Portal: Still Alive

skating_jesus · 10-24-2008

[source]

Some people were wondering what is in this arcade download and whether it was worth the 1200 MS points ($15)
Just got done reading this review and thought it might help some considering the DL
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Quote:

It would probably be editorially unsound to cut and paste Will Tuttle’s review of the original Portal into this space, write “plus some new challenge levels”, and call it a day. For one thing, Portal was originally part of the The Orange Box review, and therefore didn’t get a unique score of its own. Plus it would make me look like a bad, bad game reviewer.

But honestly, the Portal that’s now available on Xbox Live Arcade is almost exactly the same game, with the addition of 14 new challenge levels and 12 new achievements. There’s no extension of the story mode or any sort of other special exclusive features in Portal: Still Alive. That’s not necessarily a negative criticism, but it is something you should consider if you are a Portal fan and considering parting with a hefty 1200 points.

But if you’re not a fan, or more accurately not a fan yet because you never played the original, that’s money well spent. Portal was one of the most creative, challenging, funny and innovative games to come out for the Xbox 360, or any other videogame platform for that matter. A first-person-shooter without any shooting (at least not the violent kind), Portal charmed just about everyone that played it and spawned a mini-cult of its own dedicated to possibly non-existent cake and metal cubes with emotional attachments.

If you didn’t play the game that means you didn’t pick up The Orange Box, which begs the question: why not? Talk about a must-own piece of software, the gaming amazingness packed into that one disc is unparalleled. Gamers came for the Half-Life and Team Fortress, but it was the quirky little Portal that really stood out.

So if you know nothing about it, here’s the quick version of what it’s all about: you are a test subject at a research facility owned by Aperture Science - a research organization that’s part of the Half-Life universe and mentioned by the Black Mesa scientists of that game – where an amazing device is being tested. It’s a teleportation device that puts “portals” in walls or the ground which open on to one another. Slap a portal in the wall right next to you and one in the wall on the other side of the room, and you can walk through one and come out the other. It’s around this basic concept that the puzzles of Portal are designed.

There are no other weapons or equipment for you to futz around with in the game. Just you, the portal gun which shoots an entry and exit hole (doesn’t matter which one is which, you can travel freely between them) in certain materials, usually concrete. There’s large crate-like cubes you’ll need to hold down certain buttons, and hazards that have to be avoided or sometimes exploited for you to solve each level. Portal is essentially a puzzle game, albeit one with a story.

The story is what drew so many in. Your character remains nameless throughout and never utters a word. But GLaDOS is someone you’ll become very familiar with. She’s the A.I. voice leading you through early levels, cajoling you through others, and ultimately becoming outwardly hostile, though in a humorously passive/aggressive way. As always, things go a bit wrong, and you’ll discover evidence of other test subjects who “went off the grid.”

The puzzles of Portal can be very challenging. It’s never so simple as opening portals on opposite sides of a hazard to cross it. You’ll have to play with switches weighted objects and the physics that affect them to defeat more complex obstacles like gun turrets and laser gates. Even if you don’t like puzzle games, it’s quite possible you’ll love this. It’s challenging yet never cheap and it takes a combination of thought and action to complete. But beating a level, especially the more complex ones, is highly satisfying.

So if you’ve never played the game, I hope I made the case for you getting it now. If you have played the game, and you’re already a huge fan, the recommendation gets a little more dicey. There’s not that much new content here, at least as far as humor and plot points. GLaDOS will not be joining you in these new challenge levels, and there definitely won’t be any cake. We think.

But the new levels are really good. Very challenging from the get go, and meant for the advanced Portal player. Some of the solutions will be quite unexpected to, asking you to make some jumps to some place you never thought of before. If you’re a really hardcore fan you’ll want to check them out, and probably get the new achievements. But you’ll have to ask yourself whether it’s really worth $15.

But for everyone else, it absolutely is. I can’t imagine the emptiness your life has been up to this point without having experienced the joys of the Companion Cube or the awesome song over the end credits. Portal: Still Alive is your chance to set your life right.

Wall of Text. I know
but i thought this might help. i think ill pick this up at a later time now
cash is a little tight currently

lilmuleman214 · 11-28-2008

I like Portal alot, but its a bit confusing (Although it's a puzzle game, and its meant to be that way! :P) I do have one question though, how do you take out turrents?

iApex · 11-28-2008

You have to pop out behind them and push them over, or throw something at them.

lilmuleman214 · 11-28-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by iApex

You have to pop out behind them and push them over, or throw something at them.

alright thanks. Maybe now I can actually get past the fourth level!

iApex · 11-28-2008

good luck, i had to youtube the last few levels. way tooo complicated for me

lilmuleman214 · 11-28-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by iApex

good luck, i had to youtube the last few levels. way tooo complicated for me

lol, I feel your pain!

Brutal 4ngel · 11-29-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by iApex

good luck, i had to youtube the last few levels. way tooo complicated for me

Are you serious? I got through the entire game, first play through in like 4 hours...

=/

M a X · 11-29-2008

I had no problem till the very last level, I just gave up, but it was really late and i was trippin balls due to lack of sleep, puzzle games are not meant for the tired.

Nak3d Drumm3r

such an awesome game. orange box just recently dropped to $20 and i figured i'd get it for the extra $5 over just downloading it so i could have the 4 other games. really fun stuff. highly suggest to play without a guide or anything. finding things out for yourself makes it awesome. unless your tired as someone said. then you'll go crazy lol.