My 4 year old daughter and I finally beat Portal this weekend.  Its one of the best games I’ve ever played, especially since I was able to get such a young mind engaged in a relatively complicated game.  We also beat all the advanced maps as well.  The nice thing about this game for kids is that it illustrates properties only explored theoretically in physics, such as dimensionality beyond the 3rd dimension, and using physics and conservation of motion to perform seemingly impossible feats.  I have to say, falling through the portals at terminal velocity is kinda exciting!

My daughter noticed, where I had not, that the main character is a female.  She insisted that it was her, and who am I to tell her otherwise?  But I have to say that in several instances where I failed to see the answer, she would point me in the right direction saying, “You have to jump on the elevator, daddy.”  It was priceless.

Despite the mild violence in the game, such as the remorseful and playful turret robots, she was able to assimilate them with little fear or anxiety.  Of course, every time I’d knock over the turret it would say, “I don’t hate you!", which she giggled over each and every time.  But the game became a quest to the end, to get our cake.  Despite the numerous deterrents, such as graffiti proclaiming the “the cake is a lie”,  we continued further and further down the rabbit hole, trying to get what we deserved after hours of play.  Of course, the weighted cube companion demise was a bit much, considering she’d become attached to it as we went through level 9.  We had to have a long discussion incinerating the cube at the end of the level, but she finally submitted for the good of the quest, and the promise of chocolate cake.

In the end, I won’t spoil it for you for those who have not had a chance to play it, but we found something more than what the game offered us, despite tantalizing us with sweet confections.  When we finally beat the game, the look on my daughter’s face was priceless.  I’ve never seen that much joy and excitement upon completing a game, but anyone I’ve ever known.  And now, we can play the game over and over again, laying on the couch, side by side, trying to find that elusive cake.

Well done, Valve.