Portal Megathread

by **Riptide** Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:51 pm

Gameplay revolves around the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal
Device" (ASHPD), a handheld device that can create portals on flat
planes, allowing instant travel and a visual and physical connection
between any two different locations in 3D space.
Portals are restricted to planar surfaces, but if two linked portals
are on different planes, bizarre twists in geometry and gravity can
occur, such as the player walking through a portal on the wall and
"falling" up out of the floor several feet behind where he started.
Only two portals may be open at a time. If a new portal is created, it
replaces the previous portal of the same color. The device also acts as
a less powerful version of Half Life 2's, gravity gun, which can grab and hold objects, though it is not able to 'punt' objects as the Gravity Gun can.[2]
In their initial preview of Portal, Gamespot gave an example of a gameplay scenario:

“
In other situations, you
may be under fire by a gun droid. So all you need to do is shoot a
portal open over the gun, then shoot a portal open beneath a crate,
then watch the crate fall through the hole and crush the gun. It gets
even crazier, and the diagrams shown in the trailer showed some
incredibly crazy things that you can attempt, like creating a series of
Portals so that you're constantly chasing yourself.[3]

n Portal, players control a test participant in the Aperture
Science Enrichment Center. Using the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal
Device", players perform a variety of tests, such as creating portals
to knock over turrets and other objects or moving to a previously
unreachable area. Guided by an electronic female voice that is at once
both comical and subtly threatening, players must either complete these
objectives or fail the test. Failure or refusal of a test likely
results in death, although it may not be permanent. At the end of the
video the computerized voice ominously says "As part of a
previously-mentioned required test protocol, we can no longer lie to
you. When the testing is over, you will be... missed"; in another, more
recent video, the voice states that "you will be baked, and then there
will be cake", perhaps alluding to the flame-filled areas seen in the
original trailer. The Leipzig video, however, states that "an associate will be dispatched to revive you with peptic salve and intubation adrenaline"
in case of consciousness loss, hinting that some care is taken to keep
the test subject alive at least until the tests are over.

Pictures: Portal Megathread Portal