Quantum Break Review
It is the long history of playing with “time” that allows creators Remedy games (Max Payne and Alan Wake) to inject that little bit “extra” in to Quantum Break to set it apart from other time bending shooters in the genre. Blending live action sequences with solid gameplay brilliantly highlights the deadly consequences of altering timelines.
Be warned though, the Live action TV shows take up around 75GB of space. There is an option to stream them to your console, rather than download, but you will be very much at the mercy of your network. Downloading them direct to your console is perhaps the better option but again if you are on a slow network, which many around the world are, this is a huge download requirement.
You play as Jack Joyce (Shawn Ashmore, Ice man from the Xmen movies). As Jack arrives on campus to meet up with best friend Paul Serene (Aidan Gillen, from Game of Thrones) he finds his entry blocked by a protest. Here you get your first taste of the “detective side” of the game that adds an element of freedom for such a linear experience. You can simply pass by the protest, or stop and start talking to the protestors to find out more about why they are protesting the mysterious “Monarch” company.
Once inside you find that Paul who is preparing the final tests of his elaborate experiment. Using his new invention he is able to harness the time bending powers of a black hole to travel backward or forward in time by simply changing the direction of his machine.
As you might expect, something goes drastically wrong and a malfunction with the machine traps Paul inside and threatens the existence of the planet. Here we get introduced to the concept of a “Time Stutter”. This is when time “stutters” trapping everyone else in a loop but allowing you the freedom to move around within the scene. In the midst of an explosion you can walk between the debris and avoid getting injured while everything around you remains frozen in the time loop. This is the main game mechanic which is developed further by unlocking more time bending powers later in the game.
Otherwise it is a pretty standard third person cover based shooter, you pop in and out of cover smoothly, mixing the new powers with old fashioned shooting. As you learn more tricks you can deliver more powerful attacks, a particular favourite of mine was using the time bubble and firing a barrage of bullets into it so they all arrive at once in a single devastating blast.
As mentioned earlier the detective aspect of the game balances out the shooting to deliver the narrative. By discovering documents, emails, videos, radio recordings, and mixing them with the live action sequences a compelling story is delivered. This is what saves an otherwise standard shooter from becoming dull, the story is the driving force and the reason you will keep playing long after the shooting mechanics have lost their appeal.
Quantum Break definitely has Remedy’s pedigree for combining storytelling and solid gameplay. The live-action component is on par with most highly rated TV shows and adds a lot to the experience which will last about 10 hours, which is just about the right length of time.
Reviewed by Cian Crowdy
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