Sure, you know that if you place portals here and there, you will enter here and exit there, but what if here is the floor 20 feet below you and there is a spot high up on the wall? You'll retain your momentum while going through the portal, so entering the floor portal at speed will rocket you out of the wall portal perpendicular to the floor. Other elements, such as energy balls, weighted cubes, floor switches, and moving platforms, are incorporated into the test chambers in increasingly exacting ways, but the real complexity and the real genius of Portal lie in the challenge of "thinking in portals." Certain surfaces are not portal-able, and this is one way that subsequent levels, known as test chambers, become more difficult. The first few levels of Portal introduce you to fairly simple applications of portal technology, eventually putting the portal gun in your hands and enabling you to create portals anywhere you like. Just another day in the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center. You've just had your first taste of portals, and it's only going to get weirder from here on out. Stepping through the oval, you find yourself in the hallway outside of the relaxation vault, looking in at where you stood just a moment ago. Then you realize that the woman is you, and that you are looking at yourself in profile. Inside the blue oval stands a woman in an orange jumpsuit who appears to be mimicking your every move. Looking through the glass to the hallway outside your cell, you notice a similar, blue-rimmed oval. A moment later, a tall, orange-rimmed oval appears on the wall next you. A sedate, quasi-robotic voice welcomes you to your "relaxation vault," mentions something about "enrichment center activities," and alerts you that a portal will be opening shortly. Rising to the tinny sound of Muzak playing on a radio, you look around your glass-walled cell and notice that there is no door. So what is Portal: Still Alive all about? At the outset of the campaign, you wake up in a sleeping pod.
Given these superior options, the only people who should be enticed by Still Alive are those who are without a decent PC and averse to owning The Orange Box.
If you have any interest in owning those excellent games, The Orange Box currently retails for the astonishingly low price of $30 if you're not into them, and happen to own a PC, you can buy Portal for $10 at retail and download a whole passel of new maps for free.
Chief among these is The Orange Box, a stellar compilation that includes Half-Life 2 and its two episodic sequels, as well as Team Fortress 2. Fortunately, there are other options to consider.
For $15, this is one of the biggest, best, and most expensive games that Xbox Live Arcade has to offer. There are also 14 new stand-alone levels, achievements, and online leaderboards. Still Alive features all of the original Portal content, including the short, spectacular campaign, developer commentary for each level, and advanced versions of many of the levels. If you've never played Portal, then the question is not whether you should buy it (you should), it's which version you should buy. However, if you can't see yourself spending hours trying to master these very specific challenges, then Still Alive isn't worth the $15 price tag. Executing speed runs, plotting the path of least portals, and being frugal with your footsteps are all distinct, mind-bending challenges. The 14 new levels will take only a couple of hours to play through, and you can replay them to earn new achievements, challenge medals, and a respectable place on the leaderboards. If you already own or have already played through Portal, then Still Alive is a tough sell. Now this brilliant, albeit brief, classic has arrived as a stand-alone Xbox Live Arcade game, and the question is, "Is it worth it?" The answer: It depends. The pitch-perfect voice-over soon became the stuff of Internet legend, and the song that played during the end credits was so popular that it has since been released as a downloadable track for Rock Band. Set in a mysterious scientific facility, Portal introduced players to new ways of moving through the gameworld that challenged their perspective and flexed their spatial awareness. When Portal was originally released as part of The Orange Box in October of last year, its uniquely puzzling gameplay and dark, sharp-witted humor thrilled consumers and critics alike.