Portal
March 2008 Issue
Features
- From the Editors
- Craft Check: Make Your Own (Easier) Miniatures
- Gaming in the Media: The Cutest Serving of Stereotypes: The NYT on Dating a Gamer
Interviews
- Industry Interview: Victoria Lamb
Articles
- Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: Analyzing a LARP
Author: Stephanie Pegg
- Sculpting Player Expectations
Author: Brendan Davis
- Women’s Gaming Group: First Impressions
Author: Robyn Fleming
Stephanie uses a LARP questionnaire to examine the questions "What do LARPers really want?" and "How different are men and women gamers, really?"
Brendan shares tips on how to use Power Point to get players excited and into the campaign they are about to embark on.
Robyn discusses her first impressions of her all-women gaming group.
Gamer Stories
Reviews
Odds 'n Ends
Portal, Valve , 2007
Portal: A Gateway Game?
I don’t play First-Person Shooters. This is arguably a shocking way to begin a review, but the reason will become clear in a little while. I don’t play them for several reasons: my hand-eye co-ordination isn’t great, I’m less interested in aggressive play in favor of resource building play and, I think crucially, I get very disoriented by the rapidly changing point of view. Many of my friends love them, which is fine, but I’ve generally steered clear of them beyond occasionally glancing over someone’s shoulder as they go out and shoot things.
This brings me to Portal, which has broken a life long trend in my gaming habits; a First-Person Shooter game that’s different, a game that seems designed not only to give the hardcore FPS crowd an enjoyable time, but to wean avoiders like me into thinking that “Hey, maybe those other FPS games are worth a try, too.” It’s technically a puzzle game using an FPS engine, and it’s very cool. The basic conceit is a portable device that can open two way portals in walls. The protagonist is a hapless test subject being run through a series of experimental rooms by an insane computer GLaDOS – in each test chamber there are several tasks that need to be completed using the portal gun (and a certain amount of agility) in order to reach the exit.
Beautiful Aesthetics
Valve put a lot of thought into the graphic design, and the game is visually appealing. The color palette in the early phases of the game is limited and elegant, mostly shades of white and grey, and brings out the friendly tones of the blue and orange portal rims and the red overalls of the protagonist. As the game progresses you will see more of the bowels of the facility, which are in a far darker and grungier palette, highlighting the change in pace. The design of the physical elements and the voices are also comically and sinisterly appropriate.
Training
The succession of test chambers is designed to teach new concepts in portal use gradually, with repetition and expansion of ideas to train the player into solving ever more complex puzzles. It also served to train me in the FPS techniques of moving, shooting, using objects, jumping and so forth in a step by step manner which I appreciated. The puzzles begin by being static and the game slowly introduces more moving and time-based elements as part of the progression, another useful training feature. Also, as I mentioned above, I don’t cope with rapidly changing points of view well – this game has them, but it also gives you time to stop and think about what steps you need to go through to solve a fast moving section.
The Game Is Not Just About Being Shot At
There are some live fire elements, but they’re not the primary focus by a long way. The game is about logic and visualizing space. Even a short time playing Portal gives me serious questions about the twisted minds of the game designers, but hey, we all got a good game out of it, right?
The Blackest of Black Humor
This is a funny game. The storyline is full of deadpan black humor of the finest kind, which I don’t want to spoil for anyone who hasn’t played the game yet. This is another element of Portal which makes me wonder about the minds of the game designers, and I can only approve. In conclusion, I loved this game and wish I’d listened to my friends earlier. It’s a blast and worth playing to the conclusion just to hear the sweetly macabre end credit song “Still Alive.”
Article © March 2008 by Stephanie Pegg.
