I would possibly contend that the rating systemhas failed on this occasion however, it rates for violence, swearing, drug use and sexual content, but dark humour is often unsuitable for the very young also, and this would be a case where that fits.
I'm partly being devil's advocate here, but I think there is a point there, I don't thnk Portal is suitable for 3+, the verbal content and concept of the games could be seen to be worth a low teen rating, personally. Note I'm saying this to protect us, not kids. Any time we let anything, no matter how minor, slip thru, the rags will be on us yeling 'save our poor children from the horrors of pacman!'
Essentially, without wishing to commit any spoilers, I think most people know the basic idea, you're stuck in the testing facility, Glados the AI has gone nuts and now hates you and wants you dead, and until then she'll be satisfied by destroying you mentally at every turn.
Also, don't think this counts as spoilers, there's a fair bit of cancer jokes in there too, I assume that's just fine, and mocking fat people is fine, but because the kid's adopted, that bit's offensive.
Hell, I chose my name based on the idea that it's an early warning that I sometimes dip into the darker end of humour and do it unapologetically. however, I wouldn't rate myself safe for 3 and up (because I enjoy kicking toddlers down elevator shafts.)
As I said before, I'm adopted, and I did feel some emotional reactions to some of Glados's comments, (not just that stuff, and not all of the adoption stuff either), but that's GOOD, it means they've created a valid emotional character, and I'm making a connection. Isn't that partly what we want,or should we only populate games with good guys from now on? Bad guys have to be bad, and that includes being a nasty, venom tongued bully sometimes. It WORKS coming from Glados.
