Schrödinger's Cat is a thought experiment that goes as follows: You place a cat into a windowless box that also contains a vial of poison, a radioactive substance, a Geiger counter, and a small hammer. If the Geiger counter detects the radioactive substance has decayed, a mechanism trips that causes the hammer to break the poison vial and kill the cat. The observer isn't allowed to know whether the radioactive substance has decayed or not, and without opening the box, the observer can presume the cat inside is both alive and dead, based on quantum law. The experiment was used by the scientist to illustrate the limits of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum law, but popular culture has often used it to describe parallel worlds in hilarious ways.

Schrödinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark paints things much differently for a humorous story. One atom in the universe is home to The Particle Zoo, a place to visit primitive particles living in the protective habitats. One day, the cages are left open, and the primitive particles run amok. Given the dire situation, they call in the one being that can clear up this whole mess: Schrödinger's Cat.

The plot isn't extraordinary, but it is serviceable enough to drive things along. What really moves the story is the humor, specifically the dialogue. For the scientifically minded, there are a good number of references to theory and notable names in the field. There's also a healthy amount of general humor for those who aren't too interested in science. Like most games that go for laughs, not every joke is a hit, but most are at least worth a chuckle.

The game is presented as a 2-D platformer, and the cat is able to do some basic things that are expected of a platforming hero. He can run and double-jump, and he can automatically duck under objects. He can also swipe at enemies to knock them out, but very few foes actually pose a threat. The non-lethal approach to platforming is offset by puzzles that mostly revolve around making it from one area to another and capturing creatures to return them to their pens. This is where the quarks come into play.

The quarks are the creatures that accompany you throughout the journey. Alone, they're rather harmless, but when put together in combinations of three, they can give the cat several different temporary abilities. Some of these are basic, like a copter to reach higher spots, a bubble to protect you while rolling through slime, and the ability to create a temporary platform. Others are more interesting, like the ability to take away knocked-out creatures with a flying net, creating a moving platform, or making a missile or bomb blow up destructible walls and floors. In all, there are about 14 different combinations to discover.

It is the interactions with these combos and the puzzles that bring the most enjoyment in the title. The game does a good job of easing you into the combos and solving some of the puzzles you encounter by giving you a large number of quarks, so you can play around with the combinations. Once you march into more dangerous territory, the game throws you for a loop by only giving you a few quarks in areas between checkpoints, forcing you to be more thoughtful and plan out your moves accordingly. The challenge ratchets up to the point where you'll hit the quick restart button quite often. While frustration can kick in, the joy of finally figuring out the solution to a difficult section is unmatched, and with the number of areas you traverse, the game consists of one satisfying moment after another. The game also randomly generates stages, so you won't be able to access online puzzle-solving guides.

If there's a negative that can be levied against the game, it would be the platforming, particularly in terms of momentum. It's difficult to tell how much momentum you'll need for a jump, and leaps from the same spot can have wildly different results with only a minor difference in how long you hold one direction. Likewise, you'll come to a few situations where you'll be able to stop on a dime, but other times, you'll have to plan for some stopping room. None of these are bad enough to lead to an instant death, especially since the only environmental danger comes from slime barriers and your lives are unlimited, but they are noticeable.

One of the quirkier things about the game is the controls, which are purely keyboard-based. Your WASD keys control the cat's movements, the Space bar jumps, and the E key attacks. Your arrow keys are used for determining which of the quarks will be used in the given sequence, and Q cancels the combo. You can, of course, configure the controls to your liking, but strangely enough, the game doesn't have a configuration specifically for control pads. By default, the left analog stick lets you move the cat around, but you need to map out the other functions, and that has to be done in the configuration screen that pops up before the game starts. Furthermore, you can't map the quark commands to the right analog stick, which would seem natural for controller players. It can still be played well with a pad, but the restrictions make the keyboard a much better choice.

The other quirk has to do with camera behavior. Unlike most platformers, where the camera is always centered on your character, the camera tends to shift to place the cat either on the center left or center right of the screen, depending on where you're looking. This becomes even more disorienting when you quickly turn from the right to the left and vice versa, as the camera shifts are rather quick. The result is some more unintentionally tricky platforming that can be frustrating for those not willing to accept this design flaw.

Looking at the game from a technical standpoint, it shines brightly in the area of sound. In particular, the voice acting is some of the best heard in a game, and it helps accentuate the humorous dialogue whenever you meet a new character. The delivery of each line is spot-on, and there's never a situation where the voice doesn't match the character. The only drawback is how often you may hear it, as some phrases are repeated quite often. Also, the first time you hit an object that kills the cat, you're treated to a lengthy bit of dialogue once you respawn that prevents you from moving until it finishes. Elsewhere, the sound effects are good, if a little muted in spots, and the music brings out a nice blend of light-hearted sci-fi that keeps the mood interesting but never feels tired or old.

Like the sound, the graphics also do the game justice. The color scheme is bright, and it complements the rather "out there" design quite nicely. Some of the movements are exaggerated, but it's funny to see math formulas and symbols come out as flourishes after an attack. The backgrounds bring out the whole idea of abstraction in an atomic level very well, and it's further accentuated by the constantly moving backgrounds. About the only area of the game that looks dull is the foreground. The various symbols and scientific references peppered throughout are nice, but the terrain is rather dull and forgettable when compared to everything else.

In the end, Schrödinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark is a good platforming puzzle game. The humorous dialogue helps drive a platformer that provides some good challenge in an array of levels. The use of the quarks brings a nice variety of possible solutions, even with the rather small number of abilities. It could be a bit more flexible when it comes to the controls, and the camera could benefit from being more focused, but this is still a fun time for those who'd rather solve puzzles than fight in their platforming games.

Score: 7.5/10