Portal: Still Alive
Portal: Still Alive came out on the Xbox Live Arcade this week and like the chump that I am picked it up.
Now you might think that the use of chump there means it’s a bad game to pick up, and this isn’t the case. It’s got the whole original game and some extra levels seperate from the story.
The original is one of my favourite games from last year and still should be played by all. The extra levels do feel, well, extra. I’ve only had time for the first 6 or 7 so far, but there is something that does feel different about them. The new mechanics are nice, the button that destroys boxes is a nice new feature and creates a couple of nice puzzles. The red laser beams seem largely pointless and the electric field is just annoying and requires a little too much patience for it to stop.
On one of the new puzzles I got stuck for a brief while, where to get out I had to retrace my path in the level via edging out of a portal so that I could see where a higher wall to put another portal on to gain enough height for the puzzle’s requirement. I’m not a big fan of games being tricky to go back in, and this part did grind a little.
Now I don’t hate, or even dislike, the new levels - more Portal is always a good thing in my eyes and that is provided in with this.