Koupit Quantum Conundrum

In theory this is a game I should like. In fact, I WANTED to like it. John "Q/News Anchor from Crank" DeLancie as narration, time/space manipulation in a 3D puzzle environment, a distinct visual style, etc.

Here is the problem, and to elaborate, I'm going to have to compare this game to Portal, which a lot of people did on its release due to one of Portal 1's designers (Kim Swift) leaving Valve to work on this title, which is a similar genre, let's be frank. Portal 1 worked because it was brief. It'd do a few things with a tool, then move on to something else, occasionally mashing all your obstacles up for a challenge room/test of what you'd learned. Part of what worked to keep this from getting stale was that you had hints and taunts from your omnipresent narrator/torturer, and part of it came down to the puzzles being tested to a good balance of "solvable but not instantly".

Quantum Conundrum has most of these attributes, but in sort of a "they came back wrong" variety. John DeLancie is playing the same role of narrator/reason for being in this mess, but a lot of his hints are either weirdly couched in ways that you're not going to get them (and you will hear them 5 times as you try to figure them out, too), or just outright irritating. Between stages in the loading bridge areas you'll hear him spout what is basically monkey-cheese randomness about "his" predicament, but there's not much reason to care because he's the dude what trapped you in Deathtrap Manor by accident where he decided to design really, really overzealous laser beams everywhere. (I'm not entirely convinced the lasers work as intended: stuff that's just supposed to destroy items had a tendency to fire right through into my skull more than once, ending my run at a puzzle.) The puzzles are indeed short rooms to solve and then move on to the next "chamber", but there's not much chance at learning them and a few are just straight up blind luck. One in particular springs to mind as it has you choosing two or three different branch points on a conveyer belt and while it IS possible to backtrack on it, it's a real bear and a lot of them lead around corners or to paths you cannot immediately see are dead ends/death.

The other big Portal gripe I'm gonna throw out: in Portal, you get the gun, you get a few rooms of training, and then YOU HAVE THE GUN FULLY OPEN FOREVER. Quantum Conundrum gives you 4 seperate powers, which are clearly controller-mapped given how they show up on a keyboard, and then gives them to you and takes them away randomly from room to room, so that just as you earn something it's out the door for two stages, then you need to find the object in the level to swap it out with the other power, then... The juggling really makes the game more tedious than interesting, when I just want to play around with all these weird reality warping buttons instead of learn about DeLancie's fuzzy multidimensional friend who hid a bunch of barking robots all around the house*.

I did not finish this game. I'm sure some people will bash me for that, but I'll be honest: I got halfway? Most of the way? through the second of four hubs, and when the puzzle was repeating the same "make object light, toss, turn on slow-mo to catch it" gameplay for a third room running, but this time with instadeath pits and sloppy wooden platforms to bounce between... I stopped. I realized that absolutely nothing in this game had any sort of charm or fun factor to keep me going. It wasn't even a CHALLENGING game, so long as you realize "Okay I have two powers what can they do" and "how to avoid lasers".

This has potential, and I'm sure that the writing isn't going to be a turn-off for some, because comedy's amazingly subjective, yadda yadda. I'M going to tell you "this game is a hot mess, avoid", but if you're remotely curious, it drops to like... $4 with all DLC constantly. Why not, it's your money.

* Not a joke.

Rating : 8/10
Overview: 1st person puzzle platformer

The Good:

+ The game allows you to switch between 4 different dimensions to solve puzzles and traverse the environment. The first dimension is 'fluffy' dimension, which makes objects lighter allowing you to carry them and place them on switches. The second, is heavy dimension, which makes objects heavier, the third is slow time and the fourth is reverse gravity. You can only be in one dimension at a time.

+ The game offers a mix of puzzles and platforming. Some areas are strictly related to one or the other while other areas combine the two. It provides a nice change in pace as you are not strictly doing one thing over and over again.

+The most important part of a puzzle game is the balance between fun and challenging. This game does a great job of finding the right balance. Solving puzzles offers a satisfactory feeling and feels very rewarding. The puzzles were not super easy nor were they impossible to solve, with careful thinking and planning you should have no problem with the game.

+The game offers a nice art style that compliments the game

+Every puzzle offers a time and shift goal offering a lot of replay ability if your into that sort of thing.

The Average:

-The game takes place in your uncles mansion while he provides witty banter to you throughout your journey. The problem is the dialogue isn't very funny or witty and the voice acting annoyed me.

The Bad:

-The ending is very lackluster

-Despite the great puzzle design there will always be frustrating moments in a game like this. Too many times I wanted to jump off a platform and the game didn't register my jump, a problem with most 1st person platforming games

-Though I loved the main game puzzle design the DLC levels are frustrating. I said there is a balance between fun and challenging and most of the DLC levels go way too far in the challenging category to the point where I was more frustrated than having fun.

Conclusion:

I really enjoyed my time with this game and if you are looking for a solid puzzle game then this is worth checking out.

After Portal, developer Kim Swift made a very similar game in Quantum Conundrum, and seeing how I loved Portal so much, chances were high that I would enjoy this. I did! Recommended to all fans of Portal and quirky puzzle solving.

Quantum Conundrum is quite a conundrum to review.

On one hand, the gameplay and visuals are solid. Everything from the fluffy-iness of the fluffy dimension to the roughness of the heavy dimension is rendered beautifully. The Uncle's mansion is such an incredibly unique style. Even the only NPC you ever actually interact with looks like something straight out of a Disney or Pixar film. Gameplay is obviously inspired by Portal, but it takes the concept from that game and changes it into something completely different and incredibly similar at the same time. Three dimensions, light and soft; normal; heavy and hard, govern the elements of the puzzles you'll find in your Uncle's mansion. Along with the intriguing gameplay, are tons of hidden collectables. This makes the game a treasure trove for completionists.

On the other hand, this Quantum Conundrum is plagued by a badly voiced Uncle and a story that leaves much to be desired. The Uncle drones on while you play through each level. Either giving you hints to certain puzzles or just fumbling around seemingly holding you back by mistakes or errors comitted on his part. The voice acting is sadly bland. To be frank, there was a lack of anything. The Uncle sounded as though a preset voice created by a computer. Perhaps, that was what the game's story was implying, but I can never be to sure because there was almost a complete lack of a story. The underlying goal of the game was for me to finally meet up with my uncle, but other than that there wasn't much of a plot. The ending is equally as frustrating. Nothing is even remote resolved or answered. The ending implied a continuation of the game in a sequel, but after two years I haven't heard of anything.

Instead of implementing a half-baked story with an Uncle and his estranged nephew, I would've much rather have the game just focused on the puzzles. Trying to recreate the Portal experience of having a robot entity taunt you throughout the game just wasn't a good idea and detracted from what was otherwise a wonderful game.

I give this game a 7/10. The puzzles are definitely worth the price tag of $9, just don't expect a story-telling masterpiece.

Pros:
Unique Artstyle
Interesting Gameplay
Addicting Collectables

Cons:
Poor Story
Voice Acting Leaves Much To Be Desired

Great if you like Portal-type games. You control 4 dimensions: heavy, fluffy, time/speed, and reverse gravity. John deLancie (Q from Star Trek) narrates, so that's a definite plus, and just enough of a story to keep you interested (though just about as much as the first Portal).

6/10

Overall the game is quite good.
Although after a time the commentary of the "Professor and Inventor" started to annoy me.
I would only recommend it if you really like puzzle/platformer games and if it's on an offer.

It's quite a time since I played this, so I may not have remembered everything well.

Quantum Conundrum *is* a good game. The graphics are cool, nice and cartoony, great design, the concept of the gameplay is nice, and the jokes are hilarious.

However, as everything in this world, it's not perfect.

This game requires more skill than brain power. If your here for a good puzzle, hoping it will frizzle (yes, frizzle) your brain, you will be dissapointed. There are too many moments in the game where you stand and think, like "how the hell can I do this", and the your uncle just says "like this". He just points out what you were trying to get, and it makes you feel - stupid. Instead of the legendary "Ah ha!" moment that's all over Portal and was in the core design of Portal, there's your uncle, looking A LOT smarter than you, pointing the whole point (bum ta tzz) out. Sometimes, you just want to scream SHUT UP at him.

I guess I put you off, didn't I? Not to worry, you'll be on in a moment.

However, this game is far from a bad game. The graphics are very original, with a smush of cartoon here and there. The props are designed very well. It gives the whole house a friendly, homely feel. You can see that the game was designed for kids however, but I liked it.

The colour palette is well handled, and the graphics change depending in which dimension you are in. It's fun looking at how the things look like in different dimensions. For example, a cube (which is actually a safe), looks like a safe in the normal dimension, in the heavy dimension it looks like a super heavy duty super heavy metal crate. It would look good on a heavy metal concert. In the light, or fluffy in the game lingo, dimension, the safe looks like a woolen toy say for kids from your grandma. The two other dimensions only add image effects to the game, so I want be talking (*writing) about those, and I don't want to be a spoiler.

The puzzles, as I said, are not very hard (usually), and require more skill, but the maps are perfectly designed and contain quite fun elements, and you will fly on safes quite a lot.

Your uncle, who is ~not~ pleased to have you there, has quite baddass humor (I'll never forget the "Everyday I'm shovellin'" joke), but he starts liking you more throughout the game. He talks a lot - read: all the time - but thankfully you can put your headphones off and turn on the captions when you're fed up.

The music is nice, was humming it for a week after, and I got the soundtrack too (which I don't know what idiot set to Windows only). It's profesionally done, and it's not out of the place, it belongs to the game.


So that's that. If your thinking the game is for kids, just return to those kid days (not for real damnit, only in your mind), and get this game as soon as possible. Worth every penny, although I bought it with €uros which have cents.

And when someone calls you a kid for playing this, just say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" (I'm sorry, had to put that somewhere)

Go and enjoy every moment of this great puzzle platformer game.


I want a fluffy Ike.

Quantum Conundrum is a great game for people looking to be puzzled or just want a cute and funny challenge :3.

- Graphics/How It Plays: Now don't let the "Childish" graphics detur you, the game plays well on most computers and looks great if all the settings are maxed out (Which any potato of a computer could do). The only complant about graphics/how it plays is that instead of using loading screens, Quantum Conundrum uses long hallways, so you get some REALLY bad frame drop inbetween levels, and some hallways are just WAY too long. I would give the graphics and how it plays a 5/5

- Level Disign: The levels are very well created and have a mix between science lab and mansion/victorian feel. Sometimes though it is hard to tell what the objective in a level is, I would have liked like a big red "Exit" sign at the exit door so I could see it. I would rate the level disign a 4/5.

- Music and Audio: All I can say is the music in this game is just astounding, even though this game does not look to be that popular, so much work has gone into the music I HIGHLY recomend buying the Soundtrack while buying the game. Some sound effects are a bit obnoxios, but most sound fine and work well with the feel of the game. I would give the sounds and music a 5/5.

- Controls and Menu: The menu is sometimes confusing but may I just say THERE IS NO EXIT BUTTON ON THE MAIN MENU, you have to go into "Start Game" to exit the game I mean how counter intuative can you get. Also the mouse sensativity settings in the menu had like 3 different levels, not just a slider and I would have liked to see more than 1 audio slider. The controls where great out of the box, everything you would expect, exept jump. Jump was space BUT unlike in some games when you jumped, if you weren't EXACTLY on the ground you woulden't jump and in some situations in the game, that ment life or death. I would give the controls and menu a 2/5.

Overall this game is a great game with a very easy story to follow and challenging levels. I would DEFFENENTLY recommend buying the DLCs because the game is about a 4 hour playthrough so if you are still thursty for some demention switching I would recommend the DLCs.

I would give this game a overall rating of 4/5 and would DEFFENENTALY recommend it.

If you like the portal series buy this game! It's a first person puzzle game like portal but unlike portal its with 4 dimensions. So its not thinking with portals but dimensions . This game has a great story line and funny characters . The voice acting is also done very well . I highly recommend this game to not only portal fans but everyone its really fun . It took me 7.3 hours to go through the whole campaign , thats longer then portal 1 (portal 1 took me 2 hours) its also not to expensive if you buy it in a sale. Its really worth it. I give this game a 9/10

Clever-enough puzzles and some fun bits of platforming make the game worth playing. Probably. It does, however, end of out nowhere, and the writing is corny as HELL. But Q's delivery is charming enough to make it a bit more bearable. Go for it, man.

This game is fun if you play it in small burst everyday for about 1- 25 minutes, After that you start to get a little bit bored.

A very similar game to Portal. A fitting descrption as the original creators of Portal are the masterminds behind this game. Forces you to think in 4 dimensions (or is it eight dimensions?) The humor is still spot-on, in true Portal fashion. I highly recommend this game.

I sincerely question the wisdom of the designer for making a physics puzzle game with a non-deterministic physics engine. The only other game I know of that does that is Bad Rats.

Yeah.

★★★★☆

Jako fanoušek a tvůrce map pro Portal jsem si tuto hru nemohl nechat ujít. Podobně jako v Portalu má i v této hře prsty Kim Swift, což už samo o sobě zaručuje jistou kvalitu a zábavu. Navíc za cenu 2 a půl éčka ve slevě je to luxus. Nejprve jsem si připadal díky grafickému zpracování trochu divně, ale jde jen o zvyk. Po chvilce jsem si na nové (odlišné od portálu) objekty a tlačítka zvykl a celou hru už bral jako určitou modifikaci Portálu. Hrou mne táhl hlas (podobně jako v portálu GlaDOS) mého strýčka vědátora. Jeho informace, vyprávění a vtipkování o okolním prostředí a jeho vynálezech mě dokázalo vtáhnout do děje a hádanek ... a v tu chvíli to u mě hra vyhrála. Není tu sice žádný portalgun, ale díky rukavici pro přepínání dimenzí (vynález strýčka) tu vznikl nový prostor a mechanismy pro vytváření hádanek podobných těm z portálu. Pravda, ... občas je težší provedení způsobu řešení, než jeho vymýšlení, ale i tak mohu tuto hru doporučit. Do hry jde vložit snadno i vydařená free čeština z internetu.

Tato hra od designérky Portalu mě mile překvapila, místo Portalů máte 4 dimenze a pomocí nich řešíte různé puzzly které mají podobné mechanismy jako v Portalu, váš strýček vědátor uvězněný v nějaké dimenzi je vaším průvodcem podobně jako GLaDOS a jeho fory nemají chybu, škoda jen že je hra krátká, řešení jednoduché spíše těžší je ho provést a opakující chodby mezi dalšími testchambery ale i tak jsem koupě nelitoval pro mě 8/10.

Shortly:
Love a good cartoon? You're welcome :)
Love a good puzzle? Close the page :(

Pros: visuals and such: stunning design, not bad graphics, nice atmosphere and jokes, John de Lancie as Professor Quadwrangle, original story, price
Cons: actual gameplay: pretty short (there are some DLCs out there though), not many good puzzles, requires more jumping skills than thinking ones, freaking tons of blur

The long way:
I love this game. Yeah, that simple, just as simple as the game is. It has nice design, good 3d-cartoon-like graphics and jokes which are really good (well, sometimes they aren't, but nothing is perfect in this world). The main problems are the puzzles and length of the game itself - I've run through it in ~6 hours, but I haven't got 100% completion though. Now about the puzzles. They are simple as well, but that's not good this time. You won't find any really hard-brainsmashing-cool-etc puzzles in this game - all of them are considerably easy. Also, this game has a lot of platforming. I like this, but you may not if you're looking for a brain challenge.

PS: I'm sorry if my English is bad, it's not my native language.

Riding off the coat-tails of Portal, the same dev team is back at it with this first-person-puzzler. The difficulty for the base game stays between beginner to intermediate while the DLC increases it to a ridiculous difficulty that will have you banging your head on your keyboard and you punching a nearby house cat. Despite this increase of difficulty (reliance of speed, timing, and LOTS of patience are needed), the game is hilarious and beautiful with a semi-cell-shaded, cartoon feel. John de Lancie (Q for all you trekkies out there), provides a nice narrative to the environment and story as you progress through the game. If you enjoyed the Portal series, this is a must-buy to add to your gaming collection.

Quantum Conundrum is a puzzle game centered around a weird science contraption that switches dimensions.
Players take first-person control of a young child who comes to visit his scientist uncle at a crazy mansion. Upon arrival, the silent protagonist learns that his uncle is trapped in another dimension, and it is up to him to save his relative. In order to do this, all three of the generators in the mansion will need to be restarted.
The puzzles are made up of simple elements that are combined into complicated and elaborate puzzles. Puzzles are completed by moving around objects, which are mostly just boxes. Heavy weights are used to trigger pressure plates, boxes can be stacked to climb on, and there are a whole bunch of other unique solutions that are pleasing to discover.
This game is amazing. Quantum Conundrum is well made, it controls well and it is almost flawless.
It is perfect for people who like puzzle games like Portal. It is definitely worth to buy.

Sounds 8/10
Graphics 8/10
Gameplay 9/10
Atmosphere 9/10

Moje česká recenze: http://www.playhit.cz/2015/01/quantum-conundrum-neco-jako-portal/

I really enjoyed Quantum Conundrum although it wasn't very long. You switch between dimensions to solve puzzles that lead to the rescue of your uncle, who you visited. He still can talk to you though, he tells you some hilarious jokes and might give you a hint or two. His interdimensional pet Ike watches over you and hands you some of the stuff you need. I recommend you to skip any guidence in the first gameplay because the base game isn't really that hard, that'll be the point of its DLCs which I will review later. Patience is golden, many times you'll stop looking back at how easy it actually was after finally proceeding. I loved it and it deserves more attention in my opinion. If it's too heavy, fluff it up! 9/10

I want to snatch Ike

(Reluctantly not recommended)

I found this game to be really fun at first. It had a charming art style and relaxing music. As the game was from the designer or Portal, I assumed the it would be just as solid and dependable. Sadly, I was disappointed by inconsistant physics and weird behaviour such as any sping jump's momentum being instantly cancelled by pushing an direction on stick (WSAD). This totally arbitrary restriction meant that getting a handle of that aspect of the gameplay was highly frustrating. I see no reason physics or otherwise for it to occur. It made the game incredibly irritating and it never recovered from it. With this knowlege, perhaps you will enjoy the game as I didn't. However, with inconsistent platforming mechanics and frequently irritating level design which unduly punishes platforming slipups, I'd have to say, play Portal again. I am glad that this game was free.