Video game soundtracks take on lives of their own — The opening beats of Morrowind’s main theme, the shifting chords of C418’s Minecraft, and the panic-inducing pizza delivery theme from Spider-Man 2 have stayed with gamers since they came out and will continue to for years to come.
HIGH Some of the most clever puzzle design I’ve seen
LOW The timed puzzles
WTF Broken Cameras
HIGH Creative puzzles and striking visual design.
LOW Why does the framerate stutter in an empty room containing nothing but moving blocks?
WTF How come space scientists keep getting abandoned on planets full of puzzles?
HIGH An excellent introduction to an entire genre.
LOW YUP. WE GET IT. CAKES.
WTF I still can’t believe this is a thing.
HIGH Intelligent puzzle design.
LOW Spotty save points.
WTF Does paint really hurt these droids?
HIGH It’s not hard to learn.
LOW It IS hard to stay interested.
WTF I haven’t seen this much blue since CNN projected the 2016 Presidential Election.
This fan film is called Aperture: Lab Ratt and made by Synthetic PictureHaus. It is based on the Valve comic called Lab Rat. Lab Rat told the story of an Aperture scientist named Doug Rattman, who apparently was one of the only survivors after GLaDOS's take over. Rattman was responsible for placing Chell (heroine of Portal) at the top of the list of test subject candidates that GLaDOS was to use and he also provided clues and warnings "behind the walls" of the Test Chambers for Chell to follow. Truly an important man whose story had to be told.
Ok, so it doesn't actually work—it only lights up—and it will be expensive even at the expected $120 price point. But, we all know that something like will only improve a bedroom or gameroom full of helmets from Halo 3 Legendary Edition and night-vision goggles from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition.
HIGH Sabotaging a turret assembly line for hilarious results.
LOW A series of giant test rooms where the challenge stems from spotting the portal-able wall.
WTF How do you "freshen up" carbon dioxide, GLaDOS?
The world of Portal seems to be as compelling a place for movie makers to lose themselves in as it is for gamers. This is the second Portal short film I've seen this year that could only be described as a jaw-dropping accomplishment. The other seems a bit more light-hearted, but both capture Portal superbly. This particular short film is even more extraordinary when you consider how it was made.