Portal is an absolute gem. Really. It's a fantastic blend of a really simple gameplay mechanic bolstered by fantastic presentation. If you've managed to remain oblivious to the release, then read on.
The basics of the game revolve around the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which with a left click fires a blue portal, and with a right fires an orange. Wherever these two points lie are now connected by a portal and you need only step through to end up where the other is. Simple enough, no? Plant a pair in the corner of a room and you can chase your own tail. Plant a pair directly above and beneath you and fall for infinity. Plant one at the bottom of a pit and one high up on a wall, drop into the pit and come flying out the one on the wall, as your momentum carries through. Wheeeeeeee. That doesn't make sense? Watch the trailer -
The game is set in the Aperture Science Enrichment centre, which is a very sterile looking environment, and you are required to negotiate through various maze like levels, activating switches with weighted cubes, directing energy balls into sockets to activate elevators and avoiding gun turrets. And all with the promise of cake from the guiding voice of the Enrichment Centre's AI computer, which is without a doubt, one of the most entertaining parts of the game being both hilarious and creepy at the same time, delivering lines with deadpan electronic sarcasm as you puzzle your way through to the exit. The gun Turrets also have their own incredibly adorable AI, and are quite possibly the cutest things that will ever try to shoot you.
As you'd expect, it starts out piss easy and becomes absolutely satanic by the end, the last few levels in the centre being absolute brain melters, yet it manages to never be too frustrating, there's always a way to get through and you can never work yourself into a position you can't get out of. The rigorous play testing has ensured that the visual polish is matched with a game deserving of it underneath, the ending of the game deserves a special mention for being one of the most entertaining 'boss battles' and credits sequence I can recall, so much so it's now responsible for the new ringtone on my phone.
The only real gripe is that the game is fairly short. I managed to get my way through in about 3 hours. Replay value comes in the form of advanced stages, which are reworked versions of stages you've already visited, but tweaked to make you weep, and challenge modes where you have to finish a level using the least steps, time or portals possible, making you completely rethink your strategy and often wonder how you missed so many shortcuts the first time round. Valve has simplified the process of opening custom maps, which the modding community is already churning out at breakneck speed so even once you've done the main game there's plenty to do.
If you like video games in any way at all, you owe it to yourself to experience this as soon as possible, you won't be disappointed. And there will be cake.
Portal is out NOW on the PC as a standalone or as part of the Orange box comprising Half life 2, Half life 2 episodes 1 & 2, and Team Fortress 2, and on the X-Box 360
But the disc broke the day the mic arrived 
I shall have to wait.
