Anthony's Film Review - Portal (Video Game, 2007)

As simple and short as it is, this game presents a very clever and original game concept...

Valve Software made headlines in the video game industry with its landmark 1998 first-person shooter game Half-Life and its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2. Although these games constitute a flagship franchise for the company, it's not the only big achievement they've had. They also created the horror game series Left 4 Dead and launched the Steam video game platform that has become a major distribution channel for many game companies, not just Valve. In the midst of this, Valve created a small game in 2007 that was probably meant to be a mini-game, but ended up being enjoyed by so many: Portal.

This is a game that is set in the same fictional universe as Half-Life. Interestingly, though, the differences between Portal and Half-Life are quite noticeable. In terms of setting, Half-Life is set at the Black Mesa research facility in Arizona, Half-Life 2 takes place in Europe, and Portal occurs at Aperture Laboratories (somewhere in Michigan, according to info in the sequel Portal 2). In terms of tone, the Half-Life series is a relatively dark thriller, while Portal has a mix of mild thrills, dark humor, and ultimately a lighter mood. And in terms of gameplay, Half-Life involves killing enemies and occasionally solving puzzles to get from point A to point B, while Portal is all about solving puzzles to get from point A to point B.

Portal is like a first-person shooter, but the gun used by the player is not a weapon firing rounds to kill. Rather, it's a tool firing portals to traverse space. The portal gun can fire to open blue portals and orange portals, and only one of each at a time. The portals can only be made on light gray or white surfaces, not on dark metal surfaces. Whenever a blue portal and an orange portal are open, anything going through one portal comes out the other. This is how the player can do things like getting to spots otherwise impossible to reach and retrieving objects from far away.

You the player assume the role of a silent protagonist who is a test subject at Aperture Laboratories. Testing involves you, the portal gun, and other objects in a series of test chambers. The objective is to figure out how to exit the test chamber and proceed to the next one. Objects that you will encounter include large buttons that activate something else, weighted cubes to keep those buttons pressed, moving platforms, energy balls, receptacles for energy balls to activate other machines, and force fields that block shots from the portal gun and also make existing portals disappear if you pass through those fields. Each chamber presents a specific puzzle using a particular layout and arrangement of objects.

It's really fun. The first time you play this game, you will be blown away by the brilliance of the concept. But here is where I bring up the game's single shortcoming: its length. Because it was made as an experimental title, Portal is a short game, one that a veteran gamer can complete in just a few hours. The first half of the game consists of 20 test chambers. The second half involves an attempt to escape Aperture Laboratories, although the obstacles still act as puzzles for you to figure out in order to proceed.

This is the perfect time for me to talk about the game's villain, or rather, villainess. The tests are administered by a cold, sadistic, and narcissistic supercomputer named GLaDOS. What's so interesting about her is that she is a major source for this game's dark humor, being a character that is both cruel and funny. I found myself smiling and laughing in response to some of GLaDOS's lines. It's like hearing an all-too-serious person say unexpected things in the same all-too-serious way. GLaDOS is brought vividly to life by voice actress and opera singer Ellen McLain.

Speaking of singing, you'll definitely love the game's end credits. It features a song. Yes, a song! An upbeat, lively song to lighten things up once it's over, something you will not hear in a Half-Life game. The song, titled "Still Alive," is sung by Ellen McLain because it is GLaDOS who is expressing her thoughts in the lyrics. Overall, the song is so pleasant that it really makes you forget that Half-Life is in the same fictional universe. As someone who loves music in video games, this is one of the best pieces of video game music I have heard in a long time.

If it weren't for the short length of this game, I'd give it one more star on my 1-to-10 rating. Maybe if it had 50 or more test chambers instead of 20, I'd be truly thrilled. But as it stands, it ranks very high already. The game is super fun because the objective of maneuvering through puzzle chambers is simple and yet mentally stimulating. It's also an ingenious idea in an era where so many companies are churning first-person shooter games. Thankfully, the audience response to this game has been so favorable that Valve would have to make a sequel. What was expected to be a simple game ended up being a super hit.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Portal, visit the Internet Movie Database and Moby Games.

In addition, check out my review of Portal 2.