So I’ll be the first to admit I am woefully behind in what video games I actually play. Point in case – Portal was released in late 2007 as part of The Orange Box. It received praising reviews and became a meme onto itself. Within weeks I’d downloaded and memorized the famous Still Alive. Even though it was a FPS the emphasis was on puzzle solving and not fast-paced gun action.
I was intrigued, and added to my wish list, but I didn’t pick it up until a couple of weeks ago. Why? It was bundled with other FPSs, which I had no interest in playing, and though $19 was more then a fair price for all the games in the bundle I didn’t want to pay that for just one short game.* The reason I finally got was because it was on sale on XBLA.
I’m loving it! There isn’t much I can say that thousand of reviews haven’t already – the puzzles are challenging and brilliant, the physics are a delight, the story is visceral, and GLaDOS? I’ll never look at a closed circuit camera the same way again, and I am somewhat glad that my Take Your Daughter To Work Days are behind me. I’m about %80 of the way through the game itself – I’m waiting for a day when I can sit down and finish it. (Look ma! No walkthrough!)
Portal was also a great learning experience in that I finally put my finger on why I’ve never been able to play FPSs, which make out more then a good portion of the video game market. It’s been a frustration of mine because I see so many interesting games pass me by. Partly it’s the controls, which I discovered years ago after being unable to find the ‘crouch’ button in Halo(immediately after the tutorial, which made me feel like a failure of a gamer), but mostly it’s the point of view. Without a single solid figure on the screen to orient myself with I get nauseous. In Portal it isn’t so bad because I’m not being rushed, I don’t have to whip the camera around. The run of the mill FPS? All gun action, all the time.
I suppose it’s either something I’ll grow out of, learn how to deal with, or just ignore. I’m more then happy with my third person action games and RPGs. I’m looking forward to the release of Final Fantasy XIII, and the price drop of Bayonetta. :)
*It’s been available by itself for reasonable prices… on the computer. Me and computer gaming don’t quite agree. Mostly the fault of the computer.