Portal

Title: Portal
Platform Played On: Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: October 10, 2007
Date Played: October 2007, Fall 2011
Time Played: 10 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5



Opinion:
Portal is a Valve acquired student project released as part of the Orange Box. It meant to add value to the Half Life 2 package, but shortly after Orange Box was release Portal transformed from a cool filler to a global phenomenon.

Portal is a puzzle game. The idea is to get to the exit via the use of two portals. You place an entrance in one spot, and an exit in another. This creates a fun dynamic mechanic never before seen in a video game, at least not quite like this. You are given freedom of putting the portal on virtually any surface, even allowing you to put one directly above and one below you, and fall infinitely through them.

The campaign takes you through a couple of dozen of puzzle rooms, also known as "Test Chambers". As you progress through them you are addressed by Glados, an autonomous computer system. Glados is brilliantly written and brings a ton of quotes to the pop culture scene, such as "Cake is a lie". And just when you start to feel like you are getting to the end of the game, Portal takes an unprecedented turn and unveils a pretty cool plot twist.

Portal is one of the most innovative, and fun puzzle games to come out in a long time. It is fun all around and should be experienced by every gamer young and old.