Schrödinger’s Cat And The Raiders Of The Lost Quark: Review

Schrödinger’s Cat is a smart game. Sometimes it’s a little too smart for its own good, getting lost down the rabbit hole of bad physics puns and quirkily illustrated depictions of scientific theories. It’s also not always as smart as it should be, hitting dead ends that force checkpoint reloading, glitching you through walls and being a little clunky in the controls department. Schrödinger’s Cat is smart, but it’s no genius.

The physics are really the biggest sticking point, and here we’re talking about the in game jumping physics rather than the science. Platforming calls for a sharpness and responsiveness that can be difficult to balance. There’s no problem with a little floatiness or even a little inertia as a character lands on a platform, just for a little extra risk, but too much of either and things start to break down. Schrödinger’s Cat shows a little too much of both on occasions, offering challenging platform jumping without the precision. At this point we might have suggested switching from keyboard controls to a game pad, but actually to enjoy what this game does best, that would be a mistake.

Beyond the leaping, this game is about exploring the infinitesimal world made large of the Particle Zoo and its elementary particle characters. In particular, gathering up the red, blue, green and yellow Quarks that have been scattered about and combining them in sets of three with the arrow keys to create neat effects is pretty well done. With only four colours and three button inputs, you still get a
wide array of results, from generating platforms to throwing grenades. It’s a fun idea and hunting down the Quarks can be a great challenge, but one that can sour.

There’s a couple of occasions where the solution to the puzzle of moving on through a stage seems to counter the principles the game is teaching you for instance, leaving Quarks behind rather than collecting them on your first pass because they will get stolen on the way, or not having them reappear after they’ve been used, as they do on some stages. It can lead to a lot of frustration and not
necessarily that much satisfaction when you eventually solve it.

We can see why Team 17 would want to pick this game up from Italic Pig though, as its style and humour feel right at home alongside the likes of Worms and Flockers. The voice acting is sometimes a bit lame, but also very knowing and tongue in cheek. It’s got some sophistication, but it can be silly too. If it were a little tighter in its core gameplay it would be easier to recommend.

6/10

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