I started playing “Portal” as my choice for a single-player
game. Not knowing very much about the
point of the game, I was excited to start a new challenge. My first impressions were of the cold, dark,
sci-fi lab setting of the game. The game
is essentially about a game; where you
are the test subject and you are being studied as to how you overcome obstacles
and conquer challenges. As a player, I
believe I was only given two helpful pieces of information (on the screen,
after launching the game); directions for movement (A, S, W, D,) and that the ‘E’
will allow you to pick up an item. Awesome!! Thank you
game developers for having the unproven faith in me as the player that I will
figure it ALL out on my own. I quickly realized that this game is pretty difficult. I found the lack of help in the game
frustrating. I do not require being held
by the hand or being spoon-fed information, but as a player I would have liked
a little more assistance in the first couple levels.
In this game
the player basically walks around, places objects where the (freaky, sci-fi/cyborg/robot/female,) testers
want you to, and step through portals that exist (or can be created later,) to
move from area to area. The fun begins when you get a blaster
of sorts that allows you to create and move portals to aid you in the
game. In addition, when a player (such
as I,) gets frustrated, the blaster
can be used to destroy some of the equipment and video cameras throughout the
lab. Destroying some equipment proved
entertaining as it can illicit the game to warn you and complain about what you
are doing. I am not sure if they get
angry and make challenges more difficult, however.
After 119
minutes of play, I am sure I am the dumbest gamer/Portal player of all time. I believe I was in one room for 23 minutes
before I accidentally figured out how to go where the game required me to go. At one point I was so frustrated at not
knowing how to get through a level, that I just started blasting portals
everywhere. The objectives for each level aren’t clearly defined, so users must
discover for themselves what the challenge is for each level and assume that is
how to successfully complete the level.
In addition to the ambiguous level objectives, it is not overly obvious
when a level has been completed. For
example, upon completion of a task the game may verbally complement you as to
your progress (i.e., ‘You are doing very well,’ etc.) but there isn’t any
celebratory music, crowd cheering, clapping, fireworks, etc. I found myself
thinking ‘thanks for the compliment freaky, cyborg, tester- lady,’ how about
some directions as to what I am supposed to be doing in here? I like having an objective and/or a goal and this game does not appear
to have either.
My general
lack of patience hampered my enjoyment of the game. I am starting to get a clearer grasp of the
traits I possess and how I would need to change some of my ways if I really want
to analyze and learn from playing games.
While Portal was frustrating, it was also intriguing. I probably should have paid closer attention
to the skills (I evidently learned while completing,) in the first 5 levels
because I am sure future levels will require the constant building on
previously learned skills. I will play
it quite a bit more and see if my progress and simultaneous enjoyment of the
game change with the mood I am in while playing. In addition, I will have to experience more
levels in the game to see if the game continues on it’s (at least to me,)
monotonous path. Patience is not
something I have an abundance of but I will be sure to contain my frustration
and boredom while playing the game in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment