This was a Triumph

I've noticed that ever since I started going to college, I've been playing far fewer video games. For the time being, I'm choosing to attribute that to lack of time and TV set, rather than, say, an increase in maturity level...

That said, I finally got to sit down and play through Portal from start to finish (I'd started it before but only got about an hour in). I played the Xbox 360 version, which came packaged as part of "The Orange Box" along with Half-Life 2 (and the first two sequel 'episodes') and Team Fortress 2, all for the low low price of $20 at Gamestop. Seriously, that's quite a steal.

So, Portal. It's a rather odd game, for several reasons. First, it has First-Person Shooter (FPS) controls, but is essentially a puzzle game rather than a run-and-gun. While the gameplay is fast-paced at times, and even has some frantic moments (particularly towards the end of the game), it clearly favors a "think, then act" mentality that other shooters have attempted but never quite pulled off.

The 'weapon' that makes this game unique is the portal-gun. Simply put, this device allows you to create two holes (orange and blue, though they are essentially identical), where when you enter one, you emerge out of the other. This allows you to reach areas that would normally be inaccessible (for example, fire one hole onto a high ledge and walk through the other at ground level). There are far more elaborate tricks to be pulled, though, and over the course of the game you learn to use the portal gun to jump great distances, redirect energy balls, and dodge rocket attacks.

Second, Portal is rather short (I finished in just over two hours). This is a good thing; the portal-gun is nifty, and I won't go so far as to say you use up its potential, but by the end of the game you've pretty much figured out how it's useful. By keeping itself short, Portal manages to fully utilize its one gimmick-weapon without having to introduce others (and risk dilution of niftiness). Being short has several other advantages: its not a huge investment of time, which can appeal to more casual gamers; it tells a complete story without becoming some epic saga; if you don't like it, you don't feel like you wasted (much of) your time.

Finally, Portal had an engaging yet simplistic plot. The characters are kept to a minimum; there's you (a remarkably unsexualized female test subject), and there's GLaDOS (an AI that administers the testing). In brilliant dark-comedy fashion, GLaDOS's instructions become increasingly more bizarre ("At the conclusion of the experiment, cake and grief-counseling will be provided."), and as paranoia sets in, you start to wonder why exactly the testing has gotten so... lethal...

Personally, I thought Portal was great, and it definitely gets my full recomendation as a game that anyone could play and enjoy, and probably come out of a little bit smarter than they were going into it. Portal doesn't make you think; it tricks you into thinking while distracting you with a clever gun and a psychotic AI. There's really no excuse not to play this game (unless you're a highly-sensitive epileptic, and even then you might want to risk it).

Also, its maybe the only game Yahtzee ever gave a completely positive review of: Zero Punctuation

Next Time: Fundamental Loneliness & Why Dogs are Awesome
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Good news. I figured out what that thing you just incinerated did. It was a Morality Core they installed after I flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin to make me stop flooding the enichment center with a deadly neurotoxin.

Nice job breaking it, hero.