Insanely Awe-dical

The Orange Box

This game is full-featured game combining 5-games for the price of one (mine was actually further discounted thanks to a Gamestop coupon I found on CAG). It includes Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

To be honest, I've played Half-Life 2 on the computer a couple of years ago and enjoyed the first couple of hours, but computer lag forced me to abandon the game. I picked it up again for a short time on Xbox, but didn't spend a significant time playing it. Now I'm back on it, and enjoying it.

I will say the primary reason I purchased the game was for Portal, which was critically acclaimed as the funnies and most unique game released this year.

Breaking the mold of classic FPS games, Portal doesn't require what I call "twitch reflexes." It isn't like Halo, Call of Duty or any other game where people can pop out from around a column and you need to react and kill. This is a puzzle game and everything is already set in place. Fans of this sort of fast-paced dynamic action shouldn't be expecting it in Portal.

The game starts with the player waking up in a test room, having a robotic voice guide you through a series of simple tests before you retrieve the portal gun.

The portal gun creates an excellent game mechanic which allows users a unique way to travel through some areas. Need to get across a gap? Shoot a portal on the other side and shoot one on your side, and walk through -- boom you're on the other side of the gap. It's these sort of locational logic that creates the puzzles. Additionally, you can use the portals to increase your momentum, creating puzzles that stretch that throw the player across wide gaps and huge ceilings. Soon you're using portals to catapult yourself across huge gaps, firing portals in mid air before crashing into a wall in order to zip over to another room.

The icing on the cake is the wonderfully written dry dialogue written for the robotic voice. It's an experience that is difficult to describe, but playing the game in silence is a drastic difference when the accompanying voice isn't there to provide cold and sometimes jeering comments.

Now from what I've read, Portal is not a full-fledged game. However, it is incredibly well-written, and the game pace puts the character in a myriad of tests, as well as a sort of supplemental survival test. A skilled player can beat the game in a couple of hours, and I'd hardly call that a full 50 dollar game value. Hopefully the game will be so well-received that Portal 2 or a full fledged game based on the concept will become a reality.

This is one of the games I've beaten in recent memory (last two I can recall are God of War 1 and 2), and it was clearly gripping enough for me to complete it. I am currently looking to play through it with the developer commentary, something I am never ever interested in, but it seems fascinating to me in this instance.

For a more budget-friendly/mouse-friendly 2d version of the game, check out this Flash version of Portal. It's a great place to try your hand at the portal puzzle concept. The flash version obviously is much more technically simple, but the concepts are there, and if you enjoy the puzzle aspect (albiet cartoony), the 3d Portal game for xbox 360 will be like a theatrical release.

Labels: games reviews