Schrödinger’s Cat was a quantum physics experiment conducted 79 years ago in 1935, however in 2014 Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark it is an Action, Adventure, Platform Puzzle game by Italic Pig. They have teamed up with the famous Worms creator Team 17 and the game see’s you in the role of scientist Schrödinger’s experimental subject. The character is purple and as the title suggests it is indeed a cat that is superbly voice acted by A.J. LoCascio (known for his role as Marty McFly in the Telltale Game, Back to the Future). So to the game play, the purple feline fights his way through a beautifully designed, bright and colourful world of The Particle Zoo. The Zoo is unfortunately on lockdown due to recent events that have catastrophically (no pun intended) set all the enemy’s free.
Like the experiment of not knowing if the cat is either dead or alive when placed in a sealed box, I dived into this game not knowing if i’d like or dislike it (however luckily i wasn’t placed inside a sealed box or room but i guess the door was shut).
Being an 80/90’s kid, I’m from a generation of when platform games were in their peak. The most famous incarnate of which was Sonic and Mario, both of which I avidly played. So playing a game in that genre is tough for me due to my pre expectations, but once you put them aside, the twists and tweaks that are put on new platform games today, for example Guacamelee and Super Meat Boy are incredibly imaginative, enjoyable if not a little bizarre and this title fits that bill perfectly.
You take control of Schrödinger’s cat with the keyboard only as the mouse is ironically redundant. There doesn’t seem to be any controller option at all, which for a platform game is slightly disappointing considering it doesn’t have complexed controls, that aside you embark on a heavily scientific pun filled adventure that slowly turns up the tempo of difficulty. You are given a mix of a traditional platform jump’s to master before they introduce Quarks your friendly subatomic particle. This is a group of coloured little minions you get to collect and utilise, Up Quarks are Motion, Down Quarks are Destruction, Left Quarks are Protection and Right Quarks are Construction but that isn’t their only limitation. The player is able to use them in a wide array of combinations. These are easier to learn than i first though but do take a little time to practice. By pressing escape it brings up the menu where a quick guide is available. As an example pressing Up, Up, Right, Right gives you a Red and Yellow Quark formed moving glider that helps you overcome large distances between platforms.
As you pick up the controls/combinations and delve deeper into the game you find that your Quark minions can be abducted by the first real enemy you meet and is known as a Gluon. So a new strategy is needed to overcome them by mainly hitting them until they are unconscious and building a trap out of your Quarks which magically whisks them off. If you explore enough you might find the rare Charm Quark’s which are scattered across the world as a secret collectible but I’ll let you find out their main purpose if you decide to give this zany game a try and i recommend you do.
Overall I’d give Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark 7/10, it gives you a great game for the money and it is slightly addictive. However there are some slight glitches, that can sometimes can trap your character, drop enemy’s out of the world so you can’t get them and then there is a lack of an immersive storyline. Also having no controller support really does hold this game back.
REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.
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Hey chaps, thanks for the great review!
Amazingly enough, your review coincides precisely with the release of Update v1.01 – seriously, just dropped it onto the Steamosphere not 30 minutes ago. We’ve patched up a lot of those little glitches you mentioned that were brought out in the first month of user play (not saying they’re all gone, but everything runs a lot smoother), and we’ve gotten the Gluons out of the roof, the Electrons out of the walls, and the Bosons aren’t getting stuck on pebbles anymore. I think you’ll find it’s worth AT LEAST a 7.1 now.
Sadly, this update still has no in-game controller remapping, but if you’re playing on [not-Linux] you’ll get the Unity config window on startup which gives you the chance to mess around with controls. The tutorial walks you through keys only at the moment, but it’s my next job to remedy that, and Team17’s already carried out the necessary usability to get a decent controller layout, so it’s on the way.
Keep your eyes on the forums for more news, and thanks again,
Italic Pig
Thank you for the reply and i have downloaded the patch and played the first few levels. Like you say this has rectified a lot of the issues, it is a fantastic game so keep up the good work, the upcoming controller support in my opinion will also really improve the gameplay.