Quantum Conondrum
I really, really wanted to like this game. As with all Remedy joints, Quantum Break was unveiled as another ambitious title with a unique concept. Fifteen years ago it was Max Payne and its revolutionary bullet time gameplay; in 2010, Alan Wake looked to be the unofficial video game adaptation of Twin Peaks; now, at the height of Netflix, Quantum Break looks to meld the interactivity of video games with the world of streaming television. With a few rare exceptions, neither the action or the story result in anything that remarkable.
The story follows Jack Joyce, a man who happens to have the misfortune of being related to the man responsible for time travel. From there, we discover that Jack's brother Will has invented a time machine. Paul Serene, Jack's former best bud, dupes him into essentially causing a fracture in time, and in the process the player is tasked with traveling back and forth in time in order to prevent this from ever happening. The story comes filled with the usual paradoxical time travel tropes, and has its fun moments. For such a zany concept though, it's peculiar (and a little disappointing) that there aren't more spectacular showcases. Remedy opts for restraint in telling their surprisingly mundane sci-fi story.
Speaking of mundane, the TV side of Quantum Break may be its most underwhelming. What was once promised as a new innovation for the video game medium simply turns out to be four twenty-two minute live action episodes of bland television akin to primetime dramas on CBS. The only thing that's HBO about these episodes is the crass language. Tacked on to the end of each act in the game, the Quantum Break TV episodes function as an almost ancillary story to less important characters.
Sandwiched between each act and TV episode are junction points, an exciting feature that puts Jack aside and pits you as Paul, the game's primary antagonist. Played by the Wire's Tom Carcetti, Paul also becomes "infected" by chronon, earning the ability to see the into the future. Without spoiling much, these junction points ask the player to make a crucial decision. For instance, do you cover up Monarch's nefarious activities by eliminating all witnesses, or do you embrace the problem and turn it into a PR stunt? Even cooler is that you can actually watch both scenarios play out before you commit to one.
Gameplay is a mixed bag with Quantum break, focusing primarily on gunplay, exploration, and platforming. While the cover based shooting is pretty standard fare, Jack's ability to manipulate time in these fights is without question the showcase of this experience. Jack obtains most of his powers early on, the most exciting examples being a Flash-like speed run and the ability to immediately zip across the map to an enemy. The most unique time power may very well be a forcefield Jack can toss within the vicinity of a few bad guys, causing a brief lapse in time. All the bullets that you've fired then unload simultaneously for an immensely satisfying kill(s). Sure, you could just hang back and utilize the game's pretty somewhat faulty cover system, but the joy of Quantum Break is using the open area to your advantage for clever use of your abilities. The biggest tragedy is that there simply aren't enough skirmishes throughout the game's five acts. Act three, for example, begins on a strong note with a lethal new enemy, and trudges slowly into an hours worth of walking around labs and reading antagonists' email.
Remedy games have always prided themselves on environmental interaction, and Quantum Break is no exception. There's even a Bright Falls cameo, complete with an appearance from Remedy developer Sam Lake. But for the most part, the quirkiness displayed in Max Payne and Alan Wake is oddly nonexistent in Quantum Break, a rather baffling design decision considering the potential here...this is a game about time travel, after all. Instead, Mr. Joyce spends his quiet time rifling through Monarch's dull email, which they have all conveniently left open for him to read at his leisure. The most quirky example I encountered was a tech geek's inane screenplay idea that I had to stop reading after 250 words. Not terribly engaging material.
While the settings reek of mediocrity, the most infuriating aspect of Quantum Break comes in the form of the game's double dose of platforming and puzzle sections. Puzzles require nothing more than a few timely uses of time powers, but platforming in Quantum Break all but guaranteed its unfortunate spot at the bottom of Remedy's library. Jack rarely lands where you'd like him to, forcing a multitude of retries (through grueling long load times mind you). The ones involving the time stutters late into the game's fourth act are the most trying, offering up the age old question: should I simply turn the console off and never finish this thing?
If it wasn't for the satisfying gunplay and junction points, Quantum Break would be even more disappointing than it already is to its spiritual predecessors. While still a competently made game, I cannot help but compare it to the works that have come before it. With nearly six years separating the release of Quantum Break from Alan Wake, the end result from one of the world's finest video game developers is uncreative, and more than anything else, incredibly puzzling.
