I picked up Portal a few days ago, because I’ve been hearing from just about everyone that the game is amazing. I became a fan pretty much instantly. I played through 18 ½ levels just on the first day.

For the uninformed, Portal is basically a puzzle-shooter. The basic premise to the game is that you can place two portals on certain surfaces. You go in one portal and come out the other. You keep your motion and velocity when you come out of the opposite portal, so you have to keep that in mind when solving a bunch of the puzzles.

It’s very much a game you have to think about. I got stuck a couple of times and had to get some help from other people in the room that could take a fresh look at what was going on around me. The ending is pretty cool and there’s a lot of humor throughout the game.

If you haven’t tried it yet, you can pick it up for $20 by itself or for $40 with The Orange Box. With the Orange Box, you also get Half-Life 2, HL 2: Episode One, HL 2: Episode Two, HL 2: Lost Coast, Peggle Extreme, and Team Fortress 2. Not a bad buy for all that, but I just bought Portal separately because the others would probably just take up space and I’d never play them.

Give the game a shot. It’s pretty fun and funny at the same time.