This article is about a 2006 computer game. For the 1986 computer game, see Portal (1986 computer game).

Portal is an upcoming single-player puzzle game by Valve Corporation, taking place in the Half-Life universe and shipping with Episode Two.

Gameplay

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Gameplay revolves around the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device", a handheld device that can create portals similar to those found in Prey, allowing instant travel and a visual connection between any two different locations in 3d space. Portals are not restricted to horizontal plane: they can be in the ceiling or the floor or any other surface, leading to bizarre twists in geometry and gravity, such as the player walking through a portal on the wall and "falling" up out of the floor several feet behind where they started.

Portal's gameplay is primarily puzzle based, requiring the user to put their strange ability to use in overcoming game obstacles, often in counter-intuitive and humorous manners.

In their initial preview of Portal, GameSpot gave an example of a gameplay scenario:

History

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Portal is Valve's professionally-developed semi-sequel to 'the freeware 'Narbacular Drop'', the 2005 independent game released by students of the DigiPen Institute of Technology . Some or all of the original Drop team are now employed at Valve.

Criticism

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With Valve's recent announcement of Portal coming so close on the heels of the release of Prey, some have accused Valve of copying an innovative and trendy gameplay element, much like many developers rushed to include variants of Half-Life 2's own "gravity gun." However, Portal seems to have been in development for some time; at least since the hiring of Narbacular Drop's developers, and long before the imminent release of Prey was announced.

See also

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• Episode Two
• Narbacular Drop

External links

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• Gamespot initial preview

2006 computer and video games | PlayStation 3 games | Windows games | Xbox 360 games