About the Game
Portal is a puzzle game developed by Valve, and it is available on most popular platforms. I played the game on PC. The target audience is spatial and platform-based puzzle lovers, and I believe that the player needs to have a high level of familiarity with game movement controls to be able to enjoy this game because some of the puzzles require very specific movement controls.
Analysis
This game is all around very interesting and keeps me engaged the whole time. The game does a great job easing the player into the puzzles without giving tutorial-style instructions. For example, the game doesn’t start out with the player having the ability to create portal ends; rather, the game has a clever way of introducing the player to how portals work and embedding the introduction in the environment. The player starts in a closed room and a portal is created at the end of a countdown, showing a side view of the player and helping the player build a mental model of how it works. I thought it was a very cool moment and it made me both excited and a little scared to proceed.
The portal mechanic creates a very unique gameplay, as over time I learned to survey the environment as thoroughly as possible to figure out how I might be able to get to the next goal. All the puzzles are essentially physics based, so I was always able to move forward when I tried to think clearly through what I had available to work with. I wasn’t able to complete all levels before writing this essay due to time constraints, but I felt that all the objectives in the game were very well designed to reach a good balance between familiarity and variety. As a player, I had a lot of fun figuring out various types of puzzles that involved both recurring and new mechanics (such jumping between platforms, maneuvering energy balls, and placing blocks). I found it to be very rewarding each time I solved a level and I also felt that I got better at thinking spatially as I worked through each level.
The game definitely scores high on the Challenge type of fun. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, I thought that the addition of the turrets was well-designed, even though I hate them so much. While the rest of the objects and moving parts of the game all follow regular and expected patterns, the turrets add so much chaos to the game and greatly increase the challenge. My heart rate definitely went up every time I had to deal with a turret, as the game makes being repeatedly shot by a turret feel very real with the sound effects and visual effects. The action element of the game sets it apart from typical puzzle games that only require thinking and planning. I do wish that there was a health level indicator whenever the player is being hit by the turrets, though, so that I could tell how many more bullets I could take before I die. Without knowing how many bullets will actually kill me, I find myself acting out of fear of dying and not able to stay calm as soon as the bullets start hitting.
