A look at Portal (Orange Box review 1)

[thunderhero4]

This is my sub review of Portal, part of the Orange Box!




Name: Portal
Platform: Xbox 360 (part of The Orange Box)
Genre: Puzzle, First Person Shooter, Platformer, Action
Developer: Valve Corporation
Publisher: Valve Corporation
ESRB: T (Teen 13+)
Retail: Does not have one, but The Orange Box is currently $39.99
Also On: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox Live Arcade (Still Alive expansion)
Input: Xbox 360 Controller
Release Date: October 9th, 2007

To start off, I can first say this game was...eh...different...in a good way.

Story

Hmm, story, how do i rate this? It had a story, but it made just about no sense...at all...

You start the game waking up inside a small room on a bed. Your name is Chell. You are a girl that havs been chosen by a mysterious voice (A giant multipurpose/multipersonality robot named GLaDOS) to become a test subject for GLaDOS' "test". If you succeed, your reward is cake... You then explore the areas of the testing chambers. Very early in the game, you will come across a gun that shoots blue portals into the walls. You can now create your own portals. Get a bit further in the game, and you get the other half of the gun, which shoots red (although its more orange) portals to compliment the blue. Step through the blue, and you come out the red, plain and simple. Along your journey to the last test, GLaDOS will constantly talk to you and encourage you to do your best, but she also shows no intrest in you and doesnt care if you die... you eventually find out this is all a hoax and that "the cake is a lie". She goes mad and tries to kill you. Get to the end (takes about 2-3 hours) and you will have to fight GLaDOS up close and personal and kill/destroy her by ripping off her artificial intellegences and throwing them into a furnace (fire). Kill her and everything will seemingly turn back to normal.


Chell, the person you control

During the credits, GLaDOS hints at a sequel by singing a hilarious song called "Still Alive" and i could not help but laugh my ass off while listening to it. The whole game is really funny thanks to GLaDOS' dialogue (heres my favorite line: "A reminder, please remember that the weighted companion cube cannot speak. If, however, on a very very rare occasion that the cube does speak, do not take any regards as to what it is saying", it's funny because the weighted comapnion cube is just a big metal cube with a heart on each side of it) The weighted companion cube is only with you for a short part of the game, but it is strangely enough an amazing character and had alot of merchandise made from it, AND IT NEVER SPEAKS OR SHOWS ANY SIGNS OF LIFE!!


GLaDOS, the game's mainest character

This is pretty much everything you need to know about storyline, characters, and atmosphere in the game. If you are interested in this "Still Alive" song, here is a link, and be sure to laugh at it! ;) Oh, and some spoilers might exist in it so be ready.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI&feature=related

Oh, and the lyrics are in the comment. Read the lyrics while the song plays, it adds to the hilarity. It also is way too short, but it is sweet.


The Weighted Companion Cube, the most popular character in the game...and it's not even alive...

Story was cool, but it was too short. 4/5

Gameplay

This is definately the coolest part of the game. You see things in a first person view with a gun (FPS) that shoots 2 kinds of portals: red and blue. These 2 portals are exactly the same minus color. I think that the color was different to help distinguish the portals. Shoot red portal with Left Trigger (LT) and Right Trigger (RT). They will only stick onto a smooth whitish surface, so you cant place them everywhere. Walk through red, and you come out blue, and vice versa. This is a genius concept and opens up a type of game we could never imagine. You may shoot these portals at the wall, ceiling, floor, and other surfaces like slopes. There is nothing more cool or weird than seeing youself through a portal (shooting them at 2 different walls). Want to reach an impossible looking area? Simple. Shoot portal 1 right next to you, shoot portal 2 waaay down to the location you wish to reach and BAM, makes a hard looking area simple. The puzzles take 100% full advantage of this technique and you will do some puzzles you never would have thought could exist. You can also pick up and place any object you see with relative ease (the X button). These are the FPS and Puzzle elements of the game. There are alot of places where I stopped and looked at my situation, thinking on my plan. Almost no games get me to do that.


Some things you can do with portals

Platforming and Action are in many ways the same, but platforming involves jumping and action involves momentum. Both of these elements are everywhere in the game. You will often be lazy and use your portal gun instead of jumping to alot of places, but jumping is a very important part of the game, and there are alot of platforms to hop onto (most of them moving). Action is also very important. You will find that you are actually moving 99.9% of the time. You never think about it but thats true. These 2 together make you a productive "always working" player who is going back and forth through the rooms trying your portals everywhere.

The physics in this game are top notch and realistic. An important element in the puzzles is shooting portal 1 on a high up wall, and shooting portal 2 in a deep fall. Jump from the top of the fall right into portal 2 and you will be launched right over a large obstical through portal 1. Its really cool once you try it. Alot of things in this game are like that, so be on the watch.


A demonstration on physics in Portal

The gameplay is fresh and NEVER EVER done before. It feels great playing such an original game, like you have never played an important part of gaming yet. This game is great in this area.


At the end of the game. You can see the cake AND the Weighted Companion Cube

Easy 6/5

Replayability and Fun Extras

The game has quite a bit of replayability. Apperently after you finish the game (this is a feature I have not tried yet) you can get I think 6 "advanced maps" designed to boggle the mind. You also get medals for performance so you will likely keep trying to get a better time. Replayability is great, and the Still Alive pack announced at E3 2008 will add even more puzzle fun.

There are alot of cameos in the game and those count towards fun extras.

Not 100% perfect, but pretty good 4/5

Graphics

This game may be short, but the graphics are probably the best on the Orange Box! The lighting, textures, and shininess all look just about 100% real (for real :O )


A beautiful game

5/5

Sound

The sound is really great, like the other aspects of the game. Voice acting is really only done by GLaDOS, and its really great for a stereotypical robot voice. The turrets also talk (yeah, weird) and sound like small childrean and apologize for trying to shoot you if you get to them (yeah, weirder still). For example, to kill them, you have to pick them up and knock them over. Pick one up and it will say "I am very sorry for what I did, now please put me down" and of course you dont :P .


A talking turret

Music is fun and catchy (especially that "Still Alive" song I mentioned earlier.) and adds to the game's feel.

Sound FX is top notch as well! Drop a metal cube on a metal floor, and you will hear clanking metal. The sound is loudest when you are right next to it AND facing it.

5/5

Controls

Very smooth, and you may change the sensitivity of the FPS turning. The buttons are responsive, and everthing feels great.

5/5

Multiplayer

There is none, so this will not take off the overall score

X/5

Overall

This game was definately amazing. It is very short though, and you will be shaking your TV begging for more! Do not worry though, for an expansion DLC pack (Still Alive, Xbox Live Arcade exclusive) and a sequel (Portal 2) is comming, so be excited!

This game has excellent everything. Controls are great, sound is great, story is pretty good, and graphics are amazing. 9.6/10 Excellent

Gameplay Movie

You want to see this game in action? No, this is a game you NEED to try before you watch. You will be so glad you did! Remember, this game is for PC and PS3 as well, as part of the Orange Box. Be sure to get it, it's awesome!