Portal brings Innovative goodness and amazing design to a genre not often used for its simplicity.
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Valve
System: PC
Total Score: 80/100
Value Score: 8.0/10
• Story: 7/10
o Portal's storyline is simple at first sight but complex in nature, although not as dynamic as the story lines you would normally see in other games such as Adventure and RPGs, Portal's storyline dwells around the focus of a silent protagonist who is lead by a robotic figure by the name of GlaDOS. As the storyline unravels itself, the player is not only shown how the technology of Portal evolves and the surrounding origins of those who came before her, but also of the origins and the intentions of GlaDOS as well as her ultimate evolution throughout the game which brings a sense of originality not seen in most other games where they had antagonists forced to evil intentions to death.
• Characters: 5/10
o Portal's character roster is weak, no doubt about it, one of its main weaknesses. You play as Chell who is a silent protagonist who is trying to survive and escape from GlaDOS. Not much is known except for a few tid bits from GlaDOS herself near the climax of the storyline. Despite the fact that it lacks main character power or enemy targets (there are literally 2 types of enemies in the game), GlaDOS herself makes up for at least half of the score. The writing and voice work of the character is so well done, you'll almost forget that there was a lack of character depth and quantity.
• GamePlay: 10/10
o Portal's gameplay features a unique combination of First Person, Adventure and Puzzle. Although at first it may seem like its a pure shooting game, far from it, you use portal guns to create portals and to use as a tool to counter and re-direct enemy fire and attacks. Though that is not its only use as you will strategically move around the 19 levels in the game with the help of the portal guns which will assist you to get through all the obstacles in the levels. The gameplay's basics stem from Valve's history with FPS style games, as you move with the keyboard's WASD, space for Jump and E to open (which is similar to L4D2).
• Graphics: 9/10
o Portal's graphics are simply amazing for a game that came out in its time, one of the first games to go the "8th gen" style in terms of graphics and dynamics, Portal's design is considered heavenly when comparing to games that came out around its time. The character designs are simple yet it has that little odd composure of complexity in its design. Although the game features amazing looking visuals for certain objects and character sprites, however some of the effects and surrounding environment are far from spectacular, although despite that factor, you'll be mesmerized from all the other visuals to even care as 90% of the game will leave you in awe.
• Sound: 10/10
o Portal's voice work is simply amazing, although at first it might not seem much, the voice over from GlaDos and the robots that are in several stages are well done and are quite humorous and enjoyable to listen to. Along with the sound effects from objects clashing with each other, laser sound effects from attacks, the portal sound effects and other surrounding sounds will keep you busy wondering what is ahead and or what is coming. Sound work is simply put Perfection.
• Music: 8/10
o Portal's music is a feature not much of praise worthy, it can be compared to the OSTs of Resident Evil where the music will either keep you calm or make you lose in concentration, there are no "DANGER" themes or anything that will surprise you 24/7 (unless you count the last boss battle theme), majority of the music is forgettable except for a few tracks such as the Radio theme which is quite catchy and the ending theme song which is well made and possibly makes up for the lack of a memorable OST.
• Length: 3/10
o Portal's main weakness is in its hours of game play and length. You have about 19 levels or stages you can go through in the entire game and a boss battle at the end. After that there pretty much isnt anything else you can do storyline wise unless you want to do the bonus maps which does offer a bit more replay value, but does not add up to the overall storyline length. Overall the game should not take you no more than at least 5 hours and that is only if you get stuck along the way, if you easily get past the puzzles and obstacles, your game clock should not be over 3 hours.
• Replay Value: 8/10
o Where Portal lacks in length, it makes up for replay value. You can play the game in its bonus maps and play challenges to unlock certain achievements. The game is also worth playing all over again because of its simple linear path of storyline and puzzles (and unique gameplay).
• Player Value: 10/10
o Portal is a amazing game which all gamers should try out at least once. The game is so worth it, you can get it for a cheap price on Steam, if you are a fan of Puzzles and short games, you will surely love this game. The amazing character GlaDos and the unique gameplay by itself is more than enough reason to get this game now.