I feel like few things surprise me anymore in the world of mobile gaming, as in the last near-decade it seems like everything that can happen on the App Store has happened, at least in some respect. When I got the email announcing Bridge Constructor Portal, I did one of these. I think you could make a strong argument that Portal is the perfect video game, and the world-building that was done in Portal 2 has left me absolutely starving for anything new involving Aperture Science. While this certainly isn’t a Portal 3, which undoubtedly will leave some fan’s disappointed, I think the a full-fledged Portal game on iOS really wouldn’t work that well. Instead, the guys at Headup Games and Valve have come up with a great solution: Basically injecting a heaping helping of GLaDOS into Bridge Constructor ($0.99).
Take a look at the trailer:
Backing up a bit, if you’ve never played a Portal game before, I implore you to fix that problem. You can pick up the bundle on Steam for $30, although it’s often on sale for far less than that. The games are also available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and you shouldn’t have much trouble finding them used for around $10 a pop. The entire gimmick of the Portal games revolves around using a portal gun which can shoot out a blue portal and an orange portal. You solve puzzles via clever placement of these portals and jumping (or walking) through one to come out the other.
Throughout the process you’re guided by an artificially intelligent supercomputer named GLaDOS, who quickly reveals herself to be equally sinister and witty. The year of Portal’s original release, GLaDOS won several awards for being the best video game character of the year, and you’d be hard pressed to find many people who would argue that GLaDOS isn’t among the best video game characters of all time. Additionally, GLaDOS singing Jonathan Coulton’s “Still Alive" is… Well, simply incredible.
Bridge Constructor Portal, as the name suggests, combines gameplay from Bridge Constructor and Portal. You’ll build bridges across Aperture Science-like testing areas, utilizing seemingly every element from the Portal universe from Companion Cubes to the orange and blue goo from Portal 2. Feast your eyes on these screenshots, JUST LOOK AT THEM!!!
I’m seriously just beside myself with how excited I am for this game- Particularly considering Valve isn’t the kind of company who will just license out IP to anyone who stumbles into their office with an envelope full of cash like many, many popular IP holders who get pitched mobile games. My absolute dream would be for Valve to acknowledge this game as canon in the Portal universe and slips in some additional tidbits on Aperture Science.
Yes, this is what it looks like when I fan out over something. I’m sorry.
Anyway, Bridge Constructor Portal will be released on December 20th on mobile devices, as well as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Judging by how things have been going with release dates lately on the App Store, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see it pop up sometime on December 19th, but, we’ll see.
