At the first glance we played Quantum Break we only could say: “OMG…this game looks fantastic.” Remedy’s newest game is an action blockbuster that looks incredible. Quantum Break shows how games could look like on the Xbox One console. Remedy knows that a just great looking game is not everything that a it should have. This is the reason why the developers of well known games like Max Payne and Alan Wake included in their latest blockbuster a lot of different opportunities for the player to choose between tricky decision in the storyline, a lot of action and a dramatic but also romantic story.
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This game also includes well known actors like Lance Reddick (Lost), Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings) and Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones). With this actors they produced a lot of serial stuff and added this into the game. This all sounds as if this game would be an innovation in the games industry. But what is the reality. Let’s find out.
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Some people think that it would be great if they could manipulation the time. But time should not be easily to abused. This is what happens to Jack Joyce which is played by Shawn Ashmore. This actor is also known as the Iceman from the “X-Men” movies.
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Jack’s old friend Paul Serene need his help after a long holiday in Thailand. This is the reason why Jack comes back to his hometown called Riverport. Paul needs Jack’s help because Paul is working on a time machine with Jack’s brother William at the Riverport-University. The tests are not completed, but Paul wants to prove together with Jack, that the machine works well. It comes as it had to, the experiment fails and a huge explosion destroys the time continuum. The consequences: It happens a lot of times that the time freeses. That means that birds ossify in the air, coffee cups and papers floating paralyzed in the meeting room, and the city traffic stops. Jack is now able to manipulate the time in addition to that and his friend is now 17 years older and is also the head of the dodgy Monarch Group. Only 5 minutes after the experiment you can spot Monarch-Soldiers in the laboratory. This soldier want to kill Jack. Everyone who seems to be irritated right now has the same feeling like Jack. But this is what we like about this game and what has to be in a well made mystery-series. The plot and reasons, which means why somethings happens like it did, reveals itself to the player or viewer little by little in the course of the plot.
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Fantastic looking ingame-sequences and 4 live action sequences, each 22 minutes long, shows the play how the story about the main characters Paul and William continues. What we like is that we do not only see the storyline of the main character.
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While you are playing the game you can enjoy the story of the main character, but the short TV-Episodes show us the other side of the coin, the enemy’s story.
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What we also like is that we can identify ourself with the character because of the live action scenes and the fantastic work of the actors. This all contribute significantly to the game’s atmosphere. In addition to that we like it that the episode’s quality are as good as in real TV series. The live action sequences always ends with a decision point. This episodes starts with end the end of a mission in a video player automatically. It is also possible to pause the video. It is also possible to watch unlocked episodes in the menu again. The decision players taking only have influences on the first five up to ten minutes of the videos. Unfortunately, we could not see any differences in the game itself. The storyline is linear.
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Most people do not like long movie sequences in game, but what we like is that all episodes include a lot of action, gunfights, car chases and dialogues. In addition to that, all episodes ends with a cliffhanger. This makes us hungry for more so that we want to see how the story goes on and what happens next. We not want to spoiler anything at this point, because the storyline offers a lot surprises.
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Quantum Break is a shooter in which the player use a lot of different objects to cover themselves behind them. But you can not compare Quantum Break with games like Gears of War, The Division and other like that. Unfortunately, this game has not great cover mechanics. Jack search for cover behind objects alone. It is also not possible to shoot blind if you are covered. Player also have to aim the enemies before they can shoot. But it is possible to get used to with the movement system. It is great to shoot your way throug all this great looking levels. The most used feature are the six different time forces. One of them is the view through the time. This activates a kind of X-ray vision. This allows us to see enemies and useful stuff. It is also possible to open a useful time-shield that protect us. In addition to that, players can use the time-stopper. This is a useful granate that freezes the enemies. It is also to use a feature that allows us to slow the time down like in the Max Payn games. We also love the realistic movements of the enemies.
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The most we love is the spectacular presentation of this game. If we freeze the time by using the time stopper, use our MP to shoot on explosive barrels we love to enjoy the great looking lights and sounds when the half level explodes. We notice that Remedy have put a lot of work to give Quantum Break a great finish touch. Unfortunately, the game running only in 720p on the XBox One, but it’s running very well.
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We think that this game could be on the normal difficulty level a little bit to easy for real shooter veterans. This could be, because the enemies are very defensive and it is very easy to trick them. It happens for example not often that the enemies tried to attack us from the back. But this game is definitely not unassuming or boring. Jack can not take a lot of bullets and there are in addition to the normal enemies some very good snipers and some Monarch-troops with Chronon-Suits. This suits allows them to manipulate the time, too. There are the huge enemies that can only be hit at the back. Because of them we havbe to use all time features we have. Jack can also upgrade his talents by finding Chronon-Sources. This upgrades allows for example to increase the damage.
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What we like is that Remedy was able to include a game with exciting gun fights and great puzzle and dexterity elements. We love how complete this game is. We also like, that the puzzles are not the main thing of this game. Quantum Break is a great action shooter that is lovely supported by his great story like for example the Max Payn games. We know that the decisions the players have to decide have no influence on the game or gameplay, but this was not what we expected. We can not wait to play the game once again on a harder difficulty level and to choose the other option we have. We can not see enough of this great made and spectacular action sequences. Unfortunately, we wished this game would offer more content that just for 8 up to 10 hours of gameplay, which also includes the watching of all live action episodes. Everyone who loves great made popcorn-action will get nothing better at this time. We felt in love in this game and think that all fans of the Max Payn games will love Quantum Break, too. Thank you Remedy. We love the game’s story, the great actors and their work, the characters and well presented gunfights. The switch between gameplay and TV-Series is great implemented. A great game for everyone.
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