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Portal (PS3)

One thing the current state of the game industry can be criticized for, aside from every violent act committed by a teenager, is ripping each other off to the point where you can pretty much guess the ending of the game from the box art.

So when something comes along that has a glimmer of originality it's hard not to heap unconditional praise upon it (Assassins Creed) and unlike some other games (Assassins Creed) when that game is a sheer joy to play from beginning to end then it really is deserving of this praise.

From the outset of Portal you'll chuckle away to yourself at the excellent writing and delivery you get from your unbalanced guide, which follows you right through the game and never dulls right up
until the finale.

And then there are the puzzles - and make no mistake this is a puzzle game, a first person puzzle game, clever eh? Well yes, in the simplicity of the concept at the very least. The core of the puzzle experience is to try to figure out how to get from a to z using a super whizzy portal gun: shoot hole at a, then another at b, jump through, shoot hole at c, jump through to c, and -my personal favorite- shoot hole above subject, shoot hole below subject, wait for subject to be sick. Hours of fun.

Most puzzles won't cause you too much trouble unless you're full of stupid, which is fine because it keeps hold of a wonderful sense of
smooth progress with only a couple of small blips along the way to make sure you do have to think a bit every now and then.

So there you have it: lot's of harmless fun that everyone should try, then again if you start seeing youths digging holes in the park and jumping in them you know who to blame. At least they won't be trying to kill each other......or playing Assassins Creed.

Note: To be honest do quite like Assassins Creed even if it is a little over hyped which is hardly it's fault, at least it's not Halo............... or Spazio.

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