PixlBit

Chell and GLaDOS by AndreaTamme (found originaly here)

Portal:

Sometimes it takes many days, weeks, months and even years to fall in love with a game, but there are exceptions when it only takes a few hours or days to fall in love with a game. Portal, my most recent adition to my favorites, is that case.

Okay, maybe it's not exactly as that, but hear my story.

It was two years ago around June of 2012 on the Summer Sales of Steam that among the games I bought, The Orange Box was one of them, which came with this game which I had always been interested in trying due to being very popular on the internet. But as it turns out, I didn't fall in love instantly.

Back when I bought The Orange Box, I used my very weak desktop computer to instal Portal, but trying to start the game was a disaster. The main problem when it came to the games that used the mouse and barely ran on the desktop computer is that for some reason, the mouse pointer never appeared in games like Team Fortress 2, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and in this case, Portal, which lead to the following disaster; When I tried changing the language to English (GLaDOS voice is better like that), I clicked on the resolution box while trying to get to the sound box and as a result, accidentaly put the resolution higher, even running worse than before. I almost couldn't managed to get out due to being lost without a pointer.

Still, I tried playing as it was and though it wasn't that bad, the frame-rate was terrible, everything ran so slow and felt like being inside a glitch. Due to this, I had to stop around Test Chamber 6 (I think).

I waited till I had a better solution, like improve the computer or wait for my soon to come laptop before I could continue Portal. I wanted to play it, but not in that piece of crap resolution.

Fast forward to 2013 when I finally got my better laptop, just as I installed Steam and discovered thanks to LIMBO and Braid that I finally had a computer that could do PC gaming, I knew it was my chance to fully experience the game how it's really intended.

When the game was finally instaled, I inmediately started it. When the menu appeared, I noticed very much how it feelt more smooth than my desktop computer. Before I started, I changed the language setup from Spanish to English and decided to start from scratch, just to get acostumed to the game again and playing it how it's intended.

Indeed it was a good choice, because not only it moved smoothly and the frame-rate was better, I could feel a better sence of mystery and scaryness looking around at my surroundings and noticing how there was no one at the windows and the only voice was of GLaDOS, the master computer of the facility called Aperture Science, who seems to really like cake and as the game progresses, becomes the antagonist.

I pretty much did what I had done at my first play: do the first few basic chambers and get the Portal Gun with the blue portals. Once I got the last Chamber I stopped in my desktop playthrough I simply continued and once I finished that part, I somehow knew that good things were coming because of the enjoyment I got from it.

Just when I finally received the orange portals and proceeded to the next chambers and the rest of the game, I experienced not only a great game, but a masterpiece in every way.

One of the things I first love about Portal is the atmosphere. Despite the bright shining corridors, you still feel like something is wrong due to the lack of other human beings and it makes you curious to know what's behind the windows. Around the 15th chamber or so, you discover that a part of the wall is pulled out to reveal an omnious sight: a chamber with the look of a ruined factory, which is scary enough, but adding to that are mysterious scribbles (one of them having the pretty much famous "The Cake is a Lie"), a couple of empty cans and bins and some cartons put in the ground that resemble a bed. A very much omnious sight, and it's one of few more that appear much later, especialy after the 19th chamber, which I won't spoil what is about.

Next is the gameplay and puzzles, which not only are great, but are some of the best designed in all video game history. The control is simple to master and the Portal gun is also easy to pick up and understand, which makes for a very intuitive experience and gets complemented thanks to the puzzles.

Speaking of the puzzles, as I mentioned, they are well designed. They make very good use of the gun with not only basic things like moving boxes, but also trying to find a way to get to plataforms, look for a spot to drop a box or change the direction of an energy beam with the portals, propeling yourself with the portal to high spots you wouldn't normaly reach, all of that together with other elements that make the puzzles rich like the cubes, and elements like the toxic water or the security droids that make you careful, since they can and will kill you. They simply put a great use of the titular gun and the elements of the stages, especially when the puzzles start to get challenging and exciting, not only on the chambers, but also on the parts after Chamber 19.

Bottomless falls with portals are also very fun.

The next factor includes the inmersion. All the elements mentioned above, the atmospere, mystery, gameplay, puzzles, make for a game that can suck you in and never let you go, because not only you want to complete a puzzle since they are very intuitive to do and satisfying to complete, but you also want to know what is wrong with Aperture Science and what's the deal with GLaDOS.

Speaking of GLaDOS, she makes for one of the most interesting antagonists I had seen so far. You know very much that there's something wrong with her and has shown some tendencies to malfunction and outright lie. As you progress through the game, she shows some very interesting opinions of our silent protagonist, Chell, that range from apreciation or scorn, to awe of our acomplishments or hatred for still being alive. Makes for a mysterious character and the climax with her as the final boss is one of the creepiest and most tense moments because of her presence and all the scary things she says as you do the intense puzzles against the clock. She's also a master of delicious Black Comedy.

Wait, now that I mentioned it, the climax was amazing. Not only for the scary presence of GLaDos, but also for the fact that you only have 5 minutes to kill her before you die of toxic gas. Makes for a tense situation when you need get her personality cores and burn them in the fire, but the ways to get the cores get difficult as you start burning them and you can't think too much, because time is running out. I think I even beat the boss with only 2 seconds left.

The ending is a big cliffhanger that may confuse some gamers, but actually fitted the game very well and set it for the sequel. It also contains one of the best ending songs that is part of a soundtrack that is excellent to begin with (Warning, spoilers!):

In short, Portal was a great experience, and even if you can complete the game in a day, it's satisfying enough and you feel like your money was worth it. It might be my most recent adition to my list, but what a big impression and experience it left me. If you haven't experienced this finely crafted game, then what are you waiting for!!!!!??????

Anyway, thats' all for today. Before I finish, here's my clues for my third favorite game:

- It's the first game I had ever owned.

- It was my full introduction and first step in becoming a gamer.

- It changed gaming as a whole.

- It stars a character we all know and love.