The next Tetris?
What makes Tetris so memorable is that it was so different — it was unlike any other game around, and it became a classic. Wolfenstein 3-D was similar; it ushered in the era of first-person shooters.
There are some great games out there, but most are variations on a theme. I love Far Cry and Crytek’s latest, Crysis, but the gameplay, while offering different weapons and more realism, isn’t all that different than, say, Doom.
So when a new concept comes out (one that works, anyway), it’s worth taking notice.
Portal might be the next big new thing.
It looks sort of like a first-person shooter; that is, it has a first-person perspective, and you appear to be holding a weapon. But it’s not exactly a weapon. It’s a tool. It creates portals. Click and you open an entry door; click and you open an exit. Pretty simple, huh? But it gets wonderfully complex, as the trailer on the site shows.
For example, facing a turret gun with a box next to it, you open an exit portal above the turret, and an entry portal under the box.
The box falls through the floor and comes out above, knocking the turret over.
And that’s a simple example; the trailer (absolutely worth watching) shows lots more that are disturbing in their complexity. (Or in their simplicity. Open an exit above you and an entrance below, and you fall into an infinite loop.)
It looks like a wonderful combination of FPS and puzzle game, but with a completely new angle. And new angles are always welcome.
Gnomic says:
WOW! THAT IS SO KEWL!
I can create a hole into which any free time disappears!