Quantum Break has its work cut out for it: not only is it almost single-handedly representing the Xbox One's exclusive library for the entire first half of 2016, it's attempting to bridge the gap between an interactive game and a traditional television show. Sure, Remedy Entertainment has always been known for playing with narrative structure in its games, but Quantum Break is on an entirely different level.
After nearly three years since its initial reveal, there have been more than a few questions regarding the game's quality. With so many delays being stacked one on top of another, many fans were worried that the finished product would be an incomprehensible mess - how could any one studio hope to overcome two years' worth of production trouble?
Now that Quantum Break is finally here, fans can rest assured that it's not some broken mess of a game. Of course, that means there's only one question left to ask: was Remedy Entertainment able to blend gaming and television like they promised, or is Microsoft's first big exclusive of the year a misfire?
Quantum Break centers around Jack Joyce, a sarcastic everyman with a penchant for getting himself in trouble. After receiving a call from his old friend Paul Serene, Jack returns to his hometown of Riverport, only to find that Paul and his brother Will have somehow discovered how to travel through time. As expected, it doesn't take long for things to go horribly wrong, and Jack soon finds himself on a quest for revenge and a way to fix time from collapsing in on itself.
The game's story is a mixed bag: on one hand, the time traveling script is fun, and actually manages to keep players guessing throughout its eight-hour runtime. Like any good time travel story, it cleverly folds in on itself, making references to earlier events and tying most of its narrative threads together. It helps that the game's characters are all well-acted, and optional collectibles and conversations manage to flesh out Quantum Break's world in a believable (if heavy-handed) fashion.
However, Quantum Break's story doesn't really hold up under any measure of scrutiny. Plot holes are a frequent occurrence, haphazardly explained away or filled with almost insultingly-cliched plot twists. It can also be hard to follow, what with numerous different time periods and versions of characters to keep track of, and the game is perfectly content with teasing characters and concepts that never make an appearance. Choices are also important and do significantly change the show, though you'll need to play through multiple times if you want to tell what's different each time.
Overall, the game's story is solid, and the ending does a nice job of wrapping everything up - it's just that Quantum Break doesn't exactly handle its narrative all that gracefully.
From a presentation standpoint, Quantum Break is all over the place. The art style itself looks great: characters are well-designed, environments are detailed and the various time-based effects look amazing. Watching a truck crash through a office lobby or a tanker ship demolish a bridge is something to behold, and the game is littered with unique, similarly impressive moments throughout its entire story.
Unfortunately, Quantum Break simply can't keep up from a technical standpoint. Aliasing, ghosting, freezing, blurry textures, screen-tearing, long load times and frequent frame rate issues constantly mar an otherwise great-looking game. It doesn't matter what's happening on screen: Quantum Break is a technical mess, and a regular reminder that the engine just can't keep up.
The TV show looks good, though it's nothing all that revolutionary. As with the game, the art design and various time-traveling effects look great, and there's a surprising amount of well-done practical effects as well. You'll need a stable connection if you want to watch the individual episodes in HD, but there's always the option to download all of the episodes to the Xbox One hard drive if you choose.
Quantum Break could have been an absolute mess. Even without the numerous production delays and troubles, trying to make a cohesive story about time travel is no small feat. In the end, though, Quantum Break largely succeeds at telling an engrossing sci-fi story, even if it's not always well-told.
If there's any one thing about the experience that disappoints, it's the presentation. What should have been a benchmark for HD visuals on the Xbox One has fallen flat on its face - it doesn't matter how good the characters or environments look if the console can't handle the workload.
Quantum Break probably won't be the system-seller that Microsoft is hoping for, but that doesn't stop it from being a great game in its own right. If you can get past the visual issues and sometimes-incomprehensible plot, Quantum Break is yet another solid effort from Remedy Entertainment.
This review is based on an Xbox One version of Quantum Break provided by Microsoft.
