Quantum Conundrum is the first-person puzzle solving title from the folks at Airtight Games. After finishing work on Portal and Left 4 Dead, Kim Swift left Valve and joined Airtight. She began work with her new team on Quantum Conundrum.

Despite the cartoon-esque design of this game, Swift and the impression of Portal both come off intensely in Quantum Conundrum. There's no denying the parallels between the two titles: room-to-room gameplay, a narrator speaking over the action constantly and the idea of an evolving set of physics based puzzles built around a few design hooks.

The core gameplay mechanic of Quantum Conundrum, combined with its style and humor, is what makes it a game worthy of your attention.

I played the trial that will launch for the PC version of the title this summer. I was dropped into a mansion, shown that the world can swap dimensions and told to press forward. Pressing forward, of course, required that I learn the ropes of each dimension in progressive fashion.

It's like learning math, really. You can't sit down and solve basic algebra without understanding addition and subtraction. Games like these (in fact, games in general) start with a foundation and work players up to a point of extreme trial.

In Quantum Conundrum, you're given the ability to swap through four separate dimension. Not every dimension is accessible all at once, though. You actually have to find the battery for each dimension and then place it into a generator before using said dimension to solve a puzzle.

It's because of that that each room seems to move in almost the same fashion. Identify the problem, find the battery, place the battery, use dimensions to solve.

Explained simply, that seems really boring. Quantum Conundrum is not boring. In fact, it achieves what only good games can; it makes you learn and think while having fun.

You'll activate the fluffy dimension to lift heavy safes, activate the heavy dimension to throw cardboard through glass windows or activate the slow motion dimension in order to dodge fan blades or hop on objects in flight.

Quantum Conundrum, during my first encounter, is about using clever puzzles to build momentum. By the time the trial course wrapped up, I felt like I was ready to push through a few hours of gameplay. Instead, I was told to buy the full version.

I will.

The game will launch for the PC platform on Jun 21st. It will launch for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 downloadable platforms later this summer.