Portal: The Right Length.

I think that Portal was just long enough. It had a proper story with a beginning, middle and end. If that game had gone on for 15-20 hours it wouldn't be as tight in its humour and would have grown tedious. It was the right length. Who agrees with me?

Raise you hand!

Do you have some kind of armpit fetish, Big L? You really seem to want people getting those arms up in the air.

Personally, I think if the experience works, and it's great, it's long enough. Whether it's two hours or six hours or twelve hours long. Portal was about two hours long, and it worked. It all worked great. I didn't feel like any of it was filler. I felt satisfied with the experience - it could have been longer, and making it longer might have made it better, but I'm left with the feeling that it doesn't matter. The experience works extremely well as it is. I don't feel like I need to think about changing it.

To take another kinda short game as an example - Escape from Butcher Bay was barely six hours long. But, again, it worked. The game was magnificent. Extremely well told story, lots of great gameplay elements - no filler. it could have been longer, but I felt satisfied with the experience I got, and I think the experience justified the price.

I would like the next Portal game to be longer - there's no such thing as too much of a good thing, if you ask me - but if it's a great experience, the length ultimately doesn't matter all that much. Not with a game like Portal.

I was hesitant to buy Call of Duty 4 at full price, though. I guess I feel a little differently when we're talking about recycled versions of generic albeit brilliant first person shooters. I did eventually buy it at full price, and then just stopped playing it barely half way in.

I agree, perfect length.

If you think the game should be longer do the bonus puzzles and stuff.

One day I'm not going to agree with you!!!! but not today.

perfect length plus the extra hard core maps for the... well hard core people. Plus the achievements! anyone fallen 30,000 feet. I started to but gave up after 5mins of falling.

If it was about two hours longer i would have been alot more happy with the game. I was expecting some harder puzzles too... hoola

yeah now that I think about it, a couple of harder puzzles would have been nice.

Do you have some kind of armpit fetish, Big L? You really seem to want people getting those arms up in the air.

Personally, I think if the experience works, and it's great, it's long enough. Whether it's two hours or six hours or twelve hours long. Portal was about two hours long, and it worked. It all worked great. I didn't feel like any of it was filler. I felt satisfied with the experience - it could have been longer, and making it longer might have made it better, but I'm left with the feeling that it doesn't matter. The experience works extremely well as it is. I don't feel like I need to think about changing it.

To take another kinda short game as an example - Escape from Butcher Bay was barely six hours long. But, again, it worked. The game was magnificent. Extremely well told story, lots of great gameplay elements - no filler. it could have been longer, but I felt satisfied with the experience I got, and I think the experience justified the price.

I would like the next Portal game to be longer - there's no such thing as too much of a good thing, if you ask me - but if it's a great experience, the length ultimately doesn't matter all that much. Not with a game like Portal.

I was hesitant to buy Call of Duty 4 at full price, though. I guess I feel a little differently when we're talking about recycled versions of generic albeit brilliant first person shooters. I did eventually buy it at full price, and then just stopped playing it barely half way in.

mfsa

yeah, portal was a good length, but please give CoD4 another try, it was an insane single player and even better multiplayer. the MP is like battlefield 2, but better.

Do you have some kind of armpit fetish, Big L? You really seem to want people getting those arms up in the air.

Personally, I think if the experience works, and it's great, it's long enough. Whether it's two hours or six hours or twelve hours long. Portal was about two hours long, and it worked. It all worked great. I didn't feel like any of it was filler. I felt satisfied with the experience - it could have been longer, and making it longer might have made it better, but I'm left with the feeling that it doesn't matter. The experience works extremely well as it is. I don't feel like I need to think about changing it.

To take another kinda short game as an example - Escape from Butcher Bay was barely six hours long. But, again, it worked. The game was magnificent. Extremely well told story, lots of great gameplay elements - no filler. it could have been longer, but I felt satisfied with the experience I got, and I think the experience justified the price.

I would like the next Portal game to be longer - there's no such thing as too much of a good thing, if you ask me - but if it's a great experience, the length ultimately doesn't matter all that much. Not with a game like Portal.

I was hesitant to buy Call of Duty 4 at full price, though. I guess I feel a little differently when we're talking about recycled versions of generic albeit brilliant first person shooters. I did eventually buy it at full price, and then just stopped playing it barely half way in.

mfsa

whaaaat! did you get to the sniper mission? it was soooo cool.

I don't think the puzzles got hard enough.

I would have like +20 puzzle levels before the next section of the game.

http://www.thinkingwithportals.com/

For all of your Portal needs. Some of the maps in the downloads section are real headscratchers like Smitzchamber 01.

http://www.thinkingwithportals.com/

For all of your Portal needs. Some of the maps in the downloads section are real headscratchers like Smitzchamber 01.

cd_rom

oooh joy.

Thanks!

Fun while it lasted, but could have done with being another couple of hours longer.

Good as a filler for the Orange Box, but wasn't really substantial enough to have been sold separately. With the extra levels you can now download it would be worth it.

I havnt played it, but heaps of people say its very short.

I played the flash version which is a good length.

Portal should have included... I don't know, a game maybe? Prey's about 10 times more interesting.Kev_Boy

Riiiight.....

Portal was just right, one of the best games last year in my opinion.fivex84

I second that.........

Oh look at me I can shoot a portal myself everywhere... unless it's a metallic surface... in the same environment... for no real purpose... and ending in 4 hours. Seriously now come on, how can you not agree Prey does a better job :)Kev_Boy

Prey is a pile of poo compared to Portal. I think it's as average as FPSs get. Sorry, but I bet most people will agree with me on this one. Oh, well, opinions differ.

[QUOTE="Kev_Boy"]Oh look at me I can shoot a portal myself everywhere... unless it's a metallic surface... in the same environment... for no real purpose... and ending in 4 hours. Seriously now come on, how can you not agree Prey does a better job :)artur79

Prey is a pile of poo compared to Portal. I think it's as average as FPSs get. Sorry, but I bet most people will agree with me on this one. Oh, well, opinions differ.

Averagely good, yes. Not great, but good.

[QUOTE="mfsa"]

Do you have some kind of armpit fetish, Big L? You really seem to want people getting those arms up in the air.

Personally, I think if the experience works, and it's great, it's long enough. Whether it's two hours or six hours or twelve hours long. Portal was about two hours long, and it worked. It all worked great. I didn't feel like any of it was filler. I felt satisfied with the experience - it could have been longer, and making it longer might have made it better, but I'm left with the feeling that it doesn't matter. The experience works extremely well as it is. I don't feel like I need to think about changing it.

To take another kinda short game as an example - Escape from Butcher Bay was barely six hours long. But, again, it worked. The game was magnificent. Extremely well told story, lots of great gameplay elements - no filler. it could have been longer, but I felt satisfied with the experience I got, and I think the experience justified the price.

I would like the next Portal game to be longer - there's no such thing as too much of a good thing, if you ask me - but if it's a great experience, the length ultimately doesn't matter all that much. Not with a game like Portal.

I was hesitant to buy Call of Duty 4 at full price, though. I guess I feel a little differently when we're talking about recycled versions of generic albeit brilliant first person shooters. I did eventually buy it at full price, and then just stopped playing it barely half way in.

harrisi17

yeah, portal was a good length, but please give CoD4 another try, it was an insane single player and even better multiplayer. the MP is like battlefield 2, but better.

:lol: that made me lol. Don't ever relate that overrated bs to bf2. Cod4 is just your average shooter with a neat little leveling gimmick. The maps are horribly tiny, thus creating an "intense" experience because you can't move more than one foot without seeing a enemy in the tiny levels. It gets old extremely fast.

I noticed Valve does a better job with Shorter games than full length ones, I mean, Portal and Episode 2 were just amazing! I'd go more into detail, but, it should be obvious.ElArab

I second that

[QUOTE="artur79"]

[QUOTE="Kev_Boy"]Oh look at me I can shoot a portal myself everywhere... unless it's a metallic surface... in the same environment... for no real purpose... and ending in 4 hours. Seriously now come on, how can you not agree Prey does a better job :)JP_Russell

Prey is a pile of poo compared to Portal. I think it's as average as FPSs get. Sorry, but I bet most people will agree with me on this one. Oh, well, opinions differ.

Averagely good, yes. Not great, but good.

I think it was worse than Doom 3 and Quake 4. Those are good games. Prey is okey at it's core, pretty much the same as the abovementioned titles, I guess. I just did not like the game-mechanics at all. Like the fact that you can't die, yeah, great design-choice, devs, really adds suspence to the game. Not... And the portals/gravity thing were a gimmick. They did not add anything to the gameplay beyond "wow, this is cool" the first couple of times.

Portals in Portal on the other hand are fun and actually add something essential to the game, they are not a gimmick, they are the game. And the story/"dialog" is just great and funny as hell. Something I can't say about the lame story of Prey.

[QUOTE="JP_Russell"][QUOTE="artur79"]

[QUOTE="Kev_Boy"]Oh look at me I can shoot a portal myself everywhere... unless it's a metallic surface... in the same environment... for no real purpose... and ending in 4 hours. Seriously now come on, how can you not agree Prey does a better job :)artur79

Prey is a pile of poo compared to Portal. I think it's as average as FPSs get. Sorry, but I bet most people will agree with me on this one. Oh, well, opinions differ.

Averagely good, yes. Not great, but good.

I think it was worse than Doom 3 and Quake 4. Those are good games. Prey is okey at it's core, pretty much the same as the abovementioned titles, I guess. I just did not like the game-mechanics at all. Like the fact that you can't die, yeah, great design-choice, devs, really adds suspence to the game. Not... And the portals/gravity thing were a gimmick. They did not add anything to the gameplay beyond "wow, this is cool" the first couple of times.

Wait, didn't you die if you failed to get any life back in the spirit world?

Personally, I liked Prey about just as much as Quake 4 and Doom 3. They're all better and worse than each other in their own ways, all falling in the 7.5-8.0 range for me. Here's how I compare them.

Prey

+better art design
+better color pallete
+very little of the excessive darkness in the other two games
+weapons are individually more potent and satisfying and fill their niches better than in the other two games
+enemies require more varied tactics
+environments are a little less repetitive
+the portals and gravity manipulation, while gimmicky, at least add some soft puzzle elements to give you something to do besides run-and-gun
+linearity is not as blatantly uncovered as in the other two games
+I like the flying vehicle thing

-too few weapons with overly sparse ammo
-too few enemies
-environments are still a bit repetitive
-linearity still isn't covered up well enough all the time
-the story itself isn't deplorable, but it isn't presented very well
-the physics suck

Doom 3

+weapons fill their roles against various different enemies well
+lots of very cool-looking enemies, some of the most visually stunning bosses in any game
+PDA's break up the monotonous combat that all three games suffer from
+pulls off the whole "demons from hell on Mars" feeling very well
+honestly, probably the best story out of the three games, though it still isn't anything special
+spectacular use of the shadows

-weapons are still mostly weak and effectually dissatisfactory
-painful linearity
-every enemy just tries to come right at you, making combat consist almost entirely of running backward down corridors while you try to kill the enemy before it catches up to you.
-PDA's are still only mildly entertaining and are not as central as they could have been
-Goddamn it, if they pull that maintenance hatch peekaboo trick on me one more frikin' time...
-What is this "light" you speak of?
-the physics suck

Quake 4

+Ah, so that's what light is. Well, okay, we'll add a trickle.
+more cool-looking enemies, more visually stunning bosses, slightly better variation in combat tactics needed for different enemies than Doom 3
+weapons feel a bit meatier and more reliable than in Doom 3
+yay for vehicles
+much less low-polygon count than in other two games
+extra points just for the Stroggification bit, and for you getting upgraded in the process

-Ah, so that's what light is. Well, okay, we'll add a trickle.
-weapons don't fill respective niches very well, and they aren't quite as satisfying to shoot as Prey's; weapon upgrades feel very gimmicky
-more poorly covered-up linearity
-more running backward from charging enemies down linear paths, pelting them and hoping they die before they get you
-(aside from short vehicle segments) there's averagely good run-and-gun gameplay, and... averagely good run-and-gun gameplay... how exciting
-the physics suck

Why are you writing this and not playing GTA3, Vice City and Mafia. What did I tell you? Run and buy now!

Lol, but seriously, nice rundown on those games. This is my list from top to bottom

Quake 4

Doom 3

Prey

JP,

Why are you writing this and not playing GTA3, Vice City and Mafia. What did I tell you? Run and buy now!

Lol, but seriously, nice rundown on those games. This is my list from top to bottom

Quake 4

Doom 3

Prey

artur79

Portal please!!

[QUOTE="artur79"]JP,

Why are you writing this and not playing GTA3, Vice City and Mafia. What did I tell you? Run and buy now!

Lol, but seriously, nice rundown on those games. This is my list from top to bottom

Quake 4

Doom 3

Prey

biggest_loser

Portal please!!

Portal is cool, happy now? Now back to Warcraft 3...

My good sirs, this is not about Prey and Doom we are talking about the length of portal here ...biggest_loser

No, no, Prey and Doom and Quake. Get it right, man. :P

JP,

Why are you writing this and not playing GTA3, Vice City and Mafia. What did I tell you? Run and buy now!

artur79

Well, I'm really not very interested in the GTA games, but I do have Mafia on my wishlist. I'll get it along with a whole bunch of other older games I've been trying to catch up on eventually, but as of right now, I have too many games in my possession that I'm trying to play and finish. My collection is burying me alive!

Well, I'm really not very interested in the GTA games

I thought the exact same thing until I sat down and played them. After I finished them I understood why they are hyped beyond belief.

I agree great game

Well, I'm really not very interested in the GTA games

I thought the exact same thing until I sat down and played them. After I finished them I understood why they are hyped beyond belief.

artur79

Well, I guess I'll go ahead and put them on my tracked list. Can't hurt to read up on them some more.

*tries carefully to squeeze them into morbidly bloated list* Eeaasy, eeeaaasyyy...

On a side note, do you think the devolper's of Portal made it so short because they weren't sure how people would like the game? Like Portal was more of a test run, or aa free trial sample, to see the public's reaction?ThePostalWorker

I just don't think they had as much time to develop for it then the rest of the Orange Box. They hired the team straight out of college, and they probably started development of it halfway through the development of the rest of the Orange Box. They just really wanted to release it with TF2 and EP2, so they cut some levels out.

[QUOTE="ThePostalWorker"]On a side note, do you think the devolper's of Portal made it so short because they weren't sure how people would like the game? Like Portal was more of a test run, or aa free trial sample, to see the public's reaction?cd_rom

I just don't think they had as much time to develop for it then the rest of the Orange Box. They hired the team straight out of college, and they probably started development of it halfway through the development of the rest of the Orange Box. They just really wanted to release it with TF2 and EP2, so they cut some levels out.

Makes sense. I just thought since Portal was so radically different, maybe Valve didn't want to spend alot of money devolping a longer game at the chance no one would like the concept. I guess it could have been any conbination of reasons.