The Orange Box
Portal



Out of 5 Nukes


What can I say other than WOW!!! This First Person Puzzle game was a real delight to play. Developed and published by Valve this game uses the Source engine. The game was released as part of the Orange box, but is also available for download through Steam. Portal is available for the PC, Xbox 360, & PS3 (PC is the only way that you can get the game by itself via Steam download.)

The puzzles start off rather easy and then progressively get more difficult. Sometimes you simply transport yourself from A to B. Other times you have to use a cube to open doors, and other times you may have to guide balls of energy through the maze by opening portals for it to travel through as you can not touch it. My favorite obstacle is the mechanical sentry bots. They will sit there and talk to you, tell you its okay, and then shoot you on site. You are also presented with challenges involving surfaces that you cannot portal through, the use of gravity to propel yourself through multiple surfaces at a higher speed, and of course various surfaces that you cannot touch.
Game Play 5/5

When the game starts off, you wake up to an alarm clock in a small, glass room. A voice comes over the speaker system welcoming you to the program and giving you instructions on how to proceed. As you proceed, you are given the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Portal Gun.) The gun starts off with the ability to open a single portal through most surfaces. Using this gun, you are introduced to a serious of tests presented in puzzle form. Each puzzle is based off of the ability to navigate yourself through the level using the Portal Gun to get from point A to Point B. You will soon receive a Portal Gun upgrade that allows opening two parts to the portal to travel through.
Concept 5/5

The developers did not put too much into the graphical presentation of the game. The graphics are probably mid to low level for this era of game graphics, but I do not believe that graphics were their primary concerns. Do not get me wrong, it is still a beautiful presentation and the physics more than makes up for it.
Graphics 3/5

Once you have finished the main story, which only takes two to three hours, you are presented with additional challenge levels to test your skill as a Portal Master. In most of these levels, you will find yourself simply scratching your head in wonder. Personally, I have no interest in solving the same puzzle more than once, maybe twice if I didn’t understand how I did it. As much as I love puzzle games and as in high regard as I rate this game overall, I cannot give a puzzle game much of a score in this category unless the puzzles have random elements that change every time played.
Play Time/Replay 3/5

When it’s all said and done, my enjoyment of this one game alone, paid for the entire Orange Box. The ONLY reason that this game did not receive a perfect score is the lack of hi end graphics, game length, and the ability to replay the game again. Everything else about the game from the concept to actual game play was presented flawlessly! I recommend buying the Orange Box or simply downloading this game from Steam and jump right in to it!

Score Tally
16/20 (4/5)

Min Syst ReqRec Syst ReqMy Syst Specs
Processor1.7 GHz3.0 GHz or betterAMD 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz
VideoDirectX 8 compatibleDirectX 9 compatibleEVGA 7900GS DirectX 9
RAM512 MB1 GB4*1GB DDR2 800
Disk Space570 GB
OSWindows 2000/VP/VistaWindows 2000/XP/VistaWindows Vista Ultimate



10JAN08
KevinKMJr.eXe