Portal (2007 video game)

> *This article is about the video game. For the usage and mechanic, see* Portals.
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***Portal*** is a puzzle-adventure video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was released as part of the Orange Box on October 9, 2007 and released on Valve's video game website, Steam, a day after. Portal has won several awards, including 2008's Game of the Year Award.

## Plot

*Portal* follows the story of Chell, who awakens in a relaxation vault at the mysterious Aperture Laboratories. Upon waking, she hears a robotic, female voice and opens up oval-shaped teleportation fabrics (portals) and is introduced to the many test chambers of Aperture. Once learning the mechanics of buttons and weighted storage cubes, she is introduced to the Handheld Portal Device, which has the ability to fire portals at specific locations.

But the more Chell progresses, the more dangerous the chambers become, from "deadly" goo and sentry turrets. After Chell completes the final test chamber, she is sent to receive her reward, cake, but instead is transported to a pit of fire. She escapes with the aid of portals and tries to flee Aperture. The female voice keeps telling her to turn around and return but continues to retreat. She eventually makes her way to the voice's chamber, who's name is GLaDOS. GLaDOS pleads her to stay, but while doing so one of GLaDOS' personality constructs fall off her. Chell drops this into a nearby incinerator, not realizing that it was an important core kept on GLaDOS to prevent her from filling the facility with neurotoxin. GLaDOS loses control and attempts to kill Chell.

GLaDOS deploys turrets and neurotoxin to try weaken Chell. Chell uses portals to launches the bullets the turrets are firing at GLaDOS to damage her. GLaDOS gets teared apart and pieces become destroyed. As a last resort, she fires rockets towards Chell. Luckily, one of the portal malfunction, causing everything in the chamber to be teleported to the surface. The game ends with Chell lying amongst the debris of GLaDOS' broken hardware.

The song "Still Alive" plays in the credits, signifying that GLaDOS is not dead and has some unfinished business to take of with Chell.

## Gameplay

The player controls the protagonist, Chell, in a series of tests supervised by artifical intelligence GLaDOS. The weapon controlled by Chell fires two portals, orange and blue, that allows people and objects to pass through instantly.

The player has to use their knowledge of momentum (firing a portal from a high height, the other at the height lower than where they're standing and jumping into the lower portal), transportation (firing portals to a place where an obstacle is to the desired destination **or** firing a portal in front of the player and the other to their choice of location) and physics.

The first test chambers introduce the player to weighted storage cubes, buttons and, of course, portals. Usually, the buttons need a cube to press it down, as the player standing on it will not allow the certain object it is connected to stay active forever e.g. the exit.

The central chambers introduce the player to momentum, turrets high energy pellets. Momentum with the usage of portals requires a portal shot from a height above the player and the other portal shot from a lower distance than the player (see left image). When the player jumps, the player will be launched, going faster and reaching the edge of the desired location. Turrets fire bullets, but they can be easily tampered with. The player can pick them up or knock them over to quickly shut them down. The player can also teleport cubes on top of them from a height to topple them over.

## References

1. ↑ Developer: Valve

Publisher: Valve

-*Portal's* store page on Steam
2. ↑ Portal's store page
3. ↑ At the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards, *Portal* won Game of the Year award, along with the Innovation Award and Best Game Design award.

-Awards won by Portal, Wikipedia