Whilst Half-Life 2: Episode Two was undoubtedly the main event of Valve’s Orange Box in 2007, it could be easily argued that Portal was the star of the show. Starting out life as ‘Narbacular Drop’, a freeware title developed by a small team of students at DigiPen Institute of Technology, Valve’s Robin Walker was so blown away that he offered the team jobs on the spot. The concept was expanded, the Source engine was offered up, and Portal was born. Now Portal is one of the most beloved modern videogame franchises, and the original game is still a marvel to play over fifteen years later.
You play as Chell, a woman who wakes up in the Aperture Science Testing Facility, and is tasked by an artificial intelligence called GlaDOS to complete a series of tests using the Handheld Portal Device. As you progress through the testing chambers however, you begin to notice that GlaDOS’ intentions aren’t as sincere as she puts forward, and when your life is threatened you must make a daring escape.
Portal’s story is in the grand scheme of things quite perfunctory. It’s there because it gives context to the gameplay, and honestly Portal would be an amazing game even without the story. But despite how minimal the story is, it actually enhances the experience so much because GlaDOS is such an incredible character, and Ellen McClain provides one of the greatest voice performances in video game history.
It's deathly funny. The game has an incredibly dark sense of humour and the way in which McClain delivers her lines will have you both doubled over in fits of hysterics whilst also genuinely fearing for your life because of how sinister it gradually becomes.
You play as Chell, a woman who wakes up in the Aperture Science Testing Facility, and is tasked by an artificial intelligence called GlaDOS to complete a series of tests using the Handheld Portal Device. As you progress through the testing chambers however, you begin to notice that GlaDOS’ intentions aren’t as sincere as she puts forward, and when your life is threatened you must make a daring escape.
Portal’s story is in the grand scheme of things quite perfunctory. It’s there because it gives context to the gameplay, and honestly Portal would be an amazing game even without the story. But despite how minimal the story is, it actually enhances the experience so much because GlaDOS is such an incredible character, and Ellen McClain provides one of the greatest voice performances in video game history.
It's deathly funny. The game has an incredibly dark sense of humour and the way in which McClain delivers her lines will have you both doubled over in fits of hysterics whilst also genuinely fearing for your life because of how sinister it gradually becomes.
Gameplay is exceedingly simple to learn, but because Portal is a puzzle game it of course becomes gradually more complicated to solve the test chambers. You have control over two portals, one blue and one orange. Anything that goes into the blue portal comes out of the orange, and vice-versa. Using this simple mechanic, you must move objects around labyrinthian chambers, and use momentum physics to reach the exit of the chamber. The game has nineteen chambers that you need to solve, but once you reach the end of the final chamber, you’ll find yourself thrown into the backrooms of Aperture where you’ll need to use everything you’ve learned in the tests to navigate the twisty and dangerous back passageways of the facility and escape GlaDOS.
The puzzles will really test your ability to think spatially. Built on the Source engine and using Half-Life 2 assets, the game is presented in a first-person perspective. So, where most puzzle games might give you a bird’s eye perspective of the room in order to solve the puzzle, with Portal you’re actually there inside it. Portals can only be fired on white surfaces, and whilst the game starts simple enough by asking you to simply place weighted cubes on buttons to open doors, it doesn’t take too long for other elements to be brought into the mix, and the layout of the chambers to become increasingly complex. All the time you’ll only ever have two portals though and that means that once you understand the basic mechanics of that, you’ll be able to solve anything you come across with enough time and practical thinking.
Once you’re out of the chambers it’s really just applying that same knowledge to a different environment, and this is where the game really shines because it feels so natural at this point.
The puzzles will really test your ability to think spatially. Built on the Source engine and using Half-Life 2 assets, the game is presented in a first-person perspective. So, where most puzzle games might give you a bird’s eye perspective of the room in order to solve the puzzle, with Portal you’re actually there inside it. Portals can only be fired on white surfaces, and whilst the game starts simple enough by asking you to simply place weighted cubes on buttons to open doors, it doesn’t take too long for other elements to be brought into the mix, and the layout of the chambers to become increasingly complex. All the time you’ll only ever have two portals though and that means that once you understand the basic mechanics of that, you’ll be able to solve anything you come across with enough time and practical thinking.
Once you’re out of the chambers it’s really just applying that same knowledge to a different environment, and this is where the game really shines because it feels so natural at this point.
As I stated earlier the game runs on Source but it’s significantly smaller scope in comparison to Half-Life 2, as well as its clinical visual style mean that the game actually looks a lot better than almost anything that game offered up. I’m also reviewing this game in 2023 and it holds up really well because of the aesthetic used, it has this kind of timeless quality to it.
The reliance on Source does mean that there are a large number of loading screens though, during the test chambers this is handled relatively well as the elevators at the end of each chamber act as the loading point, but once you get into Aperture’s back-end the loading points are more obvious and obtrusive. They also happen a lot for a game that’s this small which can be a bit of a pain, but thankfully there’s no backtracking so you won’t find yourself in a loop of having to re-load the same areas over and over again.
The game’s audio is also great. The sound effects used are clean and distinct, allowing you to even solve some elements of the puzzles using audio alone if you know what to listen for. GlaDOS also sings over the credits, an original song called ‘Still Alive’ which is simply incredible, so much so that I have it saved on my Spotify and often have it playing.
Portal is damn near perfect. It is a little on the short side, clocking in at around two hours, but considering the concept and how far it explores it in that time it never overstays its welcome and it always feels new and fun because you’re never doing the same thing twice. The gameplay is exceptionally easy to pick up, but the challenges become significantly more difficult as time goes on, but it never feels impossible or as though the solution isn’t obvious once you know how to do it. It looks great, and McClaine’s performance is a joy to listen to. Honestly, if you aren’t having a great time whilst playing Portal then I don’t know what’s gone wrong. It’s an excellent little time sink that I frequently come back to again and again.
The reliance on Source does mean that there are a large number of loading screens though, during the test chambers this is handled relatively well as the elevators at the end of each chamber act as the loading point, but once you get into Aperture’s back-end the loading points are more obvious and obtrusive. They also happen a lot for a game that’s this small which can be a bit of a pain, but thankfully there’s no backtracking so you won’t find yourself in a loop of having to re-load the same areas over and over again.
The game’s audio is also great. The sound effects used are clean and distinct, allowing you to even solve some elements of the puzzles using audio alone if you know what to listen for. GlaDOS also sings over the credits, an original song called ‘Still Alive’ which is simply incredible, so much so that I have it saved on my Spotify and often have it playing.
Portal is damn near perfect. It is a little on the short side, clocking in at around two hours, but considering the concept and how far it explores it in that time it never overstays its welcome and it always feels new and fun because you’re never doing the same thing twice. The gameplay is exceptionally easy to pick up, but the challenges become significantly more difficult as time goes on, but it never feels impossible or as though the solution isn’t obvious once you know how to do it. It looks great, and McClaine’s performance is a joy to listen to. Honestly, if you aren’t having a great time whilst playing Portal then I don’t know what’s gone wrong. It’s an excellent little time sink that I frequently come back to again and again.