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Portal (PC) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Sunday 17 February, 2008 // I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 19 June, 2008
Current opinion of this game
It's so fresh and clever.
March 4, 2008 09:56:13 PM
Having finished the game, I loaded it up because I wanted to show something to a friend. However, it seems that the game has "forgotten" that I finished it. When I played it, I was offline so I wonder if that has something to do with it. For example, there are quite a few achievements that I know I obtained, but they aren't marked as such. Also, after watching the end credits, the main menu of the game changed...however, now it is back to the original. Was that a one-time only menu? I hope not. I felt really discouraged about this, because I assumed that it "auto-saved" something once I finished the game. I feel as if the "proof" of my accomplishment has been wiped out, which I guess is what makes the whole concept of achievements such a stroke of genius. (and I don't even have an Xbox...)
February 28, 2008 04:58:34 PM
Wow, so I finished Portal and it is as short as people make it out to be. Of course, the last level is quite long, but I wouldn't say that it is particularly difficult. In fact, I wouldn't say that the game is particularly difficult per se, though once finished I guess I could go out and try the bonus levels that are supposedly more difficult. In fact, I wonder in what ways they are more difficult. In my opinion, Portal is can be challenging along two dimensions. First, there is the difficulty associated to the hand-eye coordination and timing. A few times you have to open portals at the right moment, time your jumps carefully and that sort of thing. Thankfully, these kinds of challenges are the least and I can see how the design could have easily gone down the "jumping platforms and moving crates" route. That would have been a real disappointment. The second dimension for challenge is the puzzle aspect of figuring out how to get to the exit using portals. Clearly, this is the innovation that this game presents. So, do the bonus levels make more use of mind-bending spatial puzzles or require you to time your jumps and actions more precisely? I look forward to finding out! For the record, there are parts in this game that are laugh out loud funny and yes, the writing and voice acting are great. They really help enhance the experience. I was particularly surprised when GlaDOS congratulated me when I finished a level before "she" had finished giving me the instructions. (basically she stopped giving her instructions and said something that made me feel all warm and fuzzy).
February 17, 2008 07:23:08 PM
It's hard to try to have an objective experience when EVERYONE you know is raving about this game and how great it is. So, is it? So far, it's been great fun. Not so much because of the puzzles or the mechanics, but mainly because of the setting and the voice-over. Witty, sarcastic, and also kind of creepy. Especially when something goes wrong and the voice gets cut off or distorted. Each level has a sign at the beginning with a number, an iconized list of the things you will have to do/manipulate to clear the level, and the total number of levels. I think I'm on 10 out of 19 and I wonder if there really are 19 levels! It would seem terribly short if that were so, but then again each, the last levels I did were much longer and more complicated. I also noticed that the game is divided into "chapters" (in the same way that HL2 and it's episodes are) but there aren't as many chapters as there are levels. So far. Perhaps chapter 1 has 19 levels? I haven't had time to go back to the menu to check, but it does seem like an odd way to segment the game.

Portal (PC)