Review: Portal (Game)

Okay, this is new.  I feel like writing today (REALLY?), so I’m going to start this section of my blog.  Game/movie reviews!  When I feel really strongly about something, I am usually motivated enough to write stuff about it, haha.  So here goes nothing.

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Title: Portal (The Orange Box)

Platform: Xbox 360

Summary: Use a highly advanced portal gun to propel, throw, drop, and otherwise pass yourself through a barrage of Aperture Science Enrichment Activities while accompanied by the omniscent GLaDos, the loveable Weighted Companion Cube, and the sneaking suspicion that the cake is a lie.

My Opinion: Alright, I had been hearing about Portal for quite some time now.  For whatever reason, it seemed to have taken the world by storm.  I tried the flash game of it, but I was perplexed as to how everyone could be obsessed with a little 2D flash game where you created holes in walls and jumped through them.  This is probably because I figured the real game was identical to this Flash creation.  On top of that, everyone continuously babbled about some kind of “cake” and how it was a “lie”.  I heard the song from the end of the game, and, while it was delightful and quirky, I had no idea what any of it meant.  Who was this strange computer?  Why was this game so popular?  WAS the cake a lie?

Fortunately, I have a friend who offered to lend me any of his 360 games (as I only have Soul Calibur IV…and I only have one controller).  I saw The Orange Box and was like, “YES”.  Let’s figure out what the heck is going on here.  Boy, am I ever GLaD I did that (…God, that was AWFUL).

The game is some crazy combination of a puzzle game and a platformer.  You have to use all kinds of strategy to launch yourself onto distant platforms, drop weighted cubes onto little robots, avoid stepping in some kind of mysterious liquid in the bottom of a room, and redirect weird little explosive balls of light into the appropriate receptors.  And on top of that, while you accomplish all this, the bizarrely melodic and instructive voice of GLaDos follows you through each room with little pick-me-ups such as promises of a party and cake, or warnings that Aperture Science apologizes for having you go through a military gauntlet instead of a normal testing facility.  By the end, the delightful irony of the computer’s extremely calm and yet somewhat psychotic voice contrasting with her less-than-comforting words is enough to keep you entertained for the entire final level.  The final boss fight is the most wonderful battle I’ve ever encountered.  I’ve actually beaten it twice in order to enjoy the hilarious dialogue over and over again.

From an artistic standpoint, the game is beautiful.  The surfaces are brilliantly done, and while your character’s movements are strange when you catch sight of yourself in a portal, it really doesn’t detract from the rest of the game.  The contrast between the portals and the stark white interior of the levels is brilliant, and the little details of the game managed to keep me amazed throughout the whole game.  Some of my favorite things, however, are the hidden things.  Behind extended panels you can see broken equipment, horrific writing scratched into walls, chain link fences, scattered pieces of paper, and messages in suspicious red writing.  When you later escape INTO this world behind the scenes, the mechanics of the building are SO well done, and the little messages are everywhere, instructing you on where to go and generally unnerving the player.  It’s honestly one of the best games I’ve seen in this respect.  It manages to freak you out subtlely throughout the game, increasing in eerieness as you continue to play.

Lastly, when you beat the game you unlock advanced puzzles and challenges for the levels, extending gameplay past the basic 4-ish hours you’ll spend on the main game.  And they are legitimately difficult.  I beat one and was completely incapable of being the next one.  And the main game is pretty tricky as it is–I found myself stuck more than once, having to use the most creative of solutions to make it through the level.  The advanced levels are this and more.

Overall, I can strongly recommend Portal to those who enjoy artistic details, a bit of horror, delightful irony, and solving crazy puzzles.  The controls are accessible, so it shouldn’t be an issue to learn how to play.  I do, however, recommend that you play it when you are able to have the sound up, as a good portion of the novelty of this game is in the dialogue that follows you throughout the game.  It also helps you advance to the next levels.

Just remember, though: the cake is a lie.