User Reviews (1 - 11 of 16)

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A+

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is very good, its a combination puzzle FPS game. The AI in the game is very entertaining. the game is short but in this case that is isn't such a bad thing.

Awesome!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is so creative and fun! The gameplay is fresh and will get you thinking but not looking at gamefaqs. It is just a trainride of fun from start to finish. The dark humor is hilarious and the game is very memorable. downloadable levels extend the life. Even though it is not too long it just helps to get you to the awesome ending. Then see if you can beat the extras!

Portal

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Awesome puzzle game using the H-L2 engine. It involves creating an "open" portal with one button, and an "exit" portal with another - use it to figure out you way around obstacles and enemies.

Sounds very simple; in reality, it's an intricately desiged, incredibly-challenging game that fails only because it's too short. There is a very loose story and a boss battle of sorts at the end that really pushes this game from four stars to five. Awesome ending credits, with brilliant music throughout. Definately not one to miss.

Not worth 20 bucks, get the Orange box instead.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for 20 bucks thinking it was cheap. I finished it within two or three sessions of gaming.

I didn't get my fill. This is the equivalent to a free game Demo.

I feel ripped off. Hey Valve, i'm done with this game, Can i trade it back for episode two instead?

Oh wait, you don't sell it on the store shelves do you? I have to download it through Steam? Valve forces you to join their lame Steam cult. Installing Portal though Steam takes a hell alot longer than actually finishing it.

Ohhh okay, you guys are smart, really know how to rip someone off! I feel like cattled sheep here. I should have gotten the Orange Box instead. I'd waste my money either way. But at least i'd feel a little less stupid.

Don't get me wrong, i found the game quite innovative and it was fun while it lasted, hence the 4 stars fun factor. Valve wants your money. The moment this game got bloated with Hype, they sell it as a standalone game on store shelves, but they don't do the same to Episode Two?

B*stards.

Make sure you're connected to the web

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game to spend my offtime enjoying. Unfortunately, where I am currently situated has no internet and I haven't yet been able to play. Looks like I'll have to wait until I get back home to give it a shot. Didn't rate good or bad, due to inability to play, but I have been told it's very fun and look forward to finding that out for myself.

A good game overall...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

...The antagonist is funny, the protagonist is quiet, and it's filled with puzzles that confuse the mind and infiltrate the body. Overall, as I said, it's a good game.

I HATE STEAM

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

YOU CAN'T INSTALL PORTAL UNLESS YOU INSTALL STEAM. UNLESS YOU WANT TO SPEND 3 HOURS WITH STEAM SUPPORT YOU BETTER HAVE AN INTERNET CONNECTION AND REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD AND BE WILLING TO SUBMIT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO YOU CAN START GETTING ALL OF THEIR JUNK MAIL. DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT. LOST $20.

awesome game for those who want to use their brains

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I had so much fun playing this game! I only wish I got it for the ps3 rather than PC (I'm just more used to gaming on there). For the guy on here who whines about the $20 price tag...i got mine from a major retailer for ten bucks on sale so just shop around. It's your own fault for paying full price for something.
Anyways - the game is well worth 10 or 20 bucks. I had hours of enjoyment and you really need to think "outside of your brain" for this game.
You experience enter & exit portals. soon you get a gun where you can create either of the two. You just have to see how the two react to you going through and then later in the game velocity and momentum play a role in it as well. I know my description might not be the greatest but it really gets your mind thinking about how to get to the otherside of the room which mostly seems impossible. Tons of fun - especially the computer GlaDos system that mocks you the entire way. Laugh out loud funny lines especially towards the end. I had tons of fun and for that same guy who whines about the length - there are many advanced levels you can unlock after you solve the initial game and online ther are many DIY portal dimensions you can do that people have posted themselves.
I can't wait to play it again! Level 15 sure had me stumped for awhile :)

Surprisingly Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

By the time you read this review, you will have already learned that Portal is a very short game. However, I can tell you that you should invest the modest price for the game and play it. It's a very fun and fresh concept. The game is entertaining; both in terms of actual gameplay and the undercurrent of humor. I haven't had this much fun with the non-play portion of the game since the No One Lives Forever franchise.

As for the shortness of the game. I actually found this to be fine. Had I paid $50 for Portal, I would have been disappointed... but of course, I did not. Had the game been priced higher with 3x the amount of game play, it would have become tiresome, but as it was, I was left wanting more at the end. In comparison, another game I liked a lot was the massive Oblivion (a game which also featured portals, but of a different variety). However, that game was so big, that I actually was getting tired of the game before I completed it. It has had no replay value and I've avoided the add-on/expansion packs. Portal, by comparison, never grew old at all, was fun and challenging throughout and had a fun and tidy conclusion. In many ways, this game left me wanting more games that are equally short and cheap.

Now, about the gameplay. This game is a FPPS (First Person Puzzle Solver). I must admit that that concept wouldn't be my type of thing normally. For me, when I'm engaged in a fun FPS game and then come to an obviously contrived puzzle that I must solve, I find it a frustrating and annoying divergence from the purpose of the game. However, in Portal, I never had that feeling. I embraced it whole-heartedly and enjoyed the experience. Although I'm not a great puzzle solver, I found nothing here to be so hard as to force me to look to external resources for solutions. I feel smarter having played the game, yet never felt like I was solving arbitrary meaningless puzzles. In other words, Portal is a game of puzzles, but it doesn't play or feel that way. For me, this is the great strength of the effort.

The bottom line for me is that I found Portal to be a very pleasant surprise and would recommend it to FPS players looking for a fun diversion.

Don't pay $20 for a two-hour tech demo.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 18
Date: April 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Portal is very very short for a standalone game. It's more of a tech-demo showing off a gameplay concept rather than a full-length adventure. You'll probably breeze through all 20 levels in 2-3 hours, which is not good for a $19.99 package. The Orange Box ($49.99) provides a far better value, as you'll get both episodes of Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 along with this game.

The gameplay centers around a single gimmick: a gun that allows you to shoot two portals. You enter one, and exit out the other. These portals enable you to cross seemingly impenetrable walls and dangerous hazards. You will carry items called weighted storage cubes through portals to activate switches, drop the same cubes through portals to deactivate turrets, and shoot portals into very deep pits to generate momentum. The portal gun gimmick doesn't really allow for that many puzzle varieties, and by the last few levels, they start to get stale due to repetition.

On the other hand, the storytelling is suspenseful and witty. Throughout your experiment, you are led by a robotic voice known as GLaDOS, who provides you with hints -- and often, heavy sarcasm along with them. More and more is revealed about this character as you progress through the game, leading up to a final, dramatic showdown.

Portal is good for a rent (or a purchase with The Orange Box bundle pack, if you are into shooters), but its short length and limited gameplay do not justify the $20 price tag.

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