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Quantum Break Review – Perhaps Not This Time

Remedy Entertainment are a very good studio. The developer has never quite reached the superstar status of your Rockstars, your Bungies or your Naughty Dogs, but their output speaks to a very talented team. The creators of Alan Wake and Max Payne, they have a real knack for storytelling in an action third person game and that's why I've eagerly been looking forward to Quantum Break. There is pedigree, plus the time bending premise of the game and its framing devices, left enough to he hopeful.

What has come to pass has left me a little more muted sadly.

The title puts you in the shoes of Jack Joyce (played here by Sean Ashmore), the brother of scientist Will Joyce (Dominic Monaghan) who has cracked the code of time travel. As we are introduced into the world, we find out Will is rather reluctant to start the machine at the university he works at, while his partner Paul Serene (Aidan Gillen) has brought Jack in to try and convince Will otherwise. Unsurprisingly, the machine gets turned on and, also unsurprisingly, all hell breaks loose. It starts an event in which time is collapsing upon itself, hurtling towards 'Zero State' when all of time will cease to exist. In a rather unique structure, the game portions of the title are accompanied by a 'TV Show' that ends every Act. These are live action segments that run around 20 minutes, attempting to tie the story together. It's a pretty ambitious structure, and while at times the production of the show can reveal pretty telling signs that it had some meagre means, it largely feels like it could hang with a low to mid level sci-fi show (despite some dodgy CGI here and there). It's a neat idea, and underlines the huge ambition Remedy have with this title.

The problem with this all is that, simply, the overall story has quite a few missteps. Now, time travel stories are notoriously pretty messy, and that's fine. There are too many rules that are undefined, and a lot chicanery that can happen in the logic area. But the rules of Quantum Break don't feel entirely represented, leaving some big questions. For example, one of these things that it asks us to merely accept in the game is that 'the past can't be changed', no matter what. But that goes against everything we'd ask ourselves if we had access to time travel. We are simply told that events can't be altered, but we never see the consequences of what would happen if a character refused to do something, or if a loop was broken, despite there being multiple times when that notion should be questioned. In a game about attempting to change the portions of the past to avoid a certain future, this and questions like it shone quite brightly, at least for me.

Quantum Break's story problems run deeper than the mere nature of time travel tropes though. The game feels like it is missing portions in the story department, and I do mean that somewhat literally. At times it feels like there are important scenes cut out the game, with huge jumps in time papered over with some of the connecting tissue missing. Beyond that, the game is very exposition heavy. It spends a lot of time talking at you about what is going on, which would be fine. It's a time travel story and there is always going to be a level of that. It would be fine if were relegated to the first act or so, but instead it keeps up through large portions of the game, arguably to its death. Even that would be forgivable, if key plot points were explained better, but instead, there is a decent amount left handling, with rather bizarre character choices, especially towards the conclusion of the game, that did leave me scratching my head. That's not to say that the game doesn't have its moments, or can't be some silly fun at times, but it feels like important parts of the narrative are not there, or are undercooked, making the whole thing feel a little undermined.

The TV show is a rather experimental creation, which is something I can get behind though. Having a 20 minute show play out in front of you after an Act, with a decent level of production quality is a cool idea, and at times, it can genuinely reinforce the character's motives, or give them some nuance that is lost in the game portion. It's implementation is somewhat clunky mind. Having had a player be actively involved in the game for an hour or two, and then sitting them in front an episode can disrupt the flow of play. These are essential watching too, as they cover a lot of things you need to know within the games world, meaning you can't really skip them and come back later. It's a unique and ambitious way of delivering a story. The way your choices, which are genuinely quite interesting choices, change the outcome of the show is pretty fascinating and clearly a lot of work has gone into the structure of the title. Having said that, the actual dialogue and character actions can come off feeling a bit cliche, and while I enjoyed the ambition, and even fair portions of the show, none of it really grabbed me. If this was on television, it probably isn't a sbow I would stick with for very long, and that's a shame, because I really respect what Remedy Entertainment have tried to pull off here.

Where the game does shine brightest, is when it takes the brakes off and lets you out to play. The title can look down right gorgeous at times, and when the stutters that freeze time hit, walking through scenes of destruction caught in a moment can be really neat. Where I had the most fun with the game, was in it's combat sections. Thanks the the time manipulating powers that you have at your disposal, you can zip around skirmishes, using time dodges, slowing time as you run behind enemies, throwing time infused explosions, there is such a breadth of clever abilities, you never truly feel like there isn't something you can utilise while another one power recharges. The game actually doesn't have you fighting all that much in the grand scheme of things, so it never feels like it outstays its welcome too. It's genuinely pretty unique, and gives Remedy something to build on if it decides to go forward with this franchise. The rest of the game doesn't fare all that great, as it basically down to imprecise platforming and environment exploration, that isn't helped by floaty movement and camera controls. There is also lots of walking around rooms to get parts of the story explained to you. It all looks nice, and it's fun to see some of the staging that the game takes on, but these portions never feel all that involved.

Sadly, while the game does have its moments, Quantum Break is a rather messy outing by Remedy Entertainment. It's full to the brim with ideas and ambition, but also, just as many issues that stop the game from fully realising its potential. I give it full marks for coming up with unique and engaging action mechanics, as well as really trying to achieve something with the TV show it produced. Ultimately the game undercuts itself by having such a huge focus on the story though, because the method in which it tells it with exposition heavy dialogue undersells what the game is trying to achieve. If it had been longer, with more time spent answering important questions left unexplored within the the narrative and more time to craft these characters into something unique, Quantum Break could be fantastic. The game has a distinct charm to it that did make me like it, and what it does well can act as a fairly effective road map for the franchise going forward. It's just a shame that that road map might end up telling the developer where not to go in a lot of instances.

Buy It If: You want a fairly brisk third person action game, with unique combat, an ambitious structure and a story focus, even if you don't mind that story being quite messy.

Avoid It If: The idea of watching 20 minute TV episodes in between your play sounds disruptive, and you expect to be swept up in a resonant and always coherent story.

Score: 6.8

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