It’s sounds kind of harsh, but “Quantum Conundrum” feels like a poor man’s “Portal.”
This first-person puzzle game is, by all rights, an amazing platformer. But considering it’s a spiritual successor to the game that pretty much defined the genre, “Conundrum” comes up a bit short.
Created by Kim Swift, a lead designer for “Portal,” the game has you trekking through your inventor uncle’s massive mansion, solving zany puzzles by swapping dimensions with a super-powered glove.
Playing as the 12-year-old nephew of Professor Fitz Quadwrangle, you arrive at his home but find he’s busy with an experiment. Then something goes incredibly wrong. Most of the mansion loses power, and Quadwrangle gets trapped in a pocket dimension. Still able to communicate with you via intercom, he sends you on a quest to reboot some generators in hopes of rescuing him. He gives you a dimension-shifting glove to use along the way, because the path is blocked by a plethora of puzzles.
| ‘Quantum Conundrum’ |
| » System: Xbox 360, PS3, PC |
| » Price: $15 |
| » Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars |
The four additional dimensions are: Fluffy (everything looks pillowy and is super-light), Heavy (everything looks metalic and is super-heavy), Slow (everything moves really slow) and Reverse Gravity (gravity gets inverted).
“Conundrum” is super-cartoony in visuals, as well as humor, and the voice acting of Quadwrangle is superb. However, Quadwrangle just can’t compare with the evil computer GLaDOS or crazed Cave Johnson — from “Portal 2” — as direction givers.
As far as the actual gameplay goes, the puzzles become mostly based on timing later in the game, so be prepared to retry a lot of the harder levels over and over.
Dimension shifting in “Conundrum” nearly gives that “aha!” moment that “Portal” offered when it first came out. And it’s fantastic to see game designers pushing new boundaries … especially at a price point that doesn’t feel like a complete ripoff.
