"A Little Harder than Impossible". Review of Portal: Prelude
Games can be different. Casual, average, hardcore...
Portal: Prelude belongs to the "teeth-grinding" mods that can drive even the most balanced individuals "to the console".
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Official Trailer
Is this mod good? Well… let's just say that sometimes people need convincing for a long time that this mod has nothing to do with Valve. And it truly does not. Prelude was essentially made by a single person, Nicolas "NykO18" Grevet, a Frenchman. He received a bit of help from Marc "moroes" Bidoul (who consulted on game design and created a couple of textures and models) and Jérémy "Capitaine Mousse" Barbe, who created the fourth level of the game.
Perhaps they were among the very few people in the world who were not pleased to learn that Valve is preparing a prequel to the first part. For the simple reason that Prelude is also a prequel, a prelude to what happens in the original.
The events of the mod unfold shortly before the creation of GLaDOS, just a day before the "deadline." The fact is that the scientists were terribly tired of doing everything themselves, so they decided to create a powerful artificial intelligence that could help solve difficult tasks and become an instrument of the "overthrow" of Black Mesa, the long-standing enemy of Aperture Science. All the staff are eagerly waiting for the activation of this Hellish Machine, but how it will end is known to every Portal player... in general terms. In Prelude, one can learn details, of course unofficial, but no less interesting.
We play as a certain Abby, a glamorous blonde an unknown victim of experiments who found herself here. She is far from the only one in this… m… building. There are other test subjects (whom we will meet, if at all, then posthumously), there is also a Companion Cube, familiar locations, and, of course, scientists. Crazy, how else? Although, it would be more accurate to say "cynical," the kind that would sell their own mother for Science. We will hear from only a few of them, but they are all quite charismatic and fully (sic!) voiced. The voice acting is, however, in English, but the portal hl-inside.ru translated the subtitles. How did the mod author manage to voice all this mountain of text alone? Oh, very simply, cheaply, and cheerfully. Thanks to a voice synthesizer. Surprisingly, the result turned out to be quite worthy.
The gameplay, as already mentioned at the very beginning, is challenging. Very challenging. If you struggled with levels in the original game — you might as well not even try to complete Prelude. As a light mockery, this game also includes advanced versions of the chambers. Those are practically impassable for ordinary mortals. Prelude is a game not only of logic but also of reaction...
But that doesn't scare you, androids, does it? Moreover, at the end of the path awaits a cake.
Unquestionably, one of the game's advantages is a significantly broader use of engine capabilities. Here you will encounter gravity jokes, killing walls, and buttons of all kinds being used much more actively.
Throughout the game, tasks constantly change, and at the end, we are even awaited by a party with cake. Although, wait, Abby, we are just about to activate GLaDOS...
Some OST
The last level is very large but appears somewhat cut down. In principle, it is just cut out, which the author informs us in the audio commentary. Yes, they are here too, and in huge quantities. Every step is documented and explained.
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Well, that's all I wanted to tell. Prelude is a delight for all those who found the original Portal lacking, especially for those who found it too easy.
It's worth checking out this modification in any case. Full-fledged additions to such games are rare, and good additions are even rarer. Don't miss such little wonders...
Download!
Localization
Official Walkthrough Video
P.S. The comparison of Prelude to the original takes place in this post.
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Yes, and also… Good luck. You will definitely need it.