Half
Valve has made some of the most highly regarded PC games of the last decade, and now Nvidia is bringing some of them to Android. Or more accurately, the company is bringing them to the Android-based Shield gaming handheld. The Android version of Portal was announced a few weeks ago, but Half-Life 2 was a bit of a surprise late last week. Now both games are on sale in Google Play for $9.99 each.
Portal is a short, but amazing first-person puzzle game. With your physics-defying portal gun, you must traverse dangerous test courses in the Aperture Science labs and unravel the mysteries therein. There are only a few hours of gameplay in Portal, but it's an incredibly well-crafted game.
Half-Life 2 offers a more expansive experience, if that's what you're into. This is the second chapter in the still incomplete Half-Life saga, with protagonist Gordon Freeman reappearing in the dystopian future long after the events at Black Mesa in the first game. This game is a more traditional first-person shooter, but it too was revolutionary in its day. The physics and overall gameplay were unmatched back in 2004.
Both Portal and Half-Life 2 are based on Valve's Source engine, which has continued to evolve over the years. The version at work in these games is starting to show its age a little bit, but it's still far better than the graphics you're used to seeing on mobile devices. The environments are huge, and the textures are very detailed on the Shield's 5-inch 720p screen. Having spent some time with Portal, the performance of Source on Android seems very good.
If you want to experience either of these games, you'll need to clear some space on your device. Half-Life 2 is 2.1GB and Portal is 2.3GB. These are Shield-only right now, but perhaps other Tegra 4 devices will get in on the fun later.
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