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Pixel to Projector: Portal

2010-08-31 15:10
The cake is a lie. Anyone who is a fan of puzzles, sentient computers that can kill you, and guns that create inter-spatial portals 8212; well, you 8217;ll dig Portal. In 2007 Valve gave gamers an exceedingly unique playing experience by not only tying our brains in knots with deeply involved gameplay that required significant forethought, but did so with the kind of suspense, pacing, and twisted humor that lendsВ to a strong Pixel to Projector candidate. The Game Portal is a puzzle/action game set in the Half-life universe, the story taking place in a secret research facility owned by Aperture Science, Inc. The game followsВ Chell, a mysterious woman who wakes from stasis to find herselfВ a human lab rat in theВ Enrichment CenterВ of Aperture Science.В В She is led through a series ofВ increasingly deadlyВ tests byВ the dangerously off-kilter (though at times, hilarious)В sentient computer GLaDOS.В Chell must use inter-dimensional portal technology in the form of an experimental gunВ to overcome the complicated test chambers she isВ forced to enter to complete the experiment (with the promise of cake if she succeeds, of course) perhaps find out who she is, and even more importantly 8212; escape. With a disembodied computer voice and one completely silent character, you might be inclined to think that there isn 8217;t enough atmosphere in the world to give the first hour of a film based on this game enough juice to get people through without looking at their watches 8212; but as this video suggest, there is plenty to keep an audience on the edge of their theater seat, digging their fingers into arm rests. The physics behind the portal gun and what can be done with it would be a huge part of making this an absolute blast to see transitioned to film.В Portal is stuffed with action, suspense, and strangely 8212; the character development comes not so much from Chell, but GLaDOS, which I think is a unique and funВ direction to run with for any screenwriter. That Chell gets so littleВ built around herВ frame so far as character is concerned only makes those moments when she learns something new that affects her that much more potent. As the game progresses and the mood changes,В so does the atmosphere. Locations become less sterile, more chaotic, and much more turret infested 8212; some even talk in the later stages. It 8217;s sort of awesome that Valve was able to make something that is actively trying to kill your face sort of adorable... What it needs to make it film worthy From the writing on down to the visuals, I feel like Portal is almost perfection. That said, instead of listing what needs to be done to make this excellent specimen of game film worthy, I 8217;m going to list what needs to be avoidedВ completely 8212; because I feel like it already is. For those that have played, you may think that Chell needs more of a voice; some hook for viewers to grab onto. She is completely silent for the whole of the game 8212; and I like it that way....
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