out at around 8:00pm with a new Nintendo Wii and I ended at about 6:00am the next day after completing Portal. To put it simply - I love Portal.

Like most people I've read a lot about Portal, seen some gameplay footage, and read reviews. I know that the game has been showered with accolades and awards and that the theme song (if you can call it that) is available on Rock Band. Even with having seen the game and reading about it I was still kind of in the dark about what Portal was, so after jamming to the theme song Still Alive in Rock Band (available in our Amazong player of course) I figured I should pop in The Orange Box and have a crack at it. When I started the game I was looking to Muddy for guidance, but since he hadn't really played the game either we were both experiencing it for the first time. Since Muddy was useless in the advice department I grabbed the 360 controller and got ready for the unexpected.

Before really delving into this, I have to tell you that it's difficult to understand Portal without really playing it. Even after seeing all the gameplay demos I was not 100% sure what the game was like mainly because you can't compare it to anything else. When the latest and greatest FPS comes out you can usually make a solid judgment if you've played FPS' in the past. I think that rule applies for pretty much any game of a specific genre. While nothing can replace the actual gaming experience, games do tend to fall into categories and you can get a good sense of the game without playing it. It's not very often that something truly original is realised, and therefore games are more often than not very similar. For example, Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 are very different games, but being from the button-mashing action genre they have a generally similar gameplay style. While I've played Devil May Cry 4 for many hours and only five minutes of the demo for Ninja Gaiden 2 I could pretty much tell you that except for different weapons these games are basically the same thing. When it comes to Portal you can't do that - there's nothing in your gaming background to compare it to. Sure, you can say it's "like" an FPS, but that would be like saying a Mac is "like" a PC. Sure, they have a lot of the same pieces, but the presentation, look, feel, and overall experience are much different.

I started off Portal in my little containment cell and was given my first taste of GlaDOS - my direction giving, computer overlord. I followed her directions as I made my way to the first puzzle area. When I shot out my first portal I was confused - I had no idea where the other side was and stepping through it led to more confusion since I saw myself from the back entering the portal as I was exiting the other side. The only word to describe the experience was "trippy."

The first few puzzles weren't overly difficult since you can only create one side of the Portal. It becomes very clear (especially once you complete the game) that the first puzzles are your training ground for understanding the game mechanics. When you gain the ability to create both sides of the Portal the game becomes much more complex and a whole lot more fun. While completing the puzzles was obviously the objective, I found that creating portals in bizarre places, sending cubes through walls, and launching yourself in various direction when falling through a portal were just as entertaining. I was particularly amused by GlaDOS' comments each time I shot down a security camera.

The puzzles did get more complex, but since Portal was never meant to be an extremely long stand alone game we were able to get through most puzzles without a whole lot of difficulty. While Portal is a single player game, having a second person yelling, "no no, put the other portal to the left. No, not THAT left, the OTHER left" makes for even more enjoyment.

What somewhat disappointed me about the game was the ending portion after escaping the grips of your sterilized confines. The final test culminates in your escape (yielding some achievement points as well), which then sets you loose in the bowels of the test facility. The test facility puzzles were clear in their intent - get to the exit. While the path to the exit may have been complex, you at least knew where you were going. Outside in the quasi-real world the goal of the puzzles were not necessarily as clear, and I found myself shooting portals into random places just to figure out what was going on. More often than not if you were able to get a portal into a place you haven't been you were on the right track. While this made the game feel less linear and planned it was also somewhat foreign since you spend the first half of the game in the very clear puzzle rooms. It almost feels like Portal is two separate games, one when you're in the test facility and the second when you're trying to escape.

Since this is a game from Valve, a company who made their fame on creatures that would jump out at you and attach themselves to your face, I was expecting things to come jumping out at any point and turn this game into some freewheeling FPS. I was on edge for the first hour or so just waiting for something to jump out and kill me, but it never happened. The robot turrets did try and riddle me with bullets many times (and some succeeded) but they were stationary and not nearly as scary. The most surprise I received during the game was catching an energy ball in the back out of nowhere due to a misplaced portal.

I clocked in finishing the game at 2 hours and 44 minutes. Despite it's extremely short length I felt completely satisfied at the end. I managed to escape the grips of the homicidal, HAL-like GlaDOS, and while the ending leaves you with more questions than what you started with you do feel pleasantly accomplished.

Finishing the story mode of the game also does not by any means end the game for you. You can go back and replay every chapter, and starting with Chapter 5 there are constraints you can set to make completing the level harder such as using a minimum number of portals, taking a minimum number of footsteps, or completing the level in the least amount of time. The levels also have an advanced option which make the levels significantly harder by making various changes. Needless to say, the 2 hour and 44 minute initial game time can easily be multiplied by 2, 4, and probably even 8 depending on how good you want to get at the game.

The scalability of the game, and the various challenges at the end, actually make the game perfect for almost anyone. I usually hate puzzle games to the point where I have almost thrown my controller through a fair number of TVs. However, during the initial run through the puzzles were just hard enough to make me think, but not so frustrating that I couldn't figure them out in a few tries. Subsequent run throughs make the game much more difficult, and almost anyone's gaming style can be satiated by the various additional challenges.

Overall Portal is an absolutely brilliant game. What sets it apart is that it does not try to distract you with flashy graphics, a controller layout built for an F-16, or wave after wave of bad guys. It's the utter simplicity of the game that makes it so appealing. You can pick it up and start playing immediately and be entertained for hours without even noticing. So do I have any complaints? Yes - there was no multiplayer! Not that Portal was ever intended to be a multiplayer game, but the idea of multiple people running around with portal generators just makes me giggle with excitement.
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