Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Innovative"

Portal is Valve's 2007 sleep hit that garnered massive acclaim and became AAA title seemingly overnight. There was little fanfare leading up to the game but when it finally arrived and people got to finally play it it was celebrated is being one of the most innovative games to come in a long time. There is no disputing this fact. Portal is a highly innovative game and provides a great blend of puzzle and platforming gameplay. It has a unique concept and it's well executed. The game though by no means is AAA title. It is far too short and the campaign is boring to say the least until the last level. Despite this though Portal is bound to give people some delight but it didn't do enough for me to make it anything special.

The story of Portal is simple and good for what the game is. You're an unnamed test subject who gets armed with a portal device and you basically platform through the levels with the help of a computer called Glados. The game takes off from there with about 19 levels to play through. All in all the game will take you about 2-3 hours to complete at the maximum. The major problem with the campaign though is simply how boring it is. Most of the first levels are tutorial levels and the ones up to around level 15 are just terrible. At level 15 they begin to get challenging and fun and the game gets a lot sharper overall. This makes the game feel slow and stale. At the end of the game, you then get advanced chambers and challenges you can do. Sadly there are no leaderboards oddly enough...Overall the game is not worth the 19.99 if you just want to play the single player once but if you enjoy time trials you might get your moneys worth here.

The gameplay is the most important part of Portal though and it's quite good. The portal gun is a lot of fun and the game has a lot of unique physics which play into the platforming aspects such as acceleration and inertia. The game is challenging and fun in the last levels of the game but before that it's boringly easy. The portal gun is awesome though and I can't get enough of it. The amount of things you can do with it are pretty awesome and it's by far one of the most interesting and diverse concepts I've seen in a video game in a while. This is the source of Portal's greatest feature and I hope in future Portal games we'll get to use the Portal gun for more challenging and fun levels and not for the boring first 3/4 of the game. Other then that there really is no other gameplay in this game. All you do is manipulate portals so you can reach your objective. It's a simple concept that works well.

The graphics are awesome in Portal. The physics engine has received a big overhaul for this game as the physics are by far the most important parts. The game also has some nice clean areas though some areas appear drab especially in the later levels. The game also sounds good with some awesome music and good voice acting done by Microsoft Sam... One thing I found overrated was the humor though. The game isn't that funny and the cake joke gets old fast. The game has some dry wit though which is enjoyable. Perhaps my sense of humor isn't in tune with this game since many did find it funny but hey it's my review and I'm saying my opinion on it.

Overall Portal isn't a bad game in fact it's good in many respects but the game is poorly designed and there is the issue of it's length. There is not much to see in Portal that couldn't be seen in a few hours at a friends house playing it. Portal is good for people who love puzzling, platforming, and have 19.99 to spare for it. Otherwise there is no reason to bend over backwards to get this game. I hope they can come up with a better campaign in future Portals because the majority of this games single player just didn't cut it. Portal has an innovative, unique and fun concept and when it's potential is fully realized players will be rewarded with a great experience. Until then though, Portal is just going to be 'good'

Pros: Portal gun is unique and a lot of fun, good blend of gameplay, people who love puzzles will adore it, some humor

Cons: Poor campaign, not that funny, far too short, unrealized potential

Overall: A good game worth checking out if you are interested