Portal - izigame

Game Info

Waking up in a seemingly empty laboratory, the player is made to complete various physics-based puzzle challenges through numerous test chambers in order to test out the new Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, without an explanation as to how, why or by whom.

Name

Portal

Companies

Valve

Released

10/10/2007

Platforms

Android, Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox 360

Engines

Source

Type

Shooter, Platform, Puzzle

Social Networks

0

izigame

members favorited

Reviews

Wednesday, December 25, 2024 12:48:02 PM

16 Steam users votes up

gamemast15r

Steam user

Portal is a critically acclaimed dark puzzle humor simulator developed by Valve based on an old college student project named Narbacular Drop. Started as a project from students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, Narbacular Drop itself was game whose entire premise involves a princess named No-Knees (on the account that she literally can’t jump) and her journey in escaping a dungeon after being captured by a demon by placing interconnected portals around the dungeon in order to solve puzzles. Picked up by Valve after finding it at the DigiPen career fair and proceeded to hire them all on after being thoroughly impressed by Narbacular Drop, hoping to create a spiritual successor from a team of less than a dozen people. Tying it into the Half-Life universe due to the easy excuse of reusing assets from Half-Life 2, which “made sense” and “Some of that was driven by the fact that we didn't have a big enough team to do the art from scratch, so we ended up reusing primarily Half-Life 2 art assets” according to Erik Wolpaw in a Game Informer article about the development about the game. They would also work with Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw on tying it into the Half-Life universe, though this concept would make him a bit uncomfortable as according to a RockPaperShotgun article, he felt it made “both universes smaller” before accepting it, saying “I just had to react as gracefully as I could to the fact that it was going there without me. It didn’t make any sense except from a resource-restricted point of view.” While this would have potentially greater consequences for the Half-Life universe down the line (in cancelled Half-Life 2: Episode 3 pitches); Portal itself would have some cut content including a brick joke of a “Party Escort Bot” shadowing you around the second half of the game, walking turrets, a cut character named “The Rat Man” (however put in as little easter eggs along with a later ARG for it’s sequel), an original Combine-style Design like Half-Life 2, and even a different portal gun in the style of the Gravity Gun. Overall though, development would remain smooth for the most part to create one of the most critically acclaimed titles of all time! As for my experience with Portal? I followed all the top ten video guys like ScrewAttack and first learned of it from there before being able to play it myself through The Orange Box, along with following all of the memes like “The Cake is a Lie” as a kid of course. I had picked it up myself along with the rest of the Half-Life collection on Steam and had played it all the way to the end, though apparently I forgot to actually BEAT the game until recently due to exploring the final area with NoClip and such. Finishing it off technically recently, I decided that now was as good as ever to write up a review for Portal right around Christmas time so why not.
(For Plot, Atmosphere, Graphics, Sound Design/links go here: https://www.backloggd.com/u/gamemast15r/review/2227324/)
The gameplay for Portal centers around the concept of shooting two portals (one orange and one blue) around an arena in order to solve physics based puzzles whilst also dealing with hazards like toxic water, being crushed to death or perhaps shot by turrets to name a few (though thankfully not fall damage). Straight out of the gate, while I don’t really care for puzzles much due to the fact that I suck at them, I appreciate the work that goes into them and the physics around it. One of the funniest things to me is shooting a portal above and below me and just falling down in an infinite loop, which is sometimes what’s needed in order to make huge jumps due to speed by shooting another portal on a different platform to launch yourself across a gap. The puzzles of course get more difficult as they go along, and while admittedly I used walkthroughs to get through some of the later ones, I can at least say that most of the time for me it always felt fair and awe inspiring on how to actually complete said puzzles. I don’t really feel like there’s much to explain on this end other than I feel like Valve’s way of pushing the narrative while also explaining the puzzle mechanics of the game. It works fantastic, it feels fantastic and it LOOKS fantastic on top of it! The atmosphere for this game is this mixture of lighthearted black comedy and honestly oppressiveness due to being locked up in walled-up test chambers, but the former heavily outweighs the latter. Between GlaDOS’s explanation of scientific terminology, to dangling the prospect of cake in front of your face, to taunting you with cake AND murder all while dangling it in the monotone voice (provided by Ellen McLain, the only other voice actor than apparently Mike Patton who does the Anger Sphere).
I feel like most people who have any interest in video games in pop culture know of Portal and how critically acclaimed AND successful it was. Memes like “The Cake is a Lie” would perpetuate within meme circles of young gamers (like me and my buddies as a kid) while GlaDOS and the Companion Cube would become popular mascots. Portal would go on to sell a lot of copies too, becoming so successful that it was even paired in The Orange Box with Half Life 2/Episodes and Team Fortress 2 via Xbox 360 (where I first played it) and PS3. They would also release the game again exclusively on the Xbox Live Arcade which featured new challenges and achievements along with being ported to the Nintendo Switch’s Portal: Companion Collection along with Portal OG and Portal 2. Yes of course the very obvious Portal 2 would be announced and later released, with work on it being developed concurrently with Left 4 Dead (with overlapping employees) and a cool alternate reality game being added in to help promote it. A movie was planned by J.J. Abrahms but like lots of mystery box creations of his, the movie has yet to come to a satisfying fruition. Most importantly (for me at least), the game’s modding community would help keep this personality filled game alive, some of these mods I have played and completed casually. As for me personally, while Portal isn’t really one of my favorite games of all time (due to my sucking at puzzles and affinity for more dark and violent games), it’s certainly one of the games that I respect the most out of all of them. Truth be told, I feel like every gamer who invests themselves in the gaming lexicon should try this puzzle shooter AT LEAST once in their life, even if they need a walkthrough (admittedly like me) to do it. It’s a fun-filled experience, made me giggle once or twice, and opened up a decent bit of nostalgia for me. Soon I plan on playing Portal 2, though how soon I don’t know as I want to do the base game AND the co-op stuff.
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(video_game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbacular_Drop
https://web.archive.org/web/20071002110610/http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200608/N06.0825.1923.12789.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20070928221628/http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/news.html?46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgny67NTtw0 (Portal Soundtrack)
https://web.archive.org/web/20230302232014/https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-narrative-had-to-be-baked-into-the-corridors-marc-laidlaw-on-writing-half-life
https://web.archive.org/web/20100314141455/http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/03/10/opening-the-portal-exploring-portal-s-creation-and-its-ties-to-half-life-2.aspx
https://theportalwiki.com/wiki/Unused_content#Portal
https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213231/http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=0&cId=3153489
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rps-interview-valves-erik-wolpaw
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127708/
https://web.archive.org/web/20080226135732/http://kotaku.com/359961/portal-devs-reveal-the-glados-that-never-was-inspiration-behind-weighted-companion-cube
https://archive.ph/20121206010935/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3165930

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Storyline

Portal's plot is revealed to the player via audio messages or "announcements" from GLaDOS and visual elements inside rooms found in later levels. According to The Final Hours of Portal 2, the year is established to be "somewhere in 2010"—twelve years after Aperture Science has been abandoned. The game begins with Chell waking up from a stasis bed and hearing instructions and warnings from GLaDOS, an artificial intelligence, about upcoming tests. Chell enters into distinct chambers that introduce players to the game's mechanics, sequentially. GLaDOS's announcements serve as instructions to Chell and help the player progress through the game, but also develops the atmosphere and characterizes the AI as a person.[4] Chell is promised cake as her reward if she completes all test chambers.[19] Chell proceeds through the empty Enrichment Center, with GLaDOS as her only interaction. As the player nears completion, GLaDOS's motives and behavior turn more sinister; although she is designed to appear encouraging, GLaDOS's actions and speech suggest insincerity and callous disregard for the safety and well-being of the test subjects. The test chambers become increasingly dangerous as Chell proceeds, tests including a live-fire course designed for military androids, as well as some chambers flooded with a hazardous liquid. In another chamber, GLaDOS notes the importance of the Weighted Companion Cube, a waist-high crate with a single large pink heart on each face, for helping Chell to complete the test. However, GLaDOS declares it must be euthanized in an "emergency intelligence incinerator" before Chell can continue.[17] Some later chambers include automated turrets with childlike voices (also voiced by McLain) that fire at Chell, only to sympathize with her after being destroyed or disabled.[20][21] After Chell completes the final test chamber, GLaDOS maneuvers Chell into an incinerator in an attempt to kill her. Chell escapes with the portal gun and makes her way through the maintenance areas within the Enrichment Center.[22] GLaDOS panics and insists that she was pretending to kill Chell as part of testing. GLaDOS then asks Chell to assume the "party escort submission position", lying face-first on the ground, so that a "party associate" can take her to her reward, but Chell continues her escape. In this section, GLaDOS communes with Chell as it becomes clear the AI had killed everyone else in the center.[11][12] Chell makes her way through the maintenance areas and empty office spaces behind the chambers, sometimes following graffiti messages which point in the right direction. These backstage areas, which are in an extremely dilapidated state, stand in stark contrast to the pristine test chambers. The graffiti includes statements such as "the cake is a lie", and pastiches of Emily Dickinson's poem "The Chariot", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Reaper and the Flowers", and Emily Brontë's "No Coward Soul Is Mine", referring to and mourning the death of the Companion Cube.[4] GLaDOS attempts to dissuade Chell with threats of physical harm and misleading statements as Chell makes her way deeper into the maintenance areas. Chell reaches a large chamber where GLaDOS's hardware hangs overhead. GLaDOS continues to threaten Chell, but during the exchange, a sphere falls off of GLaDOS and Chell drops it in an incinerator. GLaDOS reveals that Chell has just destroyed the morality core or her conscience, one of the multiple "personality cores" that Aperture Science employees installed after the AI flooded the enrichment center with neurotoxin gas. With it removed, she can access its emitters again. A six-minute countdown starts as Chell dislodges and incinerates more of GLaDOS' personality cores, while GLaDOS discourages her both verbally, with taunts and juvenile insults, and physically by firing rockets at her. After Chell destroys the last personality core, a malfunction tears the room apart and transports everything to the surface. Chell is then seen lying outside the facility's gates amid the remains of GLaDOS. Following the announcement of Portal 2, the ending was expanded in a later update. In this retroactive continuity, Chell is dragged away from the scene by an unseen entity speaking in a robotic voice, thanking her for assuming the "party escort submission position".[15][23] The final scene, after a long and speedy zoom through the bowels of the facility, shows a Black Forest cake,[24] and the Weighted Companion Cube, surrounded by a mix of shelves containing dozens of apparently inactive personality cores. The cores begin to light up, before a robotic arm descends and extinguishes the candle on the cake, causing the room to blackout.[25] As the credits roll, GLaDOS delivers a concluding report: the song "Still Alive", which declares the experiment to be a huge success, as well as serving to indicate to the player that GLaDOS is still alive,[26] that her "happy" core was not disabled.

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