Critical Play: PORTAL!!

I love Portal — in one of the more niche folders of my music library, I have the ending soundtrack of both Portal 1 & 2, Still alive and Want you gone. This game has been one of the first few games I’ve purchased on Steam, and led me to play other games made by Valve, such as the Half-life series.

The Portal series of game indeed have a rigorous storyline. For Portal 1, the story arc of GLADOS and the deserted laboratory is full of subtle cues (about cakes!) and hints about what GLADOS eventually turns out to be. The second portal game takes the player through the history of Aperture Laboratory, and (in my opinion) puts even more focus on the storyline.

However, in the gist of it, Portal is a puzzle game that is heavily governed by the law of physics. (Or by defying them by opening portals everywhere). Despite the rigorous narrative that pierces through the game, the gameplay experience itself is safely navigating through stages while using the Portal technology and avoiding easily-agitated turrets. Several gameplay mechanics that really surprised me were:

• How the angle of the surface on which the portal is created can have players changing direction mid-air
• How the player can gain velocity by going through portals continuously

It really tests the player’s creativity as how to eliminate threats (screaming turrets!), leverage elements of the game (i.e. heart cubes), to safely proceed with the route that the narrative dictates.

Another defining feature of the game is its witty narrative and the masterfully done sound effects that accompanies the gameplay. As I mentioned earlier, the songs made for the game are highly effective in providing an immersive experience to the player.