Portal is a first-person puzzle game developed and published by Valve and released in October 2007. You play as Chell, a female protagonist that completes testings for Aperture Science Laboratories. The game features a nineteen level campaign that allows you to solve puzzles. Solving each puzzle progresses you further into the story. This review will discuss the campaign, the levels, and gameplay.

Portal features a solid campaign that provides a good introduction to the world of the Laboratories. The game begins with an in-game tutorial introducing you to the portal gun, the tests and Glados, the antagonist AI computer. Portal excels at storytelling through the slow burn approach to the story. Certain sequences in the story subtly reveal major plot points such as what is Glados planning to do to Chell once she has completed her tests. These subtle hints provide excitement for those who have noticed them as it foreshadows the final scenes in the game. Portal 1 is less about story and more about introducing you to the environment. I get the vibe that this game is more like a prologue to Portal 2 because comparing Portal 1 to Portal 2, P2 expands on the gameplay and environment and emphasises the story whereas P1 introduces you to the setting, the characters, the type of gameplay, and the story. In saying that, I do really like the introduction to the characters as Glados is a refreshing computer personality in which gives the impression that robots control humans, or Glados controls Chell.

The campaign as mentioned includes nineteen levels and these levels are basic. It promotes creativity as the levels progressively become more difficult. However, I feel the majority of the levels are simple and relatively easy compared to the final five levels. The final five levels are challenging and they require more thinking, meaning they encourage more exploration on how to complete it. The levels are of good length. About 10 out of the 19 levels took some time to complete and it lengthened the game and made it more enjoyable because the overall campaign was short at under three hours. Portal features an 'advanced levels' mode which takes the final six levels of the campaign, reworks them and makes them much more difficult to complete. I did not play this mode because I prefer not to replay the same levels with no end goal. Generally though, it does add some variety and lasting appeal to the game for players.

Portal incorporates some vibrant and detailed gameplay, particularly in the portal gun. The portal gun allows you to create two portals that transport you from A to B. Comparatively, Portal 1 delivers on the shooting aspect of the portal gun because when shooting the portal gun there is a visible bullet that travels and it creates a graphics effect when it hits the target. This exceeds the portal gun shooting animations in Portal 2 which once you shoot the gun it automatically hits the target. Furthermore, the portal gun has fitting sound that complements it. I only encountered one issue in the entire game, which is relatively minor, and that is the somewhat less-responsive nature of the controls. For instance, picking up objects would regularly require two clicks on a regular basis and when some levels have timed sections it can become slightly annoying.

Portal has very optimised performance. I played on max settings at something like 200FPS after turning off V-Sync. With V Sync enabled, I managed 50FPS and minimal stuttering.

Portal is a very solid game. It introduces you to the robot-run world and the world of testing. The story is fun in that it introduces you to the setting and characters through a slow burn story approach. The game has nineteen levels which I completed in under three hours. There is an advanced levels mode featuring the six final levels in the campaign that are more challenging. I get the notion that Portal is a prologue to Portal 2 as it is establishes all the aspects in the game, which is vastly expanded on in the sequel. In saying that, I enjoyed this first instalment into the Portal series. At USD$9.99 as a standalone product, I recommend it. However, I highly recommend the Portal bundle at USD$22.49 which includes Portal 1 and 2.

Overall: 7/10

- The slow-burn approach to the story.
- The gameplay that refreshes the FPS genre.
- The very detailed portal gun with excellent animations.
- The emphasis of creativity in the levels.

- Length of campaign.
- The simplicity in half of the levels.

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http://store.steampowered.com/app/400

I can easily say that portal is one of Valve's best games. The idea of using portals to solve puzzles and avoid obstacles is just great. My only complaint is that it's rather short, but there are bonus levels that are the original test chambers but with an increase in difficulty. If you haven't purchased portal yet, then I would suggest waiting until the summer sale to buy the portal bundle for dirt cheap like I did.

Now, you're thinking with portals

I was really suprised how good, funny and challenging this is. It beat all my expectations. To be honest I did not expect much and in first two three levels I had absolutely no clue how I managed to go through. But then I realized. Then I saw my portal weapon in completely different way and I started to be excited.

Maybe it is a pity that there are only 19 levels + bonus in escape, but not only the final chamber was really challenging for my sensorium together with my portal skills.

Conclusion: It IS worth playing.

Is gud game.

Will always be one of my favourite PC games ever, if you love Valve's Half-Life universe and want to see it from a different perspective then it really doesn't get any better than Portal.

Great puzzle game with some challenging sections (also includes advanced maps for those looking to raise the difficulty a bit) and a script full of great humour.

I think the most important factor to mention is the fact that even players with little to no interest in puzzle games can still appreciate and enjoy this - and that says something about the quality of this game as a whole.

9/10
★★★★½

What can I say about this so famous game? Well, I guess it was amazing 10 years ago and I can see why people loved this one.

Unfortunately my expectations were maybe too high and so I was "disappointed". The game is pretty good but I was hoping for a masterpiece and as always happens with expectations I got screwed by my own unrealistic desire. Memo: Live the moment!

In fact if I think about the hours I spent playing this I can feel I actually had fun. The puzzles were not too hard, but the sense of wonder about how portals work was cool and I enjoyed that.

Too bad sometimes I had to fight the game itself (crates falling, setting portals were I wanted to, jumping). The other big issue was I got motion sickness eventually.

The last level was very cool (and way longer than I thougt) but the "boss fight" was not excpetional (again expetations vs reality).

Anyway this is a very good game, as everybody knows so I would raccomand it to anyone who doesn't NEED to kill stuff to have fun

+ Nice story
+ Very cool setting
+ Cool puzzles

- Maybe a little bit outdated
- Controls (see description)
- The portal sound effect is too loud for the music

This game is so much fun! I still play it! Going to go get Portal 2 now!

10/10 would Portal again.

I really recommend playing this game before you play Portal 2, although I've seen more people playing Portal 2 than this one, meaning some people have missed part of the story.