Seldom does it happen that a game lands in my lap and I find myself grinning from start to finish.  It’s actually quite troubling, because it makes my job much more difficult.  It’s easy to find flaws in games, and nit-pick your way to a less than stellar score.  But, how do I communicate to you exactly what it is about a game the left me feeling… dare I say it… happy?  How do I convince you that Portal, which is arguably the smallest portion of developer Valve’s “best value in gaming,” The Orange Box, could conceivably be its most important contribution to the FPS genre? 

This Was a Triumph.

Technically, Portal could be classified as a first-person-shooter [FPS].  Except, in Portal you’ll never find another person to shoot.  Instead, you are armed with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which you wield like any other gun from any other FPS game.  However, in Portal rather than shooting bullets, your “weapon” creates portals (go figure). 

Your portal gun alternately shoots out blue and orange portals (only one of each color at a time).   Entering a particular portal will have you, instantaneously exiting through the other colored portal.  What makes traveling by portal interesting is that you maintain your momentum when you enter and exit a portal.  The concept is somewhat difficult to grasp without seeing it in action, but for example, if you are standing at the edge of a tall building and shoot one portal directly beneath you at ground level and a second portal at a building directly opposite you (on the same vertical plane) and then fall down into the portal on the ground you will then exit through the portal you fired into the building across from your original starting point, but you will be traveling at the same velocity as you entered the “entrance” portal sending you hurtling through time and space..ok, I’m embellishing a bit.  But, just try and wrap your head around that for a while and then imagine the possibilities.  

Don't Touch That - It's Not Important!

What really sets Portal apart from other games, and keeps it from becoming too gimmicky, is that even though the game revolves around the use of the portal gun, it doesn’t forget to give you an immersive playground in which to experiment with your new toy, and that while you are “in” that playground, you should have “something” besides portal hopping to keep you occupied. 

That “something” is the mind-bending puzzles you will solve with the creative use of your portal gun and the never-ceasing banter of GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), your “guide” through Portal.  Here is perhaps the most interesting aspect of Portal.  You see, Valve did not forget that even in what is at its heart a puzzle game, excellent writing and a heaping of dose of dry humor, courtesy of Erik Wolpaw ( Old Man Murray), can truly take a game to the next level (pardon the pun).

As hard as it may be to believe, Portal, which clocks in at a paltry 3-5 hours, features better writing than most typical full-length opuses.  Playing as Chell, the participant (most likely an unwilling participant) in an Aperture Science experiment, you awake in a testing facility and are herded along by GLaDOS through test chamber after test chamber to “measure” your portal-ing skills.  Throughout your run through the testing facility, the one-sided interaction with GLaDOS will keep you smiling, even when encountering hints of GLaDOS’s less than forthcoming, sinister side.

Huge Success.

Portal’s amalgamation of the FPS and puzzle genres results in an experience that is truly, like no other.  Admittedly, the experience is rather short-lived, but is that really a reason to dock points?  At the a la carte price of twenty dollars, Portal is a bargain that only gets better when it’s bundled with the complete Half-Life 2 experience of The Orange Box ( don’t forget Team Fortress 2).  Also, let’s not forget that for those of us that find it difficult to make time for gaming the ability to play through the entirety of Portal in one gaming session is a huge plus.  Even with its short length, the mind-bending gameplay and witty, albeit one-sided, dialog of Portal manage to throw down a new gauntlet of creativity and imagination for other developers to aspire to.  Just remember; with Portal, the cake is definitely not a lie.