Get Portal for FREE on Steam, until the 24th!

[ThunderTitan]

Everyone needs to play this. Even if your PC can't run it (maybe if it's like 10+ years old) you should get it so it will be on your steam account if you ever get the hardware for it, it's a brilliant little game.\

http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/

GLaDoS is the bomb.

[TheUndeadKing]

Yes, besides, the system requirements are not very high. I have two computers at home (I kept my old one after buying a new one) and my old computer can still play Portal decently. All you really need is just a video card that can handle some Pixel Shader 2.0 effects. My old computer's video card is a Radeon 9600XT (which is 6 years old, by the way), so anything equal or higher than that is good.

Now go and get it, and spread the Portal love!

[Humakt]

Yeah, it's worth playing through at least once or twice.

[Banedon]

Tried it. Unique game, but got pretty boring after a while. The puzzles were all pretty easy (I solved all of them bar two - one because I didn't know there was a button somewhere on the map, and the other because I had no idea which direction I'm supposed to be going). It'd be a little more fun if the game could tell you what your aims are - e.g. to direct this orb into that receiver, etc, although I guess you having to figure it out yourself is more demanding. After finishing the game I played a few advanced maps, before one map which required me to put a portal exactly RIGHT THERE and I gave up. It was just way too frustrating, I had one orb floating neatly between two portals and all I needed to do was open another portal to the receiver, except the stupid orb kept bouncing near the receiver but never into it.

Was decent fun while it lasted but I probably won't play it again.

[Humakt]

Tried it. Unique game, but got pretty boring after a while. The puzzles were all pretty easy (I solved all of them bar two - one because I didn't know there was a button somewhere on the map, and the other because I had no idea which direction I'm supposed to be going). It'd be a little more fun if the game could tell you what your aims are - e.g. to direct this orb into that receiver, etc, although I guess you having to figure it out yourself is more demanding. After finishing the game I played a few advanced maps, before one map which required me to put a portal exactly RIGHT THERE and I gave up. It was just way too frustrating, I had one orb floating neatly between two portals and all I needed to do was open another portal to the receiver, except the stupid orb kept bouncing near the receiver but never into it.

Was decent fun while it lasted but I probably won't play it again.

A bit contradictory to say game is too easy and then say there should be clearer goals, don' you think? Anyway you are 100 percent correct in saying it is too easy. So easy in fact that half of the game feels like somekind of extended tutorial. That is easily the biggest shortcoming of the game. I also think portal is vastly overrated, sure story was clever for the game of it's type and Glad0s was solid but nothing groundbreaking one like Arcanum or Torment (and Kerghan the terrible and Transcedent One). The game is rather short but still feels too slow-paced especially atm the beginning.

[Banedon]

Well not really - for example a Sudoku game may have very clear goals, but doesn't mean it's easy. The game being short is a concern, but then again if it were much longer I'd probably stop playing it altogether, so that's not too bad ...

[MistWeaver]

also Mac users can add another good game to those 2 or 3 that platform already has.

[Angelspit]

Now if I could find a cheap copy of Half Life Episode 2 I'll be really happy. Anyone has a spare copy to give away?

[darknessfood]

I dunno if it was Episode 2, but in a store in Holland, they are just €3 so perhaps we can work something out if it's still there?

[Angelspit]

Oversea shipping would be the price tag up to what can be found in store here.

I was hoping someone had an extra copy on Steam available for gifting.

[darknessfood]

I could buy a copy and give you the key?

[ThunderTitan]

Anyway you are 100 percent correct in saying it is too easy. So easy in fact that half of the game feels like somekind of extended tutorial. That is easily the biggest shortcoming of the game. I also think portal is vastly overrated, sure story was clever for the game of it's type and Glad0s was solid but nothing groundbreaking one like Arcanum or Torment (and Kerghan the Terrible and Transcendent One). The game is rather short but still feels too slow-paced especially atm the beginning.

Considering the games that have come out the past decade Portal is groundbreaking. Plus, it's a FPS, comparing it to a RPG story-wise really shouldn't cut it when you're talking about the best of the genre.

[Humakt]

Anyway you are 100 percent correct in saying it is too easy. So easy in fact that half of the game feels like somekind of extended tutorial. That is easily the biggest shortcoming of the game. I also think portal is vastly overrated, sure story was clever for the game of it's type and Glad0s was solid but nothing groundbreaking one like Arcanum or Torment (and Kerghan the Terrible and Transcendent One). The game is rather short but still feels too slow-paced especially atm the beginning.

Considering the games that have come out the past decade Portal is groundbreaking. Plus, it's a FPS, comparing it to a RPG story-wise really shouldn't cut it when you're talking about the best of the genre.

Portal is not FPS, it is a puzzle game. First-person sure, but not a shooter. And I can name lots of games from past decade that I hold in higher regard than Portal.

[ThunderTitan]

Unreal had elements of puzzle games too, it's the mechanics that matter when assigning a genre.

And bring it on with he games.

[Humakt]

Unreal had elements of puzzle games too, it's the mechanics that matter when assigning a genre.

And bring it on with he games.

And 7th Guest was click and point adventure.

As for the games from last decade that I view better as than Portal (only the games I've played), not in any particular order:


Left 4 Dead 1 and 2
Batman Arkham Asylum
Dragon Age: Origins
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 and 2
Street Fighter 4
Mass Effect
Unreal Tournament 3 and 2004
Half-Life 2 and second episode
Team Fortress 2
Fallout 3
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Neverwinter Nights 2 and Mask of the Betrayer expansion
The Witcher
Heroes of Might and Magic 4 & 5 (Tribes of the East)
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Prince of Persia trilogy
Supreme Commander
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
Borderlands
Trackmania United Forever
Flatout Ultimate Carnage
Civilization 4
Crysis
Bioshock
Toca Race Driver 3
Mirror's Edge
No One Lives Forever 1 & 2
Max Payne 1 & 2
Beyond Good and Evil
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Age of Wonders Shadow Magic
Baldur's Gate 2
Arcanum
Probably left out some important ones (partially because I don't remember whether they were released in the last decade or in the 90's).


But if you want to stick to the genre, and Portal IS a puzzle game, then it is definitely on top of list (only other remarkable puzzle game I've played in last decade being Plant vs Zombies).

[ThunderTitan]

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 and 2

And your entire list gets eliminated because of that. The only thing that series had was some nice cinematic moments.


And most of those games where the same old same old... even the good ones you've listed (and i was hoping for some more less known ones for my own benefit).

[Humakt]

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 and 2

And your entire list gets eliminated because of that. The only thing that series had was some nice cinematic moments.


And most of those games where the same old same old... even the good ones you've listed (and i was hoping for some more less known ones for my own benefit).

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 had suberb multiplayer, which I regard higher than Team Fortress 2 for example. Second had excellent single player and co-op missions. I definitely got more entertainment out of them than from Portal. Come to think of it, Call of Duty World at War provided also more entertainment.

Considering that seemingly your most highly anticipated games are Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, I wouldn't complain about same old.

If you want to try something different you can always give these ones a spin:
King of Dragon Pass
Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich
Giants: Citizen Kabuto

I didn't list them because I think they are roughly as good as Portal. Which is, after all is said and done, still a very good game.

Heck, you can try this for ideas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us5XvDmp0_c

[ThunderTitan]

BTW, do you still play L4D2?! If so, what's your steam id, me and Mistweaver could use another body.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1 had suberb multiplayer, which I regard higher than Team Fortress 2 for example. Second had excellent single player and co-op missions. I definitely got more entertainment out of them than from Portal. Come to think of it, Call of Duty World at War provided also more entertainment.

Weird, in that video you said you weren't into Counter-Strike.

But seriously, you enjoyed playing against other people more... it's like you're human or something.

But i wasn't talking about how much content there is in the game (and MW2 kinda falls short, i finished it in 7 hours while sucking at it very badly, since it has been forever since i played CS, while the MP is only limitless because of other pepoe), but about what the game does. Portal does somethign 10x more interesting the MW.

Considering that seemingly your most highly anticipated games are Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, I wouldn't complain about same old.

Sure, because i'm waiting for a 12 year old story to finally get to a conclusion i'm not (i'm more excited about SC2 then D3, which is more about it being a Blizzard game) allowed to have an opinion about the lack of ideas in current gaming.

[Humakt]

BTW, do you still play L4D2?! If so, what's your steam id, me and Mistweaver could use another body.

But i wasn't talking about how much content there is in the game (and MW2 kinda falls short, i finished it in 7 hours while sucking at it very badly, since it has been forever since i played CS, while the MP is only limitless because of other pepoe), but about what the game does. Portal does somethign 10x more interesting the MW.

I play Left 4 Dead 2 still sometimes, though I prefer campaigns on expert over other game modes. Maybe we can someday give the game a spin. I pm you.

And no, I've never really played CS, so I don't know how similar it would be to Call of Duty gameplay wise.

[darknessfood]

I play CSS dust maps...