I get scared easily when I play games that involve shooting things and sneaking around. I usually avoid scary games or dystopian future games with creepy soundtracks. Fortunately, I made an exception for Portal and carved out an hour of my time to check it out. I left the computer after dying a few times at the hand of robots, but the next day I felt a pleasant feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time: a video game craving.

Finally, I had found a game that I wanted to play so badly that it began to creep into my daily life. I started to play a different game, but the simple puzzles in that game seemed so trivial compared to Portal. It is so rare that a game invents a new kind of puzzle that allows your mind to think in ways you have never thought before.

Portal is not really a spatial puzzle; it’s more a puzzle of physics. You have to use your knowledge of gravity and momentum and apply it in completely new ways. The game is realistic, and I believe most of its strength comes from the open-ended possibilities of a highly manipulative 3D space.

I had read about a Flash version of Portal, and I decided to check it out. While it utilized the same principles, the game lacked the black humor and the most fun element: utilizing the 3D environment. The real version of Portal completely immerses you in the game, as you have to constantly look around you and see your environment as a resource. While the wall spaces become more limited in later levels, there is still a lot of freedom in the placement of the portals, allowing for multiple solutions.

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of seeing yourself through a portal 20 feet away or looking down into a portal and waiting for the right moment to jump. While Portal isn’t a game that requires objectives be completed in a certain amount of time, there is a lot of timing that comes into play and makes it exciting. Even though you are completely alone in the testing facility, I was fascinated by how easily I became immersed in the game and lost track of time.

I played through the later levels in Portal, and I have to say that I am very relieved. Valve finally allowed itself the freedom for true innovation in game design, and I’m sure game designers will never think of puzzles the same way again.