Quantum Conundrum (2012)

Fluffy: More book puns that you can shake a stick at.

Heavy: "Hints" that show you the solution.

Quantum Conundrum is a pure-breed portal-like. Main puzzle-solving gimmick? Check. Delineated chambers? Check. Omniscient disembodied voice that tells you what to do? Check. Dry sense of humour? Mh... let's say check. However even though it starts strong, it fails short in some very important aspects and stumbles to the end.

You are a ten ("¿or is it twelve?") year old kid whose mother drops off at his uncle's crazy mansion of sciencey inventions. In principle, your presence should annoy the busy inventor, but it turns out he is trapped in a pocket dimensions and needs your help to turn on the power of each of the three wings of the manor. That entails solving room after room of puzzles while nobody explains why the whole building is made of puzzles. Your weapon of choice? A glove that can flip between dimensions, making everything lighter, heavier, time to move slower or gravity to reverse.

The presentation is well crafted. Rooms are filled with colourful and funny visuals and your uncle spouts snappy dialogue. Puzzles literally start light, with only access to the Fluffy dimension. Since everything is ten times lighter, here you can carry around the otherwise heavy safes that litter the place and play the role of boxes. After a few puzzles you gain the ability to use the Heavy dimension, where things are not only heavier, but also indestructible.

At this point, I could solve most puzzles with ease by following the path of least resistance, so the difficulty is moderate. It was common for me to solve a room peace by peace without ever knowing how all the parts fitted together, but the solutions were still clever and the collectives added to the challenge.

About the halfway mark things changed drastically, and not for the best, when the slow motion dimensions turned this puzzler into a platformer. With each chamber, the challenge changed from solving puzzles to timing jump, and levels became more uninspiredly linear and reliant on quick reflexes. It got even worse when the game incorporated the reverse gravity dimension and some areas became a first person version of Flappy Bird.

The writing follows a similar path, regrettably. The uncle chats too much and latter game banter is not funny at all, doesn't make sense or repeats jokes. Lines like "You've got it!" or "Jump, NOW!" are not needed and if the game presents the jokey name of the level in big letters at the beginning, why would it speak it out loud at the end and expect me to laugh? The ending was a complete let down with a ramp up that promises a Big Event that never materialised.

Still, buried below I could find some shining elements. Using the slow motion to set up Rude Golberesque contraptions or to stare slowly deactivating lasers is a blast, and some latter levels combine all dimensions in clever ways. I also laughed out loud at some jokes, so there's enjoyment to be had.

Let's get this out of the way - this is so similar to Portal's layout that the resemblance is shamelessly obvious. First person puzzle platformer where the main character uses a quirky power to make their way from room to room with well-designed challenges at every corner? It's all there.

Playing as a child visiting his genius uncle's mansion, you are introduced to his latest invention - access and ability to switch to different dimensions, which translate to light, heavy, slow, and gravity powers. They're simple and the physics is manageable and creative, with plenty of good rooms over a short period to test out some fun and sometimes emergent solutions.

This could be a 5/5, but the magic that made Portal and its sequel what they are aren't present. The jokes often misfire, the professor uncle isn't the most likeable (though you hear him a LOT) and the plot design doesn't feel like it comes together as well, though the game has a soft and playful design with charming quirks that keep you going, such as jumping across a sea of flying furniture, cloning devices with adorable faces, and paintings that shift into silly versions of whatever dimension you're in.

Quantum Conundrum is short, but sweet in that none of its challenges feel too frustrating and are expertly designed to test your skills with simple puzzle elements. If you don't mind burning through this in a day or two, give it a shot!

This is basically portal game set in a Despicable Me universe.

In the game you are a child of about ten years old that gets sent to his uncle. But your uncle is in fact a crazy scientist that cares little for you. And upon your arrival it turns out that your uncle is stuck in some weird dimension and needs your rescuing. So you put on dimensional glove and embark on a journey to find your uncle in his crazy scientist mansion.

The game plays like portal with the only difference being you do not control portals - instead you do control dimensions. You gradually get to control up to four dimensions in order to manipulate objects and progress deeper into the mansion.

The puzzles are well designed and require some thinking at times. Though are not extremely overcomplicated but rather just right. The use of different dimensions and their combinations is clever and interesting. There are a few puzzles that require agility as well apart from clever dimension use which is quite nice.

The graphic is cartoony and cheerful, and fits well within the game setting. The narration is funny and witty adding to the general atmosphere of the game.

I had really good fun playing it and can happily recommend it for picking up if you like games like portal.