Last night I had the priviledge of playing Valve software’s minigame “Portal”, and I must say I had a blast. The premise behind it is that the player can create “portals” (go in portal #1, you come out portal #2). Portal is a throw-back to problem solving games. Each level presents you with a problem (or collection of problems) and you need to really think (quite literally, look at it from a different angle) to solve it and move on. The tinny mechanical voice of the announcer as well as her sense of humor adds a nice touch to the game as well.
To understand it better, check out this clip:
Oh man, Valve knocked one out of the park with Portal. It’s almost a new niche genre game in itself. The FPS puzzler.
The gameplay is fantastic and challenging, with each level becoming just a bit more challenging and introducing new skills/techniques at just the right curve so when you get to the end, you can tackle the challenges they throw at you.
The writing and voice acting is way above par for a game like this. I was laughing the whole way through, even as I got frustrated at the more difficult obstacles.
This game will probably pick up more than its fair share of awards. It’s a good choice for Game of the Year, which is saying a lot considering the vast number of excellent games to come out this year.