Each chamber is a self-contained puzzle that may take anything from a minute to a dozen to complete, most introduced by GladOS and all featuring the classic intro “Level Number” panel. The constructions itself can get awfully complex, with simple truss bridges soon giving way to supporting and sister struts, shallow angles and redirected cables, and even angles of incidence and reflection that must be tailor-made from scratch in every situation. The game revolves around building pathways using specific construction points in the chamber, but the system is so comprehensive that supporting a platform onto a floor with no connection points actually keeps it upright. Bridge Constructor Portal has a fully featured physics system, with girders and cables possessed of resistance values and responding accurately to the environment around it. Once the first test chamber starts, you realise the Bridge Constructor part of the game takes itself quite seriously, indeed. The questions and answers are unapologetically cliche and replete of fan-service, setting the stage for a game about a franchise that doesn’t take itself seriously. With the use of a couple of multi-use pieces, you are supposed to safely guide test forklift vehicles from one end of chamber to the exit.Īs soon as you press “Start”, you are thrust into a recruitment cutscene consisting of a couple of dialogue choices that act as a Litmus test for Portal fans. The game’s premise - as if it needed one - is that you are an Aperture Science employee, responsible for overseeing the construction of test chambers and the execution of experiments.

Luckily, Bridge Constructor Portal is not just a Bridge Constructor game: it is a Portal game. The announcement and subsequent trailer featuring Ellen McLain’s GladOS got the hype train blowing in a way that only loved franchises can, which works against games just as much as it works for them. When I first opened Bridge Constructor Portal, the stakes were high.

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