Portal is a single-player first-person action/puzzle video game developed by Valve Corporation.
The game consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player's character and other simple objects using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (dubbed the "Portal Gun" or "ASHPD"), a unit that can create an inter-spatial portal between flat planes. The player character is challenged by an AI named "GLaDOS" to complete each puzzle in the "Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center" using the Portal Gun with the promise of receiving a cake when all the puzzles are completed. The unusual physics allowed by the portal gun are the emphasis of this game, and are an extension of a similar portal concept in Narbacular Drop; many of the team members from the DigiPen Institute of Technology that worked on Narbacular Drop were hired by Valve for the creation of Portal.
Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007 despite being comparatively short in length. The game has received praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story, created with the assistance of Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek of "Old Man Murray" fame. It is also revered for the character of GLaDOS, voiced by Ellen McLain in the English version, and the final credits song "Still Alive" written by Jonathan Coulton for the game. The game's popularity has led to official merchandise from Valve including plush Companion Cubes as well as fan creations such as recreations of the cake and replicas of the "portal gun".
Characters
Chell, the player-controlled protagonist, views herself holding the Portal Gun through the portals she has created. She is equipped with heel springs on her legs to prevent injury from falls.
The game features two characters: the silent player-controlled protagonist named Chell, and GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), a computer artificial intelligence that monitors and directs the player. In the English version GLaDOS is voiced by Ellen McLain. The only background information presented about Chell is given by GLaDOS; the credibility of these facts, such as Chell being adopted and having no friends, is dubious as GLaDOS is a liar by her own admission.
Setting
Portal takes place in the "Enrichment Center" for "Aperture Science Laboratories", the research corporation responsible for the creation of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Or "Portal Gun" as an abbreviation). Information about the company is revealed during the game and via the real-world website.
According to the Aperture Science website, the company was founded in 1953 by Cave Johnson for the sole purpose of making shower curtains for the U.S. military. However, after becoming mentally unstable from mercury poisoning in 1978, Johnson created a "three tier" research and development plan to make his organization successful. The first two tiers, the "Heimlich Counter-Maneuver" and the "Take-A-Wish Foundation", were commercial failures and led to an investigation of the company by the U.S. Senate. However, when the investigative committee heard of the success of the third tier, a "man-sized ad-hoc quantum tunnel through physical space with possible applications as a shower curtain", they recessed permanently and gave Aperture Science an open-ended contract to continue their research. The development of GLaDOS, an "artificially intelligent research assistant and disk operating system", began in 1986 in response to Black Mesa's work on similar portal technology.A presentation seen during gameplay reveals that GLaDOS was also included in a proposed bid for de-icing fuel lines, incorporated as a "fully functional disk-operation system" which is "arguably alive", unlike Black Mesa's proposal which "inhibits ice, nothing more."Roughly thirteen years later, work on GLaDOS was completed and the untested AI is activated during the company's first annual bring-your-daughter-to-work day. The record ends at that point on a positive note.
The portions of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center that Chell explores suggest that it is part of a massive research installation. At the time of events depicted in Portal, the Aperture Science Enrichment Center facility seems to be long deserted, although most of its equipment remains operational without human control. Though Aperture Science exists in the Half-Life universe, it is unclear when these events take place in that time-line. At one point, GLaDOS states that "the world has changed since [the player] last left the building", claiming to be the only thing standing between "us" and "them", yet does not elaborate on the details.
The apparent abandonment of the facility may not have been entirely intentional on the part of the Aperture Science staff. In the final area of the game, a red phone with a severed wire sits on a desk near the chamber housing GLaDOS' hardware, which the in-game commentary reveals was meant to be used by Aperture employees as a way to make an emergency call in case GLaDOS "became sentient and/or God-like." The commentator then notes that, clearly, this fail-safe did not work as planned. In the game, GLaDOS claims to have flooded the facility with a deadly neurotoxin before the Aperture employees installed her morality core.
Aperture Science, Inc. is also mentioned during Half-Life 2: Episode Two, in which the icebreaker ship Borealis, belonging to the corporation, is said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, along with part of its drydock. During its development, Half-Life 2 featured a chapter set on the Borealis, but this was abandoned and removed before release.
Plot
Portal's plot is revealed to the player via audio messages from GLaDOS and side rooms found in the later levels. The game begins with Chell waking up from a stasis bed and hearing instructions and warnings from GLaDOS about the upcoming test experience. This part of the game involves distinct "test chambers" that, in sequence, introduce players to the game's mechanics. GLaDOS's announcements serve not only to instruct Chell and help her progress through the game, but also to create atmosphere and develop the AI as a character. Chell is promised cake and grief counseling as her reward if she manages to complete all the test chambers.[
A typical Portal level with both of the player's colored portals opened. The Weighted Companion Cube can also be seen.
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