Then, reader, I jumped. Tumbling through the blue portal vertically, I emerged through the red portal travelling horizontally and at the same speed that gravity had previously granted. Flying over the chasm of the pit and skidding through the exit, a computerised voice applauded me, before informing me that both cake and grievance counselling would be available at the end of the test should it be desired.
Portal takes Prey's scripted portal dynamic and shoves it so far, far up its arse. I mean, in Prey could you magic up two portals on the floor then push a box into one and watch gravity bob it up and down in each of them?
Has any game given such backhanded witty praise as an unseen Al chirruping "Unbelievable! You must be the pride of! With Valve writers and musicians onboard to supply a true lonesome feeling of being locked away with only an increasingly deranged computer for company, and some brilliant puzzles covering cubes, abysses, deflected energy balls and physics bent every which way and loose - I can assure you it's set to be an hour or two of joy that justifies any lingering Steam grievances with its presence alone.
An Update To Portal arrived recently, the patch notes of which read: "Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations. You'd be forgiven for not noticing that Valve had just added a string of 26 new puzzles to their space-bending cult classic, kick-starting a breadcrumbchasing mystery hunt leading straight to the doorstep of a sequel announcement.
The Steam forums noticed, obviously, and set about dissecting every new audio file, dialling into BBS boards and phoning up Gabe Newell's mum. They'd pretty much cracked it within 24 hours. Watching that mystery unfold was entertaining enough, but what of Portal itself? Is the update - an achievement requiring you to find 26 radios dotted about the levels, and bring them to a location, guided only by static audio, to tune into some morse code - an interesting addition in itself?
Or is it essentially just a carrier for an interesting press release? Should you actually bother going back to do all this stuff, now that the enigma's been drained away? Well, this is no lazy update. Each radio is very deliberately placed, either in plain sight or obscured by test chamber furniture.
In the latter case, you'll have to listen out for the jazzy reprise of Still Alive, tracking it carefully in stereo as you gently spin around the test chamber like an echolocating dolphin or personsized bat. GlaDOS does not afford you the simple luxury of an ear-trumpet. Once you've found the radio you need to take it to an unmarked location inside or later on, often outside the chamber.
This is the most difficult part of the job, as your aural compass - a static noise as you approach the required location - only comes into effect once you're relatively close to your goal. This is also the time when you'll appreciate just how finely honed Valve's otherwise meticulous design process is, by virtue of this achievement not having had the typical Valve sheen applied to it. Signal locations are often cruelly placed in odd locations, serving only to frustrate as you blunder backwards through levels in search of that static buzz.
What's far more important than a few errant hotspots is the broader nature of this update, a sequel announcement delivered via the original game. Seeing all of Valve's systems come together to serve as an announcement vehicle shows a frightening degree of co-ordination, and hints at a fascinating new means of interacting with a captive audience. At no other time could this have been done: it needed a single platform to which Valve could deliver an update that would be applied simultaneously to all of the game's users, it needed an achievement engine to drive players towards solving the riddle, and it needed a forum to allow a thousand people to write a million words about exactly what the hell was going on.
Two days later, another update: "Added valuable asset retrieval. With that, Valve have announced Portal 2 , stoked their gaming community into a state of hysteria, and they've got everybody chasing stale cake again.
Portal Is The first Steam-powered game to grace my system in four years. Until very recently Steam had been completely banished from my computer - cast out as annoying, intrusive and a liability. I needn't have worried. As I discovered: Steam has come on a long way since I last used it. Join millions of other gamers and be part of the community when you download Steam for free.
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However, the best VPNs can bypass detection from Steam , allowing you to change your residence without any trouble. WizCase is an independent review site. We are reader-supported so we may receive a commission when you buy through links on our site. Set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories, Portal has been called one of the most innovative new games on the horizon and will offer gamers hours of unique gameplay. Players must solve physical puzzles and challenges by opening portals to maneuvering objects, and themselves, through space.
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