First of all let's clear some things up. Yes, I am aware of the fact that Portal has been out for a very long time. Yes, I am aware that most people who will have ever cared will have already read every review already out there; HOWEVER, I'm still gonna talk about it because I can't afford to buy games right now, and, let's face it, I'm basically doing this for myself under the assumption maybe 2 people will ever read anything on this page. So there.
Portal is not just good, it is great. It's tempting to just stop talking about it there because it's beyond most games in the sense that it really sucks you in. It has everything you could ever want in a game: Tutorials that don't make you feel like you're scraping your brain along the sidewalk, fast action that actually makes the player move quickly to get through sections (tell me how many puzzle-based games have that), and, perhaps this is just me, but Portal actually provides some scares.
Okay maybe "scares" is the wrong word. Let me replace that with "potentially frightening environments." It should not be scary to be playing a screen run through sewers with a gun that could open portals, it is scary because you (o come on, if this is a spoiler, you're farther behind then I am) are running for your life from a computer that is screaming it's going to kill you.
What Portal does better than most games these days is makes the player really part of the story. This really has been the closest game I've played to my beloved P.O.P.S.O.T. because I did not want to stop playing. Any game that has that ability is definitely going to gain a huge fan base like the one Portal has.
Your instructor's personality through the game was absolutely mind-blowing to me. The writers of this really knew what would be funny. Really knew what would make the player laugh or make him/her sad. Never in my life has a game made me literally laugh out loud the way Portal has.
This game also led me to a interesting revelation-- One thing that this game has in common with the aforementioned Prince is the stunning lack of humans. Maybe that's what sets the pace for a good feel of the game. I've read that the most potent feeling a human can have is loneliness. The attachment I felt to my lady in Prince of Persia was very similar to (if you can read this with a straight face) my "companion cube" i got toward the end of Portal. Obviously if a computer program can make you feel bad about throwing a virtual metal box into a virtual incinerator, clearly it has crossed some boundaries.
Or maybe it just makes us realize how alone we are as we peck at buttons on our computers for hours at a time.
O and by the way, if you are reading this and you are this far behind, go here: STEAM POWERED ONLINE for all your gaming. excitement.
