The very definition of a sleeper hit, first-person puzzler Portal from Valve’s The Orange Box unexpectedly gained massive critical acclaim and a sizable fan following after the release of the new compilation this year. Though it may just as easily have slipped under the radar, Portal has instead become the pick of the litter, attracting nearly universal praise, including glowing words from notoriously harsh Escapist Magazine reviewer Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, and inspiring discussion not only on its gameplay but even on how it could be a feminist critique of FPSes. With the year in gaming concluding, Portal is finishing strong and getting named on a lot of best-of lists for its strong style, darkly humorous bent, and ingeniously simple mechanics. Pretty outstanding for a puzzle game bundled with hallmark franchises such as Half-Life and Team Fortress and based around the idea that people like cake.

Portal’s genesis can be traced to Narbacular Drop, a 2005 project from students at DigiPen, though the two resemble each other in defining gameplay mechanic only. The idea is deceptively simple–shoot one portal, shoot a second portal, and the two are connected through the magic of science. The applications stretch surprisingly far for such a basic concept. You’ll be required to fling yourself or objects through the air with them, disable turrets, guide lethal energy balls to their receptors, and navigate environments while in constant danger of being crushed or incinerated if you miscalculate or don’t move fast enough. The flexibility of the portals allows for a wide variety of play styles that you can suit to the situation. For instance, if you need to take out a turret, do you open a portal on the wall and a second underneath it, tipping it on its side? Do you use a portal to get behind it and then just put it out of the way in a corner? Do you take one of the ubiquitous cubes and drop it on top of the turret from a portal in the ceiling?

There are only three enemies in portal–turrets, the environment, and GLaDOS, the computer running the testing facility the game is set in. GLaDOS offers advice and encouragement as you progress from challenge to challenge, though it rapidly becomes apparent that something isn’t quite right with her operating system. Eventually, you discover that the pristine environments of the testing areas cover up a system of decrepit warehouses, and that you are not the first one to uncover this truth. Apart from the dark humor of random cans of beans and peanuts being strewn about in decrepit, rusting off-limits areas, the first few times you find these darkened rooms are thrilling and unnerving. The filth and disarray that contrasts the bloom-filled test areas so drastically is underscored further by the writing on the walls–literally. “The cake is a lie,” the anonymous writer tells you multiple times. Your motive shifts subtly, and now you press onward more for the sake of solving the mystery of the Aperture Science corporation than to reach the next room and receive a pat on the back from GLaDOS.

GLaDOS eggs you on, seemingly aware that you’re beginning to see through the facade, and becomes less comforting and even a bit cruel. You’re given the Weighted Companion Cube (another fan favorite) and just as promptly have to incinerate it after its faithful service to you (see the feminist discussion for some excellent commentary on the cube). Other than the babble of the turrets and the whoosh of the elevators-as-loading-screens, you’re alone with your thoughts and get plenty of time to think over the situation you find yourself in, when you’re not trying to wrap your brain around the latest testing room. Eventually, as you’ve probably heard, GLaDOS tries to kill you, and you escape from her planned incineration into a seemingly endless environment of pistons, chain-link fences, and off-limits areas, all deserted by any former employees of Aperture Science.

Portal has a great experience packed into only a couple of hours of gameplay, from unassuming beginnings to what’s really a spectacular transformation in tone and purpose and an ending that’s most satisfying (and delightfully musical!). The game does have its shortcomings–the media buzz may at times make it out to be more than it is, which is an all around solid puzzle game placed unusually in a first-person perspective, with spectacular art direction, voice acting, and tone. The game can be intense at time, though a little frustrating at others, as the perspective shifts can jar and disorient the player. It has moderate replay value, in large part thanks to the additional challenge rooms that make tasks harder by leaps and bounds (solving a puzzle becomes quite different when the floor of the room is replaced with acid or all the turrets on the level are in cages and cannot be disabled).

Strangely, Portal is a title I rather hope they don’t try to make a sequel to. Though the game is in good hands since it was made by Valve, who seem to understand what needs to go into a sequel (after all, the other games in The Orange Box were three different Half-Life 2 games and the latest iteration of Team Fortress), I fear that trying to add another chapter to the story of either GLaDOS or the silent protagonist Chell would be a poor choice.

All in all, Portal definitely deserves the praise it has attracted. A strong concept and stronger design make it stand out as an innovator in a year where quality FPSes seemed to dominate the industry. Tight writing and characterizations drive the game home, and the short length means that there’s virtually no tedium involved–Portal never feels dull and always adds some new twist, turn, or level of difficulty that you’re able to push past without frustration but which still yields a sense of accomplishment. It’s fresh, it’s fun, and fast to play, but leaves a lasting impression such that Portal will be fondly recalled for years to come.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 11:54 am and is filed under Games, Reviews.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.