Softpedia’s Apple news editor offers a first look at Valve’s Steam Mac client, Portal video game

May 13, 2010 14:51 GMT  ·  By

Valve’s popular gaming service, Steam, has been exclusively available for Windows PC users since the service launched in 2004. “For the first time we and our partners are bringing it to another platform,” read a Valve statement issued minutes after the company’s development leads flipped the switch, releasing the Steam client for Mac OS X yesterday.

Steam for Mac

“It's been a ton of work, but the Mac is great for the same reason the PC is great - they are both open systems that let gamers and game developers be as close as possible,” Valve added yesterday. The move has received very good press so far, and it’s about to receive even more praising with Softpedia’s own first look at the newly released platform for Mac. Admittedly, throwing in Portal for free was a move that tipped the scale in Valve’s favor even more.

Starting yesterday, Valve has been offering a 3MB downloadable DMG file containing the Steam for Mac client. So you download it (HERE), mount the image to your desktop, open it, and drag the Steam application icon over to your Applications folder. Review image As you fire up Steam, it needs to perform a few updates for itself. Just let it do what it has to do, even though you’re anxious to start using the service. Review image As an existing user, you’re already good to go as soon as you type in your user name and password. Newcomers can create an account on the spot (and go straight to downloading Portal in minutes - it’s the first thing everyone’s going to do anyway).

Review image The screenshots to follow depict (what else?) the new, Mac-native Steam Interface, with all the elements a gamer needs - the latest game announcements, all the new updates, direct paths to the Steam store, their game library and the Steam community. Not much is changed (compared with the Windows version). The client’s only been tweaked up a bit to look like a Mac app. And it does. The interface could run smoother, though. Scrolling has some annoying hiccups, but hey, it’s only been released for a day.

(click on the images for a bigger view)

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That’s pretty much it for the Steam client. Those who’ve used the service before really don’t need any updates on the Steam front. Those who’ve never used it will be rocking their favorite games in no time, as it’s arguably the most intuitive service of its kind. And so, we can move on to the second part of our review…

Portal for Mac

Hands down, one of the most well-crafted games of its kind, Portal is sure to captivate the minds of even the most pretentious Mac users, and non-gamers alike. Valve’s action-puzzle game is played from a first-person perspective, and has players solving a series of puzzles by teleporting the character (and objects) through inter-spatial portals created on flat planes with a special gun. Portal was regarded as one of the most original games in 2007.

As the player progresses through the game, the puzzles become more difficult (I must have used this phrase a million times when writing on our site’s Games section), but also much more captivating, keeping you stuck to your computer’s screen for hours. Those who’ve played the game must be sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation of this year’s Portal 2 launch.

Challenged by an AI named “GLaDOS” to complete puzzles in the “Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center” using your portal-gun, you are immersed in a Hypercube-like world where everything seems possible, even the fact that the voice giving you instructions may, at some point, be lying.

The concept of shooting holes inside walls to create a way in, while there’s always a way out somewhere else (at times, even on the ceiling), allows for some strange physics to occur, this being the emphasis of the game. For instance, many puzzles involve throwing your character’s body fast through a portal, in order to emerge just as fast at an end where gravity pulls you from a different direction. As “GLaDOS” herself puts it, “Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing goes out.”

The game also receives high marks from a graphical standpoint (although it can’t compete with the PlayStation 3’s visual output), and the score is just as well suited for a game of this type. Of course, it all comes down to the puzzles. And some of them are mind blowing, so you won’t be thinking too much about a missing shadow here and there, or certain small objects acting up. Plus, Portal runs natively on the Mac. Nothing is missing from the overall experience.

Check out some imagery below!

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I highly recommend that those who haven’t played Portal yet give the game a try, especially now that the full version is up for free grabs. Chances are you’ll soon be joining the fanbase in anxiously waiting for the sequel to launch.

Let us know what you think about Valve's new offerings for Mac users.

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