No matter if you are a fan of puzzle games or not, Portal is one of the few out there that deserves one play-through.
What's to like:
- GLaDOS, the computer AI antagonist
- Aesthetically pleasing graphics
- Very Funny (dark humor)
- Fun boss fight
- Unique and hilarious ending
- Superb AI voice
What you may not like:
- Short game
- Little character depth of yourself
- Little level diversity
- Little puzzle diversity
Story -- "The cake is a lie"
As a human test subject you will be asked to go through a series of puzzles.
Where Portal really shines though is with your interaction with GLaDOS. She (?) is the computer AI who seems to be supervising those tests. She will guide you through the puzzles while passing along hilarious remarks and observations about your progress. GLaDOS is really the soul of this game.
Game -- It's all about the "Portal Gun"
Early in the game, you will be given a Portal Gun. This gun has 2 functions:
- Create an entry portal (left click -- blue circle)
- Create an exit portal (right click -- orange circle)
The way it works is rather simple, anything going through the blue portal will exit through the orange portal and vice-versa. Any objects can go through a portal -- including yourself. Know though, that not every surface can be used to create a portal.
There is 1 puzzle per level and each time you successfully solve a puzzle, you get access to the elevator to get on to the next level.
Portal takes full advantage of Source's physics engine from Half-Life 2. There will be numerous puzzles where their resolve rely on either dropping something through the portal or throwing yourself to gain enough velocity to be "thrown" to the next platform.
The Portal Gun is the only tool/weapon you will use in Portal.
Puzzle elements -- Cubes, Energy balls & Buttons
There isn't much diversity in ways to solve the puzzles. In addition to the portal tricks, most of them can be solve with the proper use of Cubes, Energy balls, and Buttons.
Enemies
There are some turrets. Since you cannot directly shoot a turret, you will need to either body-push them down, throw something at them or open a portal underneath them.
There is also one boss fight, which is a lot of fun but is really too short and straightforward.
Conclusion - Long Live GLaDOS
Easily one of the most unique character to have existed on the PC. GLaDOS totally makes Portal a very enjoyable experience, especially in the later parts of the game. The Ending is by far one of the most original seen in years and completely deserves to be experienced.
Rating: Considering Portal is part of the Orange Box (+) but is quite short(-), I give it a 8.2/10. It is _very_ important to mention that Without GLaDOS, this would have been a very bland and basic puzzle game. GlaDOS plays a big part in bringing the score a few whole points up.
So Kudos to Valve in introducing us to such a great NPC.