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I haven’t posted anything in a while, and I mean to post this a couple of weeks ago, but I have been caught up with other things: work, trying to fix my Xbox 360, managing Podtacuar, etc.   Hopefully, my next post won’t be that far away.

About: On to the topic at hand, Portal: Prelude is a usermod for Portal, made by Valve.  It is an unofficial prelude to the game, not the one Valve announced.  The initial project was not a full fleged game, but rather a collection of user levels.  When the developers reached a dozen test chambers, the decided to turn it into a full mod.  It took the guys developing the game nine months to complete the mod.  If you want to learn more,  or want to download the game, go to http://www.portalprelude.com.

Game Play: I first downloaded this within two weeks of it’s release.  On my first time through it, I got to test chamber 19 and couldn’t figure it out.    Sad to say that I had to go to youtube to figure out there was a wall under the stairs, so that’s the only help I had to get.  It took me a long time to figure out how to get through the next chamber, so I never finished the mod.  After Windows RC1 came out, I reinstalled it and decided to take another crack at it.  It took me 6 hours to beat the game: an entire Saturday dedicated to Portal: Prelude.

Highlights: While Portal only takes me an hour to beat, Portal: Prelude took me 6 hours, so Prelude is definitely harder and longer.  I would say that Prelude is at least 3 times more difficult than the original game, especially since in the first test chamber, you are up against turrets.  It also requires a lot more thinking about how to get things done and figuring out where your next objective is.  I’m sure at least one third of my playtime was figuring out where or how to get to the next objective.  The last two test chambers are by far the hardest levels of the game, which makes sense, but the thing that makes it hard is going back and forth between the two test chambers.  There are some tricks to making levels easier that I looked up after I beat the game, but it is still very difficult.  Just when you get to the end of the game, you get to play for an extra hour going against GlaDOS.

If you enjoyed Portal and want something more challenging, Portal: Prelude is an excelent mod and you will enjoy it.  Only downside to the game is that there isn’t an English translation for the commentary mode.  The cake is a lie?