Being in a room with Valve rep Erik Johnson would make you wonder what happened between Sony and Valve? The new Steam collaborations was light on details but the possibility of a PS3 connecting to PC and Mac’s aren’t so far fetched anymore. But he gets right into the demo which was not played live, it was a Blu Ray DVD showing gameplay. That whole aspect left me puzzled, but I quickly snapped back when the video started.
Graphically the game looks better, that’s a given. Erik mentioned the best looking console version would be the PS3 version. And with new graphics comes new features that makes Portal more than just shoot and jump. Thermal Discouragement Beam allows you to retract and redirect beams that enemy robots shoot at you. So you can make their own weapons work against them.
Repulsion Gel is a blue liquid like substance that you can shoot almost anywhere and even through portals. What the repulsion gel does is make you jump higher. The concept seems simple but becomes a strategic item to use especially when utilizing the portals to get the gel in the right spot. The same could almost be said about the Propulsion gel, which is orange and instead of jumping higher it makes you slide at an incredible speed. Another item that has to be used wisely when playing.
The game makes a return to funny dialog as well. We were told to expect more entertaining scenes and who knows we may get an even better special song at the end. That’s all we were given on our preview. Video footage of the behind close doors preview coming soon.
