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I would gladly pay $20 to go to Valve’s studios and see a live performance. Portal does not do that. Concert tickets are expensive because they have an element of exclusivity (finite venue capacity), an element of intrigue (they usually actually include more than one performer, so you may be introduced to something new that you like), an element of celebrity (seeing someone you revere in the flesh), an element of atmosphere and inclusion through unity (everyone in the room has come together to share in their adoration of the same thing) and an element of artistry (live music is usually so much more enjoyable).

@Kieron: “$20=DVD price=DVD length of experience.”

My main gripe here is that the first half of Portal was too easy, to the point that it would have actually been boring without GladOS picking up the slack. Using your comparison, it’s like saying the first half of the film was dire but it picks up towards the end, so why not buy it for $20? In a sense, the replay value is less, because to get the full Portal experience I’d have to drudge through the introductory levels (mainly, if not exclusively, just to hear the GladOS pseudo-dialogue) before getting to the meaty bits.

Portal doesn’t compare to a good live musical performance or a good DVD. That it costs the same as a lacklustre musical performance or a teen romance DVD does not justify its price tag.

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PS. Portal’s length was perfect for me. But I agree it’s hard to stomach playing $20 for it alone.

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That would be really mind-bending.

Other than that, I’d like to see some sort of story about what happens to the player after they get out of the enrichment centre.

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(In fact, longer)

To turn it into a really simple thing.

KG

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So what about them concert tickets, eh?

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I want a long, challenging experience from a Puzzle game, something that Portal alone cannot deliver. Portal was a brief, largely unchallenging experience that was partially but not completely offset by a good twist (the behind the scenes levels) and good humour. I wouldn’t say there was enough of a story to praise that part of it. It was almost completely enigmatic (Who is Chell? Who is GladOS?). You might say that some of the greatest stories ever presented have no ending and are enigmatic (Blade Runner, the director’s cut, for example), but at least you know who the characters are, what their motivation is, their hopes, fears dreams, etc. Portal only begins a story, it doesn’t offer any ending or any beginning, it’s simply the middle. Chell suffers from attempting to walk in the same footsteps as non-speaking, sparse-backstory Mr. Gordon Freeman, but fails to deliver through a lack of supporting cast. Gordon has Alex, Barney, Kleiner, Eli and others to slowly unwrap his character, He is able to live through them. Chell can only come to life through GladOS, and Portal is too short to throw up anything meaningful within the game experience (yes I know the website attempts to address this, but I don’t buy a game to find out what happens via a website).

As for the production value, its levels are actually quite basic, visually speaking (not just the fact that there are few textures -I know this is an intended design point- but the fact that the textures themselves are very simplistic). The geometry -and I’m talking more about the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff than the stages, which are done in basic geometry by design- is also very basic. The amount of times I snuck into a backroom to be greeted with what in level design circles is generally termed a ‘box room’ was the opposite of rewarding. Portal is a very slim package that includes less custom textures and models than you might imagine, and instead reuses a lot of HL2 content.

But my main gripe is that it had a baby-steps tutorial that seemed to span 12 levels, and only 8 ‘proper’ levels the final sequence. For me, this is a bit of a cop-out for something purporting to be a puzzle game. As much as I LOVED the ending, it needed to be about 50% longer to reach ‘epic’ game status, even if it is an instant ‘classic’ of our age because of its well-timed humour that coincides with a general public state of dissatisfaction and malaise for an increasingly Orwellian present.

Someone in these comments mentioned that ‘every step, the player felt clever’. For me this simply wasn’t true. I was far too aware of Valve’s attempts to dumb down in this respect. I felt more like I was being patronised. I don’t tend to buy many games these days, so when I do I want the money and time I spend to be worthwhile. As an addon, a freebie, a divertissement, Portal is a satisfying game. But it simply doesn’t have the depth and longterm satisfaction that I’d expect from a $20 game (well, maybe it does considering that’s just £10 plus tax, but you get my meaning). I completed Portal in under 3 hours, that’s less time than Valve’s HL2 Episodes, which although almost completely lacking in humour (save the odd drab Alyx joke), have a better story (or is it just better story telling?), more varied and generally more challenging gameplay, even with a token puzzle element that rivals most of Portal’s extended tutorial section in terms of complexity.

But, then again, Half-Life 2 doesn’t have a companion cube now, does it? (he says with not a note but a full symphony of sarcasm)

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One thing: I like short too. If we can sit down for an evening with a movie, why does every game require a week? The memories aren’t as strong, or as good.

Maybe because you don’t pay 40 € for a movie like you do for a standard PC game?

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