Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark

Game Info

If Italic Pigs and Team17 did anything right with Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark it’s that they used a clever enough title to grab my attention right away.  With a name like that I was expecting a goofy and fun experience maybe in the vein of Earthworm Jim or even Team17’s own Worms. Unfortunately after that it’s a mixed bag of good and bad that eventually dooms the title from standing out in a very popular genre.

So with a name that’s  ridiculous as Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark you know that yours truly was going to put in an extra effort to find out why the name and what it means.  Well I will give you the simpler explanation of Erwin Schrödinger’s theory.  Basically, if you place a cat and a poisonous vial in a box, the cat is still in theory alive until you open the box to actually see that it is dead.  By you opening the box you’ve contaminated the experiment.  Therefore while the cat is in the box he is both alive and dead.  Yeah, kind of odd, I know.

So anyways let’s get to what Italic Pigs’ game is about.  We learn that we are in a “Particle Zoo” that is home to the world’s particles.  It is in here that Schrödinger’s Cat must utilize the smallest know components of matter called quarks to help him wrangle up the inhabitants of the Zoo that have recently escaped.  Much of the story is told through conversations with the employees of the said Zoo, but they are very long-winded conversations and many are trying slightly too hard at being comical.

The gameplay is just as clever as the name and is the real bright spot of the game.  By using the different quarks you can make rockets, gliders, helicopters and other useful items to help you navigate and complete each area.  You have four main quarks that you can use in different combinations to produce these gameplay variables.  The controls feel awkward at first being that you are using the four shoulder buttons to control the quark combinations, but after the first 30 minutes you will have the control scheme down like a pro.  There are 14 different possible combinations and if you are like me, you will mess one up eventually, but fear not, there are usually plenty of quarks to go around in each area.

Each area is set up with a total enemy count that you need to capture in the area and the areas are connected seemlessly in a metroidvania fashion.  My biggest beef with the level structure is that the levels are randomly generated and feel as such.  A great game has to have a great level structure and unfortunately leveling this up to an algorithm isn’t ideal.  Most of the areas feel bland and unimaginative.

For the the let down in level design there is no shortness of creativity in the graphics and art style. The cartoon look of the cast of characters rivals the best when it comes to freshness.  The soundtrack falls a little short in terms of songs but it is forgiven with the tolerable voice acting.  The long winded and unfunny conversations almost kill it, but the actor’s do a great job compensating for the lackluster script.

The Recommendation

There is so much potential here but in the end Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark falls short especially when compared with other recently released games in the genre.  The gameplay concept is there in functionality but it’s wrapped around a bland and uninspired level structure and less then stellar story.  If you can get past these flaws you will find a fun game but for me I would wait for a cleaned up sequel.