As with another post I have made, I oftentimes consider the video game industry to be an art. As with paintings that are reproduced or take too much inspiration from one another, there are many games in today's industry that copy too much from one another and therefore bog down the market with look-alike, play-alike, feel-alike games that leave players devoid of a memorable experience and a gaping $60 hole in their pockets.
One company that has refused to take $60 without a fair trade has been a group known as Valve. Valve, once an offshoot of a small Microsoft company, now produces video games full-time. A common theme between most Valve games is a lack of cut-scenes, first-person viewing style, and a storyline that often has much more than meets the eye.
An example of this type of game would be Portal 2, a puzzle game in which players must survive rigorous and usually mind-bending tests provided by an extinct corporation called Aperture Sciences. Though dead in biological terms, the company's artificial shell still thrives and is still testing new products constantly. This link shows one of the assumed products, a robot that is capable of solving puzzles offered up by the long dead group. Better stated, these mechanisms can "Think with Portals".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88YiZdXugA&feature=channel
Consistent with the stereotypical post-apocalyptic scene, Portal 2 has an environment of decimated technology coated in undergrowth, with no human life other than the gamer. The colors gray, black and white are the most commonly seen colors, each granting a feeling of overall lifelessness to the game.
---For the record, I can beat the original Portal in about 50 minutes and am desperately seeking someone who wants a partner for the "cooperative testing initiative". If anyone reads this and wants to get together once this game comes out (Sometime next November, if I recall correctly) please leave a comment or send a message about that.
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