Marri
05-13-2009, 04:36 PM
http://randmsystems.com/Forums/picture.php?pictureid=3&albumid=1&dl=1242228169&thumb=1 (http://randmsystems.com/Forums/album.php?albumid=1&pictureid=3)
Quickie:
Portal is a fun puzzle-game using a first person shooter engine.
Graphics: 7
The graphics are nice, but slightly unbelievable. Pristine test areas, and decayed out-of-bounds... if no one is alive to maintain the outside, who's taking care of the test areas?
Sounds: 8.3
The ambient sounds are standard, but the quality of the voice-over and voice-acting really ups this score!
Gameplay: 7.6
The gameplay is very very easy to all who are familiar with first person shooters.
Fun: 8.5
All the really hard/frustrating puzzles aren't in the main game... keeping it streamlined from start to finish for fun.
Presentation: 7.8
A lot of fun drawings to help solve the puzzles make the game very fun =). The later half, lacks a little believability.. But, no worries.
Technology: 7.5
Nice innovations into portal techniques... This isn't a low score so much as undeveloped potential.
Overall: 8.1
http://randmsystems.com/Forums/picture.php?pictureid=2&albumid=1&dl=1242228169&thumb=1 (http://randmsystems.com/Forums/album.php?albumid=1&pictureid=2)
Longer Review:
Portal is a fun little game from Valve involving solving puzzles using teleportation portals. At first, I found this game a little weird, but after a while it grows on you... The game has a nice story, although much of the story has to be found in other places then in-game. You play the role Chell, which it's never made clear if she's a captured prisoner, or an employee made prisoner. Either way, you're trapped in the labyrinth under the computer GLaDOS's control to solve puzzles for some research project GLaD has until you can escape.
This game does suffer from the dreaded Wand of Plot Device, as the puzzles VERY rarely have alternate solutions. Even when you're supposedly "Free" having escaped, there's generally one and only one way to go to proceed. Although, in one case the alternate solution was a great deal easier, and when you put it in context funnier then the actual solution. I only learned the actual solution from the commentary when replaying the game... If you haven't played, you might want to skip this block. =)
Puzzle: you need to get up into an air-vent, but it's too high to reach and you can't make portals into it.
Actual Solution:
There's a pipe above the vent, you need to make a portal to the rocket-launching robot in the next room, get the robot to launch a rocket at you, and quickly change the portal so the rocket will fly out to hit the pipe and break it down so you can stand and reach the vent.
a little complicated..
My Solution:
I went and got a chair.
This, is probably the most extreme case of an alternate solution to a puzzle being available. For the most part, the beta staff when making the game worked hard to eliminate possible alternate solutions to the puzzles... It does make the game sometimes feel strangled and without choices. That doesn't take all the fun out of it though, the story line and voice overs are the primary focus of the fun for this game, a superb job on those!!
Pros:
Easy to learn, easy to play game, and won't take all your time. It also has in my opinion the best ending to any video game I've ever played... GameDaily.com (http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-25-best-game-endings/?cp=5&page=25) has the ending at the 2nd best ever.
Cons:
The game is VERY short, so you can play from start to finish quite quickly. When I first got this game, I was able to complete it from start to finish in about an hour and 25 minutes. Repeating the game, can complete it in 45 minutes.
Quickie:
Portal is a fun puzzle-game using a first person shooter engine.
Graphics: 7
The graphics are nice, but slightly unbelievable. Pristine test areas, and decayed out-of-bounds... if no one is alive to maintain the outside, who's taking care of the test areas?
Sounds: 8.3
The ambient sounds are standard, but the quality of the voice-over and voice-acting really ups this score!
Gameplay: 7.6
The gameplay is very very easy to all who are familiar with first person shooters.
Fun: 8.5
All the really hard/frustrating puzzles aren't in the main game... keeping it streamlined from start to finish for fun.
Presentation: 7.8
A lot of fun drawings to help solve the puzzles make the game very fun =). The later half, lacks a little believability.. But, no worries.
Technology: 7.5
Nice innovations into portal techniques... This isn't a low score so much as undeveloped potential.
Overall: 8.1
http://randmsystems.com/Forums/picture.php?pictureid=2&albumid=1&dl=1242228169&thumb=1 (http://randmsystems.com/Forums/album.php?albumid=1&pictureid=2)
Longer Review:
Portal is a fun little game from Valve involving solving puzzles using teleportation portals. At first, I found this game a little weird, but after a while it grows on you... The game has a nice story, although much of the story has to be found in other places then in-game. You play the role Chell, which it's never made clear if she's a captured prisoner, or an employee made prisoner. Either way, you're trapped in the labyrinth under the computer GLaDOS's control to solve puzzles for some research project GLaD has until you can escape.
This game does suffer from the dreaded Wand of Plot Device, as the puzzles VERY rarely have alternate solutions. Even when you're supposedly "Free" having escaped, there's generally one and only one way to go to proceed. Although, in one case the alternate solution was a great deal easier, and when you put it in context funnier then the actual solution. I only learned the actual solution from the commentary when replaying the game... If you haven't played, you might want to skip this block. =)
Puzzle: you need to get up into an air-vent, but it's too high to reach and you can't make portals into it.
Actual Solution:
There's a pipe above the vent, you need to make a portal to the rocket-launching robot in the next room, get the robot to launch a rocket at you, and quickly change the portal so the rocket will fly out to hit the pipe and break it down so you can stand and reach the vent.
a little complicated..
My Solution:
I went and got a chair.
This, is probably the most extreme case of an alternate solution to a puzzle being available. For the most part, the beta staff when making the game worked hard to eliminate possible alternate solutions to the puzzles... It does make the game sometimes feel strangled and without choices. That doesn't take all the fun out of it though, the story line and voice overs are the primary focus of the fun for this game, a superb job on those!!
Pros:
Easy to learn, easy to play game, and won't take all your time. It also has in my opinion the best ending to any video game I've ever played... GameDaily.com (http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/galleries/top-25-best-game-endings/?cp=5&page=25) has the ending at the 2nd best ever.
Cons:
The game is VERY short, so you can play from start to finish quite quickly. When I first got this game, I was able to complete it from start to finish in about an hour and 25 minutes. Repeating the game, can complete it in 45 minutes.