HL2 episode 2 portal demo
The Prey mod portal demo
The one for HL2 looks a little dull at first but then it becomes more inventive and frantic until I went from "Oh?" to "Oh. Oh holy shit!" I love the different uses the developers found for the portals instead of just "get to point a without having to pass through b". (The way to gain extra air time on a jump, for example.)
The Prey mod isn't nearly as creative looking, but it gives you a hands-on feel (and actually had a player leap into an infinite-loop portal set-up and die a terrible death. Heh. Instant bottomless-pit).
Thoughts? I'm ecstatic about the delicious novelty of being able to master space in a new way, but will it become an FPS standard or pop up in a few games then fade away? (I have a feeling these portals will, if nothing else, sweep multiplayer in new and absolutely intimidating ways.)
I really like how these past couple of years the big "Ooohs" in videogames have been coming from things like HL2s gravity gun, Will Wright's "procedural development" in Spore, etc... There's only so much further we can go in terms of graphical quality and I'd rather see developers push the boundaries of their AI and physics engines for fresh or interesting gameplay. Hopefully ideas like these portal-guns will continue to spring up as a result. |
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