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Review by Lewis Denby
August 04, 2008
Portal, then, is basically the most involving and strangely emotive puzzle game ever created. The concept is blissfully simple: in the future, we can bend the properties of physics to create teleports in walls. In order to learn the properties of such sci-fi magic, we've come to a big science lab to complete a training course in the whole thing. This, much of which is lifted from a 2005 freeware game developed by a team now working for Valve, is literally the entirety of Portal's setup. Throughout the game's duration, not once will you come across another person. It's just you, in a big puzzle cube. What's so special? Two things, my friends. Two things.
Firstly, and most obviously, it just works. For a game that toys with such an inventive idea, it gets it miraculously spot-on in one attempt. The whole thing is strikingly intuitive, meaning that within ten minutes you've grasped the fundamental concepts of the whole thing, and your progression is simply down to your thinking power. Solutions are often abstract or lateral, but never illogical, meaning there's a sense of reward for every one completed. The difficulty and complexity curves are handled brilliantly, with the introduction of the portals themselves coming a while before you get your hands on the fantastic portal device, and the puzzles themselves always a logical progression from the previous one. It's always fast-paced, always interesting, and always stupendously entertaining.
Secondly – and this is the aspect that launches Portal past the realms of the 'good' and into the realms of the 'excellent' – there's a character. Just the one. Yes, we said earlier that you don't meet anyone else in the game. You don't, really. GLaDOS isn't a someone...
In spite of her digital nature, and in line with System Shock and the like, this bizarre artificial intelligence is one of the most brilliantly lavish characters I've met in a game in years. Despite the obvious parallels, GLaDOS isn't as deeply sinister and unnerving as 'Shock's SHODAN. She's just absolutely bonkers. Portal features some of the most memorably hilarious one-liners in videogaming history. This is a computer system that literally dangles cake in front of your nose to get you to follow her orders. You first notice something's a bit odd when she tells you, early on, "This puzzle is impossible to complete. Sorry. It's broken. Please exit the room." When, despite her suggestion, you solve it, she claims it to have been a test of how well you perform despite a lack of encouragement. It's bizarre.
Comically, it occupies similar territory to (oddball UK comedy series) 'The Mighty Boosh'. It's so inherently obscure and ridiculous that it becomes somewhat highbrow. However you perceive the bizarre story that unfolds, a hilarious and charming (if a little unsettling) tale of lies and betrayal, it's likely to have you creased up laughing at least once or twice. The ending sequence in particular is a stroke of genius. I didn't know whether to feel amused, angry, triumphant or ashamed. To say any more would spoil it, but it's oddly evocative stuff.
For those of you worried you may not ever reach the final scene, don't be. The game's only a couple of hours long - certainly no longer than three or four, even if you're crap at it. I've still not decided whether this is a positive or negative point. Any longer and the repetitive environments and tasks could certainly have become dull. But two hours is disappointingly short. The only compromise I can think of would have been to twist the story into something a little more sprawling and epic, but when it's this strange already, that might have caused problems in itself.
And that's it. That's the only thing remotely wrong with Portal. As gamers, we all look for something different in our entertainment, and perhaps Portal doesn't move in the right circles for some to consider it one of gaming's truly great achievements. But that's no real criticism. Portal is a wonderfully solid romp through a variety of well-conceived puzzles, a chance to be both guided and taunted by one of the most memorable characters in the history of gaming. It's absolutely bizarre and totally ridiculous. It's equally fantastic.
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Most recent video game reviews written by Lewis Denby
Unreal (PC) [December 30, 2011]
Quake (PC) [December 30, 2011]
Quake II (PC) [December 30, 2011]
Planescape: Torment (PC) [December 30, 2011]
Omikron: The Nomad Soul (PC) [December 30, 2011]
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