Conclusion

Portal has probably been the hardest game in The Orange Box to review. It has no precedent to compare it to and, unlike the other two entries in the The Orange Box, it has no real graphical enhancements which can’t be seen in the rest of the Source Engine.

The motion blur is a little more obvious and the portals make things a little more interesting to look at, but the portal gun is more of a gameplay innovation than a graphical one.

From a gameplay point of view though, Portal is an unusual monster too. The game throws off the constraints of a traditional puzzle game and chooses not to rely only on complex conundrums and slow, drawn-out gameplay. Instead, it fuses elements of action into the genre by using turrets and rocket launchers as incentives to solve puzzles quickly.

The game also eschews the idea that puzzles are for people who aren’t good at other, more exciting types of games. Portal is plenty exciting in the later stages even after the curiosity has started to dissolve a little, and a lot of the gameplay begins to involve reflex-based solutions as you progress which require you to get your bearings very quickly.


While it’s obvious that the game exists mainly as a means to bulk up the value of The Orange Box, with the portal technology and the new character added on more out of convenience than requirement, Portal is still an important chapter in the Half-Life story.

Having just finished playing it, I have to admit I feel just a tiny bit unfulfilled but I put a lot of that down to having played the amazing Episode Two first.

Which would I suggest you play first out of Episode Two and Portal? It’s hard to say. Episode Two is a longer and more exciting game with a story which is more fluently told, but Portal is a more cerebral and simple experience with an interesting story of its own.

If I had to make a choice, I’d probably say that you’re best off playing Episode Two first and treating Portal as your dessert. It’ll be a nice breath of fresh air after you finish the main course and it’ll help fill in a lot of the things you either suspect or hope about the storyline from Episode Two, but we can’t say anymore about that.


Portal is a good game and if you’re a keen puzzler with a taste for action then you’ll probably think it’s a great game. It’s not as good Episode Two, but that’s a lofty aim to be fair and even if it was the weakest part of The Orange box then it’d still be an awesome, must-have game.

And it really, really is.