One of the biggest things to be developed out of Half Life has to be Portal. While some might argue that Counter-Strike is the most popular, Portal will definitely put up a good fight. Unlike Counter-Strike, Portal is not a first-person shooter. Instead, it is a first-person puzzle game, where you are supposed to use blue and yellow portals to teleport your character to the exit. Along the way, you’ll need to use some unique Portal physics to accomplish your goal.
The game is a very interesting and has a very refreshing concept. It is very fun though a bit short. It is mind-boggling, but at the same time, it is extremely satisfying when you complete complex puzzles that seemed impossible.
Portal ran extremely well on my Asus 1015PN which has a Atom N570 processor (1.66GHz dual-core), 2GB RAM and most importantly ION 2. Played at 1024×600, Portal’s frame rate was usually in the high 60s and ocassionally dipped to 20, but only in the worst of situations, which is very rare. That said, this test was done with the lowest graphics settings, which also points to the fact that there will be room should you want to bump the graphics up.
However, on an Intel GMA 3150, the story is radically different. Playing Portal was quite a struggle, and the best way you can get optimal quality and frame rates is to play it in Windowed mode at 640×480, with everything at low. If you have an even weaker computer, you might want to check out how to tweak Half-Life 2, as lots of tips there will help you get the frame rates up to scratch as Portal and HL2 shares the same engine.
Screenshot: Paul Blaudschun
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