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Portal is an oddity to grace the current lineup in videogames. It’s blend of platforming and puzzles takes a new original idea, and runs strong and hard with it. In many of these ways, Portal continues to be the rare exception that’s included with one of the best priced packages you can currently pick up on any next-gen system this holiday.

The Orange Box was release just a few short weeks ago for the 360, PC, and will soon grace the PS3. Among this collection of both new and old games are Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2, Episodes One and Two, and Portal, which utilizes the Half Life Engine. The game places you, the nameless and for the most part faceless character in a strange training facility. Shortly you will learn that you are simply a test subject in a training facility for new Portal technology.

Two portals, one orange and one blue, once fired upon a surface with immediately create a link that you can slip through. The concept is simple in that respect, allowing you to utilize portals to overcome obstacles. But nothing is as easy as it initially seems. Shortly thereafter you are entrusted with the technology that allows you to fire off both portals on any surface, allowing you to only have one active portal open at a single time. The innovation really begins with the ability of a portal to maintain inertia and direction, forcing you to truly think outside the box. Do you need to jump to a high ledge, simply build up enough momentum falling between portals and fling yourself up there.

Most people by this point are somewhat familiar with the ingenuity and basic game play mechanics of Portal. However the game still really surprised me once jumping with the sheer amounts of variety and variations to be had. Boxes, Energy Balls, even creepy Droids bent on killing you join the fray. In what at first seems to be a simple training camp will soon cause you fighting for your life just to reach that next stage.

It plays like Half Life 2 in setup and control, except replace your gravity gun with a Portal gun and you are set to go. That said I had a minor gripe with the crouching, which activates itself more often than not, especially when you least want to. Nothing is more annoying then suddenly to be crouching because you bumped against a ceiling or hit the ground when trying to move quickly. The default should be to stand, and only to crouch yourself if holding down the thumbstick. Really however, that was the only annoyance I ran into.

We do need to get the fatal flaw of Portal out of the way before dishing more praise: The game is short, it clocks in at roughly 4 hours with 19 levels. At first the level count is slightly confusing, as you’ll probably have hit level 10 within the first half hour of play. However, later stages require more skill and time to work through, and are a lot longer than the first stages. I walked out of the experience feeling like there was enough content, and perhaps had the game extended further the portal mechanics would get old without further additions. That said, if you are after Portal alone, it might not merit a 60-dollar purchase. While the package as a whole is an amazing deal, if you are just after Portal (for console owners), you are stuck with some other quality titles in the transaction. If however, Portal is priced on it’s roughly 10-15 dollar share of The Orange Box, it’s a no-brainer purchase.

Will you have your cake, and eat it too?

Portal plays well, it looks good, but one of the biggest surprises when playing the title was the storyline. I wasn’t expecting much, it is more of a puzzle brain teasing title, and the only companion you have is a robotic instructor and a cube. But that’s really where the beauty is. It’s hard to get into details without running anything, but things really start flying off the handle. It’s clear the developers have a clever sense of humor that really shines throughout the plot. The creepy droids will talk to you, asking ‘are you still there’, wanting nothing more to shoot you down. You’ve probably never shed a tear for a box – and strangely enough, you probably will. Finally the burning question, will there be cake? Only those who finish the adventure will ever know, but one thing I can almost ensure is a catchy closing song. It truly makes the credits and finishing the game all worth it. If you aren’t going to play the title, at least do yourself a favor and youtube the end credits.

Finally, Portal doesn’t leave you completely with nothing to do. The game provides quite a few achievements to be had (The Orange Box contains 99 in all spread over its 5 titles). Many of the achievements can be snagged with the initial play through. Once beaten, some previous stages are opened with harder objectives, beat all six and at least you’ll have the chocolate cake achievement, (although who knows about the real cake). There are also other options like timed runs, and using the least amount of portals possible. These all make revisiting earlier levels worthwhile. Most of the achievements aren’t a secret, so you should be able to pick them all up on your own merits, but expect to still but in some effort for a few of them.

Closing Remarks
I really fell in love with Portal in ways I didn’t quite expect. The game itself is quite a revolutionary concept, and while it runs short, there is potential with these mechanics for a full-fledged title. Even though Portal gets its name from the new gun, my favorite part of the title all comes back down to that cake. In what seemed to be a quirky puzzler, a humorous and delightful tale unfolds; you may want to grab a box of tissues, because this is really one wild ride.

95/100

We’ll continue making our way through the Orange Box; stay tuned for a ride back in time to see how Half Life 2 has made the transition to the next generation.