The year is 1996 and a company by the name of Valve enter the Gaming industry, 2 years later Valves first product hits the shelves by the name of Half-Life, Half-Life becomes one of the greatest PC games of all time. The Year is 2004 and Half-Life 2 is released, it becomes the highest rated PC game of all time winning numerous GOTY awards and owned by millions. October 10th 2007, The orange box is released on consoles and PC bringing with it 3 games, Half-Life 2 & Episodes, Team Fortress 2 (Highest rated class based shooter ever) and an entirely new IP named Portal. With the success of both Half-Life 2 and TF2 the orange box was bound to be a win but valve took a gamble on their 2 hour short fry portal and let it play with the big boys. Portal was perhaps the best game of the 3 on the orange box and created a huge fanbase surrounding the game, characters and location in the game, it soon became a standalone game and now has a fully fledged 12 hour epic sequel (portal 2).
In portal you play as Chell, a test subject who has woken up in a small room and is being spoken to be a robotic voice over an intercom. You are one of the many Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device test subjects and your goal is to complete all of the puzzles given to you with your "portal gun". Portal combines the stellar standard FPS's that Valve are known for but bring in puzzles instead of enemies and ammunition, these brain bending puzzles make the 2 hour game feel more like your standard 6 hour FPS but make it fun and interesting in the process.
There is no combat in the game, you use your portals to inflict damage on opponents (turrets) by dropping things on them or sneaking behind them to knock them over, there is one boss battle in the entire game and you use the same technique to do so but it becomes increasingly difficult to do so the more times it is done.
Portal is not your average game but it will be one that spawns a legacy much like all of Valve's games and will not go down without a fight, the gameplay can be brutal and unrewarding but overall it is perhaps one of the greatest games around today.
Portal – 10/10
+The Best Puzzle Game Ever
