Gamma Energy visits the Aperture Science East facility, built after GLaDOS gained sentience. The goal was to create a facility where GLaDOS' research could be examined and tested without harm to employees or other people who actually... mattered, without her knowledge. Pick up a prototype Portal Device and try not to die.

RSS Reviews  (0 - 10 of 133)
5

Scutshakes says

May contain spoilers Agree (2) Disagree

Gamma Energy offers (according to the level select) 26 main chapters with a relatively quite long escape from Aperture at the end, that doesn't seem to be split up into selectable chapters for some reason.

It also includes 9 advanced chambers, 17 challenge chambers, and 3 advanced challenge chambers, all of which of course are modified versions of existing chambers, and 3 bonus chambers (2 of which, unfortunately, are also modified versions of existing chambers)! There's quite a bit of content in this mod. But is it worth it?

The game reuses all of the dialogue of the official game (and even reuses lines more than once..really?), yet somehow manages to make a disconnection between Glados and the player. Perhaps this is purely because I know this is a mod that deliberately reuses dialogue instead of taking it genuinely. Or because I heard all the grin-worthy lines before and they don't have any charm here. Regardless, as a returning player it just feels lazy and ineffective. I suppose it's better than no dialogue at all. Actually no, I would have preferred that.

Now there were a few chambers that I thought were genuinely pretty good, and I felt that a couple were quite elaborate in set-up, but that doesn't necessarily make them complicated. Obviously this is different for everyone, but I found most of these to be very easy, and this is coming from someone that thought vanilla Portal had some tough ones. Many of the later chambers are easier than the ones at the beginning, and they become increasingly less satisfying to figure out with uninteresting solutions. These puzzles also fail to properly combine, or even attempt to combine, various elements together. For example, there were a few puzzles that are almost entirely of the "use momentum to jump up really high a couple times" variety.

This may be a little contradictory, but I really enjoyed a couple of the puzzles focused entirely on cubes and switches..those were fun when I had epiphanies. Again, subjective criticism here.

There are many puzzles that focus on glass breaking. Yes, you remember glass. Now breaking it is a core mechanic! And let me tell you is it TEDIOUS. Especially when you have to grab a robot and tip him over to get him shooting...that actually happens quite a bit in the game. Not fun or satisfying at all. The pace is slowed down in another when you are forced to gather about 5 items and then drop them one by one into a room of robots to tip them over. No I didn't really give away a solution, it's pretty obvious thanks to ceiling markers and conveniently placed platforms that scream "shoot me!".

Another new mechanic in addition to breaking glass is controlling the flow of large tubes that carry spheres or cubes. Once you figure out what you're supposed to do, these are braindead simple. A complete waste of an opportunity. I felt like, instead of being challenged as a competent player, I was treated like a child. "Okay, play with this toy for a little while now." Sorry dad but this toy sucks.

The final boss...oh..the final boss is not redeeming unfortunately. While Glados, with her childish berating and comical "personality spheres", carried you through a tedious game of "point the rocket through the portal", nothing saves you here as you try to blast apart pneumatic tubes in this climax. If you want to call it that.

I will admit that I had to consult a walkthrough a couple of times, but this was not due to not knowing how to do something..but trying to figure out WHAT I was trying to do. So many times I thought to myself "Is that really all I had to do?", "That wasn't so clear", and "Do I really have to do THIS AGAIN?"

I can tell a lot of effort was put into this, but the end result, personally, was mediocre. If you're just wanting more portal out of your portal, give it a shot, but it's not challenging or engaging to this returning player because of its near-identical plot, subpar chambers, and unclear journey through Aperture's depths.

9

TacoForPaco says

May contain spoilers Agree (3) Disagree (1)

Excellent concept and puzzles. Unlike other Portal mods (such as Portal: Prelude), I love how this game was actually puzzle-based, instead of skill/time based. I like a game where you are forced to sit down and think. I completed this game checking the walkthrough only once, so the difficulty was spot-on, in my opinion.

My major complaint comes from the story and glass shooting objectives. While the story concept was brilliant, I feel there is so much potential gone to waste. I didn't completely understand why Chell died (although, I assume she 'self-destructed') and the backstory was underdeveloped. Still good, though. Second, I didn't like the glass shooting objectives because I felt like I was cheating the system. It is okay outside the chambers, but not inside.

All in all, really fun mod. Difficult puzzles keep the game popping, but an underdeveloped story drags it down. I'd highly recommend this mod. One of the best I've played!

Better than the original portal

9

Vinivite says

May contain spoilers Agree (1) Disagree

I really think this is one of the best mods I ever played (and I played almost all Portal mods released here in ModDB).
The chambers here are the most well designed, beautiful and epic chambers I ever seen in a Portal mod. I particularly loved the "Vertigo" chamber. It's so HUGE and cool!

The only item that disappointed me and made me rate Gamma Energy 9 and not 10, is that there's no new storyline. Obviously what happens on the end is different from what happens in Portal, but no custom GLaDOS voice was used, and this is very sad because the rest of the mod is perfect.
The new elements like the explosive barrels and the breakable glass of the observation rooms are lovely and creative.

Everybody that beated Portal at least once must play this mod!

(PS: I had to check the walkthrough two times... O.o)

I love this you must try it.

You can watch my video here: Bitchute.com

In short, the glass-breaking mechanic is under-explained, and as a result, overused. Other than that, Gamma Energy a really good mod for Portal, and I do recommend it.

This mod has a great atmosphere, feels like Portal, no issues I can find.

Nails the feeling of the original Portal, I'd believe this was official Valve dlc.

This is a amazing portal mod.
Bunch of test chambers a good escape sequence and if that was not enough
There is still bonus maps! Im not a huge fan of the cube braking glass mechanic due to the size of the cubes being large and are not going to fit every time trough the portals.

It never gets old. The level design is like Valve Quality.