Portal - MUST play
I’ve just finished Valve’s Portal, and I’ve got to say wow. This was on my radar to pick up and look at (I mentioned it a while ago), but it has exceeded my expectations and then some. The trailer shows off some of the core mechanics, but its the way that they are chained together on later levels is breathtaking (the first 16 of the 18 levels are basically a tutorial, the last one is far longer but the whole game is only 3 hours long). I’ve been flitting between this and Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, and while the puzzles in Zelda make me exclaim “Aha! Great puzzle” and perhaps pat myself on the head, some of the ingenuity paraded by Portal makes me want to hold some sort of festival in Trafalgar square, with me on a big throne and pictures of the game’s designers on huge spinning billboards. Its that good.
And its not good in a “this is the best game I’ve ever played way”. Its good in a “look what a beautiful thing a small, dedicated and ferociously creative team can make way”. Its original, charming, funny, and has introduced mechanics we’re going to be seeing in games for years to come, no doubt. Time to open up the Hammer level editor and make some puzzles!
If you have a PC, buy the Orange Box (this plus 4 other AAA games) now from Steam. RIGHT NOW! If you have a 360 buy it tomorrow. Damn it, this collection of 5 games is simply unmissable.
5 Comments
Chris on October 18th, 2007
This is a better link actually, as doesn’t included the bloated newgrounds
handcircus on October 18th, 2007
Yeah the Flash version is really nicely done - definitely captures the essence of it (in an albeit slightly lofi manner). get the orange box. its only 20 quid, and portal will only take up 3 hours of your time. then you’ve got hours and hours of half life for the xmas holidays. Not played much TF2 - looks good tho.
Chris on October 18th, 2007
Did you see this, portal gun mod
http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/17/half-life-2-portal/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKg3TUPQ8Sg
Im sure if they make deathmatch with portal it would be insane
handcircus on October 18th, 2007
Ha! What a great hack. Looks 100% integrated into the source engine, so adding it to HL2 deathmatch should be a doddle. Apparently the updated SDK is out in a couple of days - Garry’s mod is meant to be getting an orange box update so I bet theres gonna be a LOT of hacks soon 
Chris on October 18th, 2007
I want to play this, and teamfortress 2, but I’m worried if i buy the orange box i’ll never get any work done, ever. I downloaded the UT2007 beta, played for 30 mins then uninstalled it, as I know that I’ll play it forever. I do best now if I fit an hour or two of playing games in each week. I recently finished Shadow of Colossus which was amazing.
Have you tried the 2d Flash version of Portal? Its very well done, event trying to capture seeing yourself in the other portal hole.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/404612