Quantum Break

[bgmnts]

Okay so i've finally downloaded this as its on Xbox Game Pass. Is it worth the bandwidth? I love Remedy games and i've already seen Max Payne on a tele screen and thst was ace BUT Shawn Ashmore and Aidan Gillen have quite irritating faces. Is this a proper Max Payne 3 blockbuster experience of a game?

[The Boston Crab]

It's more like a David Cage kind of game from the bits I played but maybe a bit less daft. It's very cinematic. Graphics are great from memory, that was the impression made. I only played about an hour though because it's not really my thing.

I think Blue Jam or biggy might have played it recently? Could be a false memory.

[biggytitbo]

It's a classic 7/10-ish near miss. There's a lot of good stuff in there, the various powers you get are great but they often don't make enough use of them which is a shame as it could have been a modern Psi-ops. The story is b-movie enjoyable for the most part but it is dragged down by the unnecessary switching between game and the 'live action tv show' sequences, which does not work at all. It also does start to drag a bit by the end and I could never get past one of the later bosses so gave up. I'm hoping the up-coming Control refines the best parts, eg the fun time manipulation powers, and ditches the stuff that didn't work.

[Blue Jam]

Yes, I did play it recently, and I agree with pretty much everything Biggy said up there.

It has a nice Deus Ex feel to it- you get to use some superhuman abilities in clever ways, you can hunt around for nice bits of intel, and even the plot and visual style are a bit Deus Ex, so if you like that series Quantum Break is worth a shot.

It also looks great, the proper acting from proper actors is a bonus, and while the live action episodes woven in feel like a bit of a failed experiment, I still enjoyed them as bits of lore, and it was nice to chill out watching them after a frantic battle- I actually got quite invested in the plot, daft as it is, and the episodes felt like a nice little reward. Also Aiden Gillen being bastardly gives me the RFH, so that was a bonus for me even if it won't be for you.

Where is falls down for me is the combat- the time powers are great fun and it's really satisfying using them to access locked areas and open windows and trying to figure out combinations of them to use in combat, so a game like this really should have the option to adopt a stealthy playstyle and make the most of that. Instead it often forces you to go loud and clear areas of enemies- and the guns aren't especially original and fun, and the gunplay isn't great. The movement is also clunky as fuck, and that final boss battle is just a pain in the arse- I also never finished it...

I have high hopes for Control- if there's a stealth/non-lethal option I'll be happy, Quantum Break was crying out for that. I'd also love to see the back of the boss/miniboss battles- in short, it's like Deus Ex:Human Revolution when it should be more like Mankind Divided.

7/10, aye. Fuckit it's on Game Pass...

[Sebastian Cobb]

This week Sam Beckett leaps into the body of Jimmy White in the 1994 World Championship to put right, what once went wrong.