If you are a gamer and want to try out an innovative (yet short) puzzle game give Portal a try. It’s part of the Orange Box Collection (which also includes Half-Life 2) released by Valve for the XBox 360 and the PC.
The game is essentially a first person shooter but instead of toting a machine gun you’re carrying a portal gun. This portal gun is used to solve puzzles, disable machine gun turrets and escape to the end of the levels. The most important thing to take into account during gameplay is physics. For example – if your character falls into a portal at a certain speed you will come out of the other portal going at the same speed.
The soundtrack and voice acting for the game is freakin’ hillarious as well. You start the game in a box with a weird robotic voice explaining that this is the start of a series of tests – and that there is cake at the end of the series of tests. The robotic voice grows more and more warped as the game goes on – leading up to the final confrontation.
You should really play this game – if only for the end credit song “Still Alive” (which was incidentally written by Jonathan Coulton). You can watch the ending and listen to the song on YouTube but you likely won’t appreciate it without playing the game.
Give it a try!