Meh, another game review.  Spoilers again, but most of you have probably beaten the game.

The game Portal follows the "testing" of an unknown character named Chell, serving as the player.  Chell wakes up, at the beginning, inside a "relaxation vault" that has no door.  Instead, a portal opens leading into a test chamber teaching you basic mechanics of portals, as well as boxes and buttons, two key elements in the game.  As Chell progresses through the test, mechanics of portals continue to be taught, and eventually the player is given a "portal gun" with which they may make their own portals.  However, at the end of the final test chamber, it is revealed that Chell is to be incinerated.  Finding this unappealing, Chell escapes, and makes her way through the inner sections of the facility, including, at one point, travelling through a deployment system for cubes and ending up in a previous test chamber, which she completes "incorrectly" in order to escape.  At the end, Chell meets up with GLaDOS, the computer who has taken control of the test facility, and defeats her with the use of the portal gun, a rocket turret, and a conveniently placed incinerator.

I liked the way the portal mechanic was handled in this game.  The preservation of momentum allowed for cleverly structured puzzles.  One of my favorite levels was test chamber 16, in which the player was sent through a testing facility for "military androids".  This requires the player to use the portal gun to disable turrets set throughout a series of passages.  In this level, along with several others, there are secret sections that reveal certain things to the player, christened "Rat Man dens".  When one enters these sections, the music changes to invoke a feeling of dawning horror at the twisted mind of GLaDOS, and the activities performed at the facilities.  A similar atmosphere was projected in the second half of the game, after Chell escapes the incineration.

All in all, I would give this game 5 out of 5 stars, provided an upcoming sequel.

• ShadowPwn's blog
• Login or register to post comments