Portal

In hindsight, I wish I had purchased this for the Xbox 360, or even just purchased the Orange Box in general. I just don't find computers to make decent game platforms; I'd much rather use a gamepad than a keyboard to move around in any FPS. In fact, every other PC game I own is operated by means of pointing and clicking. But enough about my anti-PC gaming sentiments; let's discuss Portal. Portal is a very unique game, and contains everything that any game like it should. It's essentially a puzzle game with an FPS engine. You do have a gun, but it shoots portals, not bullets. Enemies are few and far between, stationary, and easy to kill. The real challenge in Portal consists of traversing large rooms and chambers by means of portals. You can "shoot" a portal onto most surfaces in the game - walls, ceilings, floors, it doesn't matter. When you enter one portal, you come out of the other one. It's that easy. Two portals - one orange, one blue - can exist at any given time. But Portal's elegant simplicity does not end here. In fact, the game consists of just two characters. There's you, the silent protagonist, and there's GLaDOS, the omnipresent CPU voice who is all at once your guide, your enemy, and your only escape from loneliness. Unless, that is, you count the weighted companion cube, which is simply a crate with hearts painted on it. Yes, if there's a third "character" in the game, it's an inanimate object that neither moves nor communicates. I bought Portal almost a year ago, got most of the way through it, and stopped playing. I stopped because my computer started to lag during one specific room. Little did I know, this room was one of the final ones in the game. After discovering that I was already nearly done, I beat Portal in a couple of hours last night. In short, it's a beautiful FPS/puzzle hybrid that I'd recommend to anyone who does not hate either genre. It's a quick play, an unforgettable concept, and also one of the funniest games I have ever played. Just remember: there is no cake.