And now for a quick time out for some fun.
As anyone who has talked to me about PC gaming would know, I hold the Half-Life series dear to my gamer heart. It is (IMHO) one of the best crafted, most originally imagined game universes that I know of. The original Half-Life (developed by Valve and distributed by Sierra) was simply a revelation while the second (which I am currently playing through) is no less innovative.
The series has spawned a number of high quality quasi-sequels and mods (e.g. Day of Defeat, Counterstrike), many of which I have wasted untold hours on. One spin-off that I haven't played is the "cult classic" Portal. It seems very original and visually stunning, but the gaming budget is tight in the Bastien household. Perhaps someone will donate a copy to me someday out of pity <hint hint>.
2D Tribute to 3D Goodness
While digging around Newgrounds, I came across a Flash 2D port/fan tribute to Portal. This little game is very polished and will provide you with a lot of brain-teasing fun for your money (i.e. MSRP of $0.00). Thankfully, Valve hasn't come down hard on the developers for using their intellectual property in making this game. If anything, I'm surprised that Valve hasn't bought it up outright and used it for their own purposes. As with all well-designed software, the interface is intuitive and elegant, regardless of the complexity of the task on hand.
In case you haven't heard of it, the original Portal is a 3D puzzle game where players must attempt to navigate an obstacle course of sorts by using a "Handheld Portal Device". It allows you to project a pair of linked tears in space-time (or portals), one blue and one yellow. They are "linked" in that when you (or another object) pass through one portal, you will come out through the other. The objective is pretty simple: you must find your way to the exit of each section (or room) of the obstacle course without getting squashed, burnt or ventilated. The games physics are meant to be realistic, which leads to some interesting quandaries involving "looping" portals (i.e. picture falling from a portal in the ceiling into one in the floor... over and over again until you reach terminal velocity).
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Just click on the logo and try the game, for crying out loud.
As anyone who has talked to me about PC gaming would know, I hold the Half-Life series dear to my gamer heart. It is (IMHO) one of the best crafted, most originally imagined game universes that I know of. The original Half-Life (developed by Valve and distributed by Sierra) was simply a revelation while the second (which I am currently playing through) is no less innovative.
The series has spawned a number of high quality quasi-sequels and mods (e.g. Day of Defeat, Counterstrike), many of which I have wasted untold hours on. One spin-off that I haven't played is the "cult classic" Portal. It seems very original and visually stunning, but the gaming budget is tight in the Bastien household. Perhaps someone will donate a copy to me someday out of pity <hint hint>.
2D Tribute to 3D Goodness
While digging around Newgrounds, I came across a Flash 2D port/fan tribute to Portal. This little game is very polished and will provide you with a lot of brain-teasing fun for your money (i.e. MSRP of $0.00). Thankfully, Valve hasn't come down hard on the developers for using their intellectual property in making this game. If anything, I'm surprised that Valve hasn't bought it up outright and used it for their own purposes. As with all well-designed software, the interface is intuitive and elegant, regardless of the complexity of the task on hand.
In case you haven't heard of it, the original Portal is a 3D puzzle game where players must attempt to navigate an obstacle course of sorts by using a "Handheld Portal Device". It allows you to project a pair of linked tears in space-time (or portals), one blue and one yellow. They are "linked" in that when you (or another object) pass through one portal, you will come out through the other. The objective is pretty simple: you must find your way to the exit of each section (or room) of the obstacle course without getting squashed, burnt or ventilated. The games physics are meant to be realistic, which leads to some interesting quandaries involving "looping" portals (i.e. picture falling from a portal in the ceiling into one in the floor... over and over again until you reach terminal velocity).
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Just click on the logo and try the game, for crying out loud.
"There's a hole in the sky through which things can fly"
Below you'll see the trailer from the 3D version. The concept is the same and the challenge no less taxing. Welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. I'll just step aside now and let a thousand pictures tell a million words.
Below you'll see the trailer from the 3D version. The concept is the same and the challenge no less taxing. Welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. I'll just step aside now and let a thousand pictures tell a million words.
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