Review : Portal

[Someone Depressing]

As a Valve/Half Life fan I have to say Portal is a masterpeice for the ages.
The puzzles are minding-fuckingly complex but always have another "Easier" way of finishing them.

For a game where the dev's didn't want it to be too Combat-Heavy, Christ the combat is Frantic.
I would find myself running across a room having several turret's shooting at me finnally managing to get into the room only to find that the room before had so much blood splattered over the walls that I thought : "Yep, not too combat-heavy, explained why half of my Body's blood capacity was just meerly thrown all over the wall like that!"

I was kind of disapointed when I started the game, the puzzles were basically :

"Push button on switch" or "Place portal here" or "Point A > B"

The game hides in a corner reading a book until the combat mechanic is involved.
Before the Combat mechanic was introduced, I just thought the game was well desiged, if not boring.
As soon as I saw a turret I though : "Hey! What's that! I just hope it's not another boring puzzle mechani-"
After that I was screemishly running for cover so my screen would stop snapping it's blood vessels.

Great game, pick it up if you havent, But £10 for a 2 Hour game isn't worth it, but it's in the juicy mechanics where the game really shines.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

The game is like 80% tutorial, which shows that introducing gameplay elements slowly is the very best way to ensure a great experience. The last stage felt easy, but only because you'd been turned into a zen master by the game.
Awesome.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

The combat isn't frantic if you're a portal ninja. If you're constantly being shot by turrets, you're doing it just a little bit wrong.

 

[Without Reason]

I actually enjoyed how short the game was. It was long enough to make sure that you learned all the nice simple mechanics but short enough so that those mechanics weren't overused. Portal takes some very simple game concepts and turns them into something fun and complex and that is why it is such a good game.

If you haven't played it yet, you are missing out on one of the best puzzle games every made.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

It truely did break the barrier of gaming, when it was first released. It was a smashing game at first, and it DID play pretty well throughout. if i may say so myself.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Portal is one of my favourite arguments about game length. Would it really have been much better if they'd padded out for another 4 hours or so, doing the same puzzles over and over again in differently coloured rooms? Maybe with more turrets/lasers etc?

I think it was perfectly paced and it would have died on it's arse if it had been 10 hours longer with no more new mechanics. Just because you can add a grind, doesn't mean a game needs it.

I consider it 4 hours well worth £5 an hour, whereas there's 40 hour games out there not worth 10c an hour.

Length is important, sure, but so is the intensity of the pleasure you're getting from that length. Too much length, or length put in the wrong place can ruin the experience too. (I'll stop now)