A third post on the Switch port of the classic video game Portal. What have you all done to deserve such punishment?

If you are just joining us in this self inflicted madness you can read the last post where I start to look at the Switch version, or the very first post of ramblings down memory lane.

I love the little touches scattered throughout the game such as the radio that plays the “Still Alive” music, or the humorous graffiti. Yes I’ve mentioned this previously. But these little touches that you are left to discover are such a great example of using the environment to help tell the story.

Is the game too short? It’s certainly one of the criticisms I’ve read recently when I was checking facts. Back when I first played the game I don’t remember feeling that it was.

But how do I feel about the length of the game now? I’m currently on test chamber eighteen as I write this third post. With nineteen test chambers plus two “levels” in total. You could say I’m almost finished playing the game.

I have to admit I’m a little surprised I’ve progressed so quickly through the game. Admittedly some of the early test chambers are very short and quick to complete.

Then again I haven’t been rushing to complete the game. I’ve been savouring my time playing it. Especially as my play sessions have been snippets grabbed here and there.

But Jeff after seeing me bang on about Portal bought it on Steam, and completed it the morning of purchase. Whilst his son has bought the Switch version and done the same.

This kind of took me aback a little that they completed it so quickly.

So there is no denying that Portal is a short game. Whether it’s too short is very subjective. I can understand players wanting more.

The game leaves you desiring more.

But I’d argue it’s better it leaves you feeling this than over staying it’s welcome.

Besides in the Switch version we have the bonus test chambers. Which adds another fourteen test chambers to solve. Plus for those curious or addicted to the game, you can replay it with the designer commentary.

Are these enough to answer the criticism?

For me the game is the perfect length to tell what story the game has. I think from the story point of view there is only so much foreshadowing etc that you can give. I think things would start to feel stretched, even forced if told over more “levels”.

Plus I don’t think that the story is strong enough to support being told over more levels. But I’ll look into the story in the next post!

In my previous post I took you down memory lane and my first experience with Portal way back in the distant past of 2009.

I want to try and write intelligently about Portal and my experience of playing it in the present day. Whether I achieve that I’m not sure. I’ll give it my best shot.

Obviously the hardware I’m playing Portal on is vastly different to my first time playing the game.

Back then I played the game on a Xbox 360 connected to a 1080p HD tv (which was 48in iirc). Whilst this time I’m playing Portal on a Nintendo Switch Lite.

How I’m playing the game is also very different. In 2009 I was between jobs. So after walking the wolf pack (I miss those three so much), and the chores that needed doing round the house. I was able to spend a considerable amount of time playing the game in a single session.

Now with the Switch Lite my gaming patterns have changed considerably. My gaming patterns are more like when I played a lot of handheld games on my handheld consoles. Sneaking in a half hour of play between doing something else, or playing whilst the tv has The Big Bang Theory on in the background. I’d say on the commute into work. But I drive these days instead of catching an over priced train.

I can’t say that if I owned a full blown Switch that this would change. I know it wouldn’t as I owned one and I used it solely as a handheld console.

Since downloading Portal onto my Switch Lite I’ve played through the first 15 test chambers aka levels (?) just as described above. Five minutes here, twenty there.

I actually think Portal works quite well played like this. It’s almost as if Portal was designed to be played like this. The test chambers seem the perfect length (at the moment) for a pick up and play for five minutes between doing something else.

I would have loved to be able to play through with the Developer Commentary switched on from the start. Sadly you have to unlock the commentary by completing the test chambers first.

There are bonus maps, which are from the Portal Still Alive release of the game on the 360 (if my Google skills haven’t let me down). Which is a nice touch, and added value. Even better you don’t have to unlock them to play. My play through of these new to me maps will be the subject of another post for sure.

As I venture back into the Aperture Science Laboratories it felt as if I hadn’t been away.

Obviously I still remember the major twists and turns within the overall story arc as it is. So there will be no major surprises. You can never recapture that first time experience. Still it’s been long enough that the test chambers seem familiar but fresh.

As you progress through the test chambers you gradually get taught new key skills that will be needed to complete the more complicated test chambers later on. Along with gaining your portal gun and the ability to create multiple portals.

As I said in the previous post Portal makes great use of the environment to tell what little story it has. As the wall of graffiti pictured above shows. It also does a great job of embedding clues to solving the puzzle, warnings, or at least the “skill” you should be using for a test chamber.

I feel there is at least one, if not two more posts to come on this. So I’m going to leave it there for the moment. Play some more Portal, the odd board game, gather my thoughts on what I’ve played in Portal, then write a post.

In the meantime what do you think of these two posts so far? Let me know in the comments.

It was back in the early half of 2009 whilst I was living in Crook, between jobs, coming to terms with a failed marriage, and missing my son. Definitely a low point in my life, that I bought The Orange Box by Valve for the Xbox360.

It was incredible value for money at the time (especially second hand for a tenner iirc), consisting of Half-Life 2 plus its two stand alone expansions Episode 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal.

Apart from being my first introduction to the Half-Life series. Which was an incredible experience, and maybe the subject of a future post. It also introduced me to (what has become a classic) Portal.

It’s rare that an unknown (to me at the time) game out shines such a high profile game as Half-Life 2 in a compilation like this. But it did.

I loved that it was a first person puzzler, some of those puzzles were so devious (I may have had to look up the solution to one or two). It may not have had the storyline of a Final Fantasy game. But you weren’t really playing the game for its story.

There was great use of the environment aiding in telling what there was plot wise. You got the feeling everything was not quite right, failing equipment, decay, and graffiti. Add in atmospheric music, plus the voice acting and dialog of the computer GLaDOS.

Then there was the Jonathan Coulton song during the end credits “Still Alive” adding a surprise twist to the story arc you’ve just completed. I love this song. It is on one or two playlists I have setup. It’s catchy and fun.

You know a game has made it when it has memes. In the case of Portal they were about the cake being a lie. People still quote this today, I do! (the title of this post for starters.)

Plus there is a Portal boardgame (sadly I don’t own it – yet!) Portal (technically Portal 2) even made it into Lego!

As you may have guessed from the big clue above about “Still Alive” I did in fact finish the game. Something I can’t say about it’s follow up Portal 2 but I’m sure I’ll go into that in another post.

Jump forward several years and the purchase of a Nintendo Switch, life events forcing me to trade it in, and the subsequent purchase of a Switch Lite a year or two later.

I remember tweeting during the early days of owning a Switch I’d love to see Portal on the platform. It just seemed a natural fit for the console, especially as a handheld game. But I knew it was a pipe dream. It’d never happen.

Then imagine my surprise and excitement when Nintendo announced in a Nintendo Direct earlier in the year that Portal and Portal 2 would be coming to the platform later in the year as the Companion Collection.

I hadn’t forgotten it was coming out. But since it was announced I hadn’t seen a release date. Then Monday I saw there had been a new Nintendo Direct and that Portal: Companion Collection was out that day! Sadly no physical version (yet?). But at £13.99 as a digital download I could live with that.

So now I am downloading the game as I write this excited to return to the Aperture Science Laboratories, GLaDOS, Chell, and Companion Cubes.

Which brings us to a logical point to split the post, and give me time to play the game before writing about it again.