Quantum Break

Remedy has created something new and special with their bold storytelling and great action sequences. Quantum Break isn't just the best game I've played on Xbox One - It's one of the greatest games I've played in years.

Quantum Break is Remedy’s best game to date. It is their most-polished game so far and accomplishes every goal it sets out to from a narrative perspective.

Quantum Break is magnificent, pushing the boundaries of what's possible both technically and from a narrative perspective.

Remedy manages to deliver its masterwork: a perfectly balanced mesh of storytelling ad shooter action, with adrenaline-fueled and highly spectacular gameplay and great acting, all supported by stunning visuals and a very strong sci-fi plot. A must-have for any action and story-driven experiences lover.

Quantum Break is all about one thing: storytelling. The game is dynamic, quick and has a terrific look and feel. Remedy has made a masterpiece.

Quantum Break is another incredibly satisfying action-adventure mystery from Remedy in the same leagues as Alan Wake and the original Max Payne – bolstered by a bigger budget which has resulted in a terrific cast of actors, complex and intriguing storyline and script, and well-implemented live action television sequences.

Quantum Break is an incredible game that will hook you for its ten hour duration and stay with you long after that. The story is packed with mystery, suspense, and engaging characters caught in a high stakes situation where every decision is significant. While adding TV show may not have revolutionized storytelling, Quantum Break is a must play game for those looking to sink their teeth into a meaningful adventure.

While Quantum Break exposes the Xbox One's technical limitations, Remedy has crafted a masterpiece that earns its place among the best that the console has to offer. Quantum Break is the first thoroughly unmissable, truly unique console exclusive the Xbox One has.

It doesn’t move at the breakneck pace of most games nowadays, nor does it ever seem particularly concerned to address some of the plot points or character gaps it leaves dangling, but those that take the chance on the full Quantum Break experience (episodes and all) will find a quirky and unique experience waiting that you just won’t see replicated anywhere else.

Quantum Break is not an Ocean. It’s a Lake. A Lake of experimentations, of narrative overlaps and tons of well crafted gameplay and stunning visual-technological achievements. And once again, through its multilayered story, the interaction between the live drama and the actual gameplay and the artistic script, Quantum Break is not a game for the throng. It’s a game for the ones that feel special enough to fully embrace it.

As a game, Quantum Break is solid. There's a good balance between the shooting and exploration sections, and while some people may dislike the simplicity of the core shooting, the time-related powers augment it enough to make it fun. As a TV show, it does a good job of staying interesting without wearing out its welcome. As a whole, the story nicely melds together both pieces, and the different avenues the tale takes gives you a reason to replay it. Quantum Break is another excellent game from Remedy, and it belongs on the shelves of all adventure game fans.

Nothing will prepare you for the sheer joy however that is your ability to manipulate time; not only because it’s a great gameplay tool, but also because of the gorgeous visual effects that it brings to the table and how it enables you to affect the game’s world.

Quantum Break pushes the third-person genre through a star-studded cast and time-bending gameplay, although it lacks the replay value that many may have hoped for.

Though Quantum Break doesn't always meet its own expectations, the results are spectacular when it does.

The story is quite elaborate, the human character animations are outstanding, the performances are great, and there are some real moving moments in the game

Quantum Break may fail as a transmedia project. The 4 real action episodes start well but they get worse in the end. On the other hand, Quantum Break does achieve what it promised as a game: a fun combat system with cool time powers, it's graphically awesome and it has a great story. Sure, it will get as many fans as haters but that's the price of trying to do new things.

Telling a story inside and outside the game was a risk that ultimately paid off. The result is certainly satisfying. Quantum Break is something special: the best TV show you can play and the best game you can ever watch like a TV show. Remedy delivers once again.

Remedy swung for the fences and hit a homerun with Quantum Break. With an engrossing story, an amazing cast, and the most beautiful visuals on the Xbox One we’ve ever seen, Quantum Break is a masterpiece.

The time manipulation powers are as special as Max Payne's "bullet time" or Alan Wake's fighting with light. The time travel storyline is one that lends itself to discussion, speculation, and adoration among genre fans. Both of these things are then aided by a great cast and truly stunning audio and visual design. Not without missteps, Quantum Break is still an exceptional title that takes chances and looks like the makings of a successful new franchise. In short, it's a hell of a time.

As good as the writing and acting are, Quantum Break is still a game and the game is rock solid.

Quantum Break is another example of Remedy Entertainment sticking to what they know, and doing it better than anyone else. An engrossing adventure with a captivating story. experimentation with new mediums for telling stories in games and refined third-person gameplay to match. Quantum Break isn’t optional, it’s essential.

Like Max Payne and Alan Wake before it, Quantum Break has already left me desperate for a sequel. And with one or two loose threads left dangling tantalisingly, the way is certainly open for one. Quantum Break is another superlative Remedy game, combining story and gameplay to startling effect. I want to go back in time and play it afresh, all over again.

Remedy has crafted a fine game that blurs the line between interactive and sedentary entertainment. The ambition to combine the two into something that is more than just a novelty, but a new avenue into the way we play games is to be commended. A truly all-star cast deftly leads you on a well-scripted journey that you get to take control of, and the results speak for themselves.

Quantum Break is a bold and brave game that dares to be different. With a fascinating story and exhilarating gameplay, Remedy has created another fantastic game.

The overall experience, however, is excellent and the delivery of the game and show is handled with aplomb. I just wanted more of it. Combat is truly rewarding when you start playing with the game’s systems and stacking them to craft your own gameplay flair and style, it’s all just a bit easy (and I’m not even just giving myself bigups for being an awesome player). More TV, a little more game, a longer and more carefully handled ending and a challenge boost would have forced my hand to 10/10, easily. But it’s just not all there. Still an amazing experience though, if time travel is your bag.

Worth the long wait, Remedy has delivered one of the most beautiful games on Xbox with tight gameplay and deep storytelling that will fool you over and over again.

Remedy's experiment with Quantum Break mixing the game and the live action series simultaneously turns out to be a very interesting product. It's an entertaining super hero sci-fi action game with third person shooter elements.

Spectacular action meets impressive real movie episodes: Quantum Breaks looks fantastic and tells a captivating story.

Time paradoxes are always a slippery slope, but Remedy manages to play with them without getting entangled in some quirky and frail plot twist. Unexpectedly, the union between videogame and TV works great; the same cannot be said for the shooting sequences, with some design flaws that can ruin a generally more than enjoyable experience. If you own an Xbox One, Quantum Break should be a part of your collection.

Remedy’s newest action-adventure is ambitious, looks gorgeous and has great action, but the story doesn’t quite live up to its potential. [Apr 2016]

Quantum Break’s tv-series is mildy fun at its best but in the end it is the gameplay that makes you want to experience this title. The spectacular shoot-outs deliver.

Quantum Break is a Remedy shooter at its core, and fans of the developers know what to expect coming in. The merger of TV and gaming has been sought after for years, but they have somehow managed to pull it off. It works, and that is probably the biggest shock out of the entire package.

Quantum Break is like a breath of fresh air. Truth be told, the "TV show" mixed with the game isn't that great, but the story itself (really cool) and interesting characters (really well played by real actors) are something else. Plus the shooting - even though not as important - looks quite unique. Remedy's newest game is an excellent product for gamers who have grown tired of sandboxes and multiplayer games.

All things considered, between a game, live-action show and novel, Quantum Break is one of the most complete and versatile gaming endeavors in recent memory and a phenomenal single-player experience.

Quantum Break is a good exclusive for Xbox One. Probably won't be remembered for any innovation or marvelous feature but it's fun and can entertain the player from the start to finish.

The gameplay is excellent, the cutscenes are interesting, even the live-action stuff is surprisingly engaging. Everything about it works great individually, but everyone will absolutely notice that they're just that: individual parts. The overarching story connecting it all isn't enough to keep it from feeling disjointed...It's a disappointing realization, but not a damning one. Far from it, actually. Remedy's keen understanding of how to make an action title shines through, and it's every bit a game that has been lovingly crafted for years.

Quantum Break is not the most revolutionary of games, and its cute time toys cover what is, at heart, a fairly standardized shooter. However, it carries itself with style and speed to create something genuinely fascinating to play, flavored by a story that, while failing to pay off in the final stretch, is more detailed and engrossing than most in its league.

There's some wonky shooting and a few cringe-worthy story cliches present. But ineffective cover systems and narrative fridges notwithstanding, Quantum Break feels like the first action game taking real lessons from the Netflix binge-watch era, and in that respect, it's a surprising success.

Quantum Break isn’t a perfect game; it’s a bold experiment in how two -mediums can tell a larger story, and at times it pays off. It would be foolish for every game to attempt to emulate this form of storytelling, but Quantum Break as a gaming oddity deserves attention. I wish the events of the show were more significant to the main story, but Quantum Break more than makes up for that with some of the best storytelling and gameplay Remedy has ever produced.

Remedy has, without a doubt, crafted a very creative title with Quantum Break. It’s not going to be the killer exclusive game that so many were looking for with the Xbox One, but it’s definitely been worth the wait. Story gamers will especially delight in replaying the game multiple times to see the various episodes and experience the different paths the game itself can take. For anyone with an Xbox One, Quantum Break is a must-own.

Quantum Break is clever and fun, but it falls a bit short of the expectations that its long development process and robust marketing campaign created. The TV show felt uninspired and the decision-making was not as transcendent as we would have liked. The game is good, just not a revolution.

An exciting and visually spectacular shooter, weighed down by the inclusion of a terrible TV show. [May 2016, p.64]

By itself, Quantum Break wouldn’t have been as successful as it is. The gameplay is not strong enough to stand alone. But in collaboration with the TV series, the stunning cast, the script, the set and character design all work so well together that it elevates Quantum Break for just an interactive experience to an interactive collective.

Time powers are a fun step forward, but pacing issues keep the story firmly in the past. [May 2016, p.73]

The addition of a series in which we are told some parts of the story is a risky experiment but in this case it has proven to be a success. With Quantum Break we face a game with an impressive narrative and loads of action for fans of the genre, but it also has some weak aspects such as the duration of the game and false decision-making.

I commend Remedy for taking a chance on a different way of storytelling in Quantum Break. Although I didn’t enjoy every aspect of the way it was done, I still had an gratifying experience and would look forward to the next installment.

It has its moments where it bares its drawbacks with muddy controls and foggy direction. Mostly though, Quantum Break stays the course and is easily Xbox One’s newest piece of eye candy. A system seller? Probably not. A must-play for a system owner? Absolutely.

It has a few stumbles in its pacing and action, but it combines historic shooter conventions with a set of flashy, delightful superpowers and a live-action component that's easy on the eyes. If you have an Xbox One, this is undoubtedly a game you should play.

This is a genuinely new experience, and I’m beyond glad that Remedy took this bizarre risk and made it. This is a game that feels special, new, and worth trying. I doubted this thing, I really did. But damn if it didn’t get me in the end.

I enjoyed Quantum Break in the same way I enjoy Marvel superhero movies. They’re fun to watch while I kick back and eat some popcorn. But when I go to see The Avengers I don’t have a control pad in my hands, and there’s where Quantum Break gets confusing for me. Sussing out the relative importance of the two halves of Quantum Break messed with my head as much as trying to sort through all the story’s causality loops.

The game's stronger than expected writing and decent cast more than make up for the conceptual banalities.

Quantum Break is an enjoyable game with high replay value, but it underwhelms in several key areas.

Quantum Break emphasizes its narrative, which is sometimes detrimental to its cause. However, despite that fault, what's presented here is a very intricate, interesting and visually stunning game; not to mention one that is very fun to play when it lets the player use its protagonist's time-bending super powers.

The gameplay can get exciting at times, with the fast-paced gun battles and gorgeous abilities, but it’s clear that wasn’t the primary focus for this experience. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing – after all, I thoroughly enjoyed both of my playthroughs. However, if you were expecting battle after battle where you bend time to your will, you will be left wanting.

Quantum Break is a visually impressive game with an interesting story and huge production values. Its gameplay lacks something, but this is still an experience which every Xbox One owner should enjoy.

Quantum Break is a solid TPS game with some original additions like supernatural powers and junction choices. It has some issues, like lack of enemy variety, irregular visual elements or too linear platforms. But it's fun and frantic most of the time.

With its great storytelling and amazing production values, the few shooting parts of Quantum Break leave you with a sense of hunger.

An A+ on its narrative and audiovisual presentation but not near perfect on its gameplay, due to the subjugation of its mechanics to the storytelling. Besides that it's too easy and not very long.

Like Alan Wake, Quantum Break isn't a flawless video game. But it's a proposition - a spectacular and beautiful narrative video game with some great action elements and a unique series within - that has to be considered and will certainly entertain many players.

In spite of a very good and immersive story, Quantum Break fails to hook the player with its old gameplay mechanics, the repetitive nature of the environments you go through and a very linear level design.

As a marquee Microsoft-exclusive action title, Quantum Break delivers impressively on just about every front except that of content; it literally begs for a New Game Plus mode.

An engaging and enjoyable narrative experience, and it makes the most of its stellar cast, pushing the boundaries of storytelling in games and presentation. However, it won’t be for everyone, particularly those who don’t like to be led by the hand or don’t want to spend an extended amount of time watching content rather than interacting with it. It also falsely makes you feel like you have a choice, but then, that’s much of its point, and despite a few missteps this is a story well worth experiencing.

Quantum Break is a great game, but not the groundbreaking experience you might expect from Remedy. It's so focused on the story that usually forgets about gameplay, not taking advantage of the good ideas its playable core is built upon. But don't get us wrong: Quantum Break is a very enjoyable game, with great moments and solid storytelling, but also feels like a missed opportunity for Remedy to make something better than their previous works.

Great narrative and phenomenal action aside, Quantum Break truly brings the cinematic experience into videogames. The many junction choices will make you come back for more, even after completing the game.

Quantum Break's commitment to delivering a rich, layered narrative isn't always conducive to gameplay, but that doesn't diminish how engrossing this is an entertainment experience. The combination of intense time-bending action, gripping story, and cutting-edge presentation make this the kind of game that sucks you in and doesn't let go until the credits roll. While it's not quite as inventive as it thinks it is, Quantum Break is fresh, ambitious, and a heck of a lot of fun.

Quantum Break is an artistically distinct shooter, with a compelling and malleable plot and excellent performances from its main players in both their digital and live-action forms. While I wish more thought had gone into maintaining the thrill of discovering its time-twisting powers from start to finish, it ultimately didn’t prevent me from thoroughly enjoying Quantum Break’s 10-hour campaign, two times over.

It's a game that is over fairly quickly, it misses a trick in combat because Remedy didn't pillage its most famous creation, and it features live action scenes that are best described as enjoyable nonsense. Yet it is just that, enjoyable. Really, really enjoyable once you get to grips with all the powers at your disposal (and level them up). Quantum Break is a glorious use of current-gen power, with the visual fireworks on show making the combat feel positively joyous. As thoroughly entertaining as the whole package is, Quantum Break feels like it managed to reach only 80 per cent of Remedy's potential.

The best part of Quantum Break is found in its narrative design. It's a unique way to tell a story, and it goes way beyond what videogames usually achieve, showing many different points of view and providing many ways to delve deep into the background. On the other hand, the gameplay suffers from occasional poor animations and scarce precision in the control system. Using time powers is fun most of the time, but the difficulty is set on the low side, the gunplay feels repetitive after a while, and the overall duration is below expectations. It will, despite this, please those who are looking for an intense narrative experience.

While the story and the first class presentation show off Remedy’s skills, the shooter mechanics are not as convincing – even though the time manipulation is pretty cool.

I have no trouble recommending it to gamers, albeit with a number of caveats. If you're looking for an intense shooter experience, then you should probably pass on it. If you're looking for something that is without a doubt a unique experience in gaming, then you'll find what you're looking for here.

It is apparent from the first minute to the last that an epic narrative is the primary focus in Quantum Break. From the full-length live action film to the extensive emails and documents, the game beckons you to savor the internal drama and cataclysmic storyline. If you're more interested in skipping to the action, you'll likely be disappointed with the remedial difficulty and generic shooter structure.

Quantum Break has some breathtaking moments and shoot-outs, but its mechanics are a bit shallow and the story is not that strong.

Quantum Break is a dual experience - on one side is its great and interesting story with many interesting ideas, but on the other is mediocre gameplay. At the end, this is a game worth playing, especially if you're a completionist, but not a journey you'd be willing to take once more.

The story, acting and graphics are great, but the gameplay just doesn’t bring enough new ideas to satisfy what I’ve been waiting and hoping for. Add in the fact that the game isn’t very long and it becomes hard for me to recommend Quantum Break at full retail price of sixty bucks.

Quantum Break is a intriguing science-fiction tale told across two media platforms. While the action and exploration in the video game portions shine, the live-action episodes create a disconnect that is hard to recover from.

Quantum Break is a solid shooter but the game doesn't meet our hopes and expectations. Its story doesn't impress, and the story is rather short.

While it doesn't always gel in a way that feels genuinely new, there are enough successful unfamiliar concepts here to make Quantum Break feel like a step forward for Remedy. [June 2016, p.100]

If you extensively use time powers, battles will be quick and colorful – but Quantum Break doesn’t actually encourage that playstyle. Even on the highest difficulty, only one enemy type requires you to teleport around; everyone else can be killed with standard cover shooter routines. What’s even worse is that there’s a considerable lag between the button press and actual use of the ability, which further discourages playing fast and loose. [Issue#208, p.68]

Quantum Break has its own beauty with its TV Show. If we are talking about storytelling, Remedy nails it. Apart from that, Quantum Break is a technical disaster with bad gameplay mechanics and old fashion visuals.

Quantum Break has all the things we ask for from a video game and some things that we don't. Great gameplay, impressive graphics and presentation, and an amazing story are all state of the industry from Remedy. I just wonder what this game might have been if the game aspect of it had been fleshed out just a little bit more.

A bold experiment in marrying passive and interactive elements to create a narrative game, Quantum Break almost succeeds. It looks utterly stunning, and it's fun to play, but overall the game doesn't quite gel with its TV show-style episodes to elevate its experience into something new. What we're left with is an enjoyable game and a half-decent TV show that coexist together, but don't feel like they're fundamentally entwined.

The end product is a carefully plotted sci-fi game and an underwhelming live-action series (streamed following each of the game’s first four acts), made all the more disconcerting because some of its fine actors shine brighter in their digital incarnations.

Jack’s time-based superpowers are a ton of fun to use in combat, but environmental puzzles and platforming sequences, such as a cargo ship caught in a looping time stutter after plowing into a bridge, feel like they’ve been shoehorned in simply to give players something to do between firefights.

Whether you consider Quantum Break a game with episodes, or a mini-series with interactive segments ultimately doesn’t matter - it’s an experience. It may use an unproven formula, but that blueprint is also the main attraction that piques one’s curiosity, even if my own started to waiver amidst a story too interested in its own keywords to talk about anything more depth-inducing. With a dire need to be amongst the blockbusters, it’s an inoffensive, non-threatening tale with big-name actors who try so seriously to make it otherwise. And while not an one interesting story in itself, Quantum Break has an interesting way of being told.

The elements of a fantastic and creative action game are all present and correct, and at times Quantum Break is indeed both of those things. But unfortunately its various disparate parts tend to get in each other’s way, leading to a needlessly complicated presentation that inhibits anything from shining as brightly as it should.

Quantum Break has an identity crisis going on for itself, not knowing if it wants to be a TV show, action game or puzzle platformer. There are elements of everything here, but they’re underdeveloped and improperly paced...Quantum Break is a great game at heart, but it comes with a lot of underutilized potential.

Undeniably ambitious, Remedy's game certainly feels unique in many ways, but perhaps not in the ways that truly matter.

Encounters – generally set in bland open areas – tend to be pretty similar to each other. Jack uses his time shifting abilities – which evolve in terms of range and power, but not sophistication – in the same ways on a limited variety of enemies time and again while relying on an awkward automatic covering system as he reloads or waits for his abilities to recharge. Rinse and repeat. There’s simply not enough variety.

Despite some quite good late-in-the-story character beats, Quantum Break is still just another cautionary tale about time travel. It seems the one thing that never gets an alternate universe path is the notion that time is something that we should never mess with, which is kind of obvious by now. Perhaps this story could have bucked that trend. What saves Quantum Break, though, is the abundance of content and its integration of time-based abilities in combat. I might not have like the live-action episodes, but someone might especially when compared to narratives in other games.

Underneath all the visual fireworks and impressive design Quantum Break is just a pretty good shooter with super powers. Some fights are great, but many enemies are plain dumb.

Quantum Break is a bad movie, but a really good game. It did not convince me with its poor (and poorly told) story and characters that I did not care about at all, but as a shooter it is really enjoyable and creative. [05/2016, p.38]

A brave attempt at cross medium entertainment, let down by leaning more one way than the other.

The best way I can describe Quantum Break is that it’s a game that I never felt compelled to come back to. I never got invested in the experience; when I sat down to play I always enjoyed myself, but I never found any part of Quantum Break to be all that satisfying. It’s obvious that some masterful developers put this game together but the game lacks the intangible grab that truly great games have. Quantum Break for me ends up being a middle of the road third-person action game with some pretty spectacular ideas with shaky execution.

If Quantum Break is a game fractured between two worlds, the one reality set for us as players is the one in which it's a shooter that often isn't a shooter, and a story that doesn't fully explore its narrative potential. It has intriguing ideas regarding both, but in this case, two halves don't really make a whole.

It is explosive, barely coherent, high-budget bluster. And, for the most part, is rather good fun.

Nothing about Quantum Break is bad, but it’s a crude mix of very basic and largely incompatible ingredients. Far from being a disaster it just feels undercooked. Not enough to give you salmonella, but certainly enough to make you wish for something more substantial to get your teeth into.

I find myself in a quandary when thinking about Quantum Break because on one hand, it is an absolute success with how it is able to blend a TV show into a game, but on the other hand, it is a swing and a miss because of its gameplay shortcomings. Quantum Break is unlike any experience you are going to find in video games today, and for that reason, it absolutely deserves additional consideration...If you are more interested in Quantum Break for its gameplay, you may want to hold off until a sale or rental fits your budget, but if you are looking for something that takes a daring step forward with how a video game can be made, Quantum Break is perfect for you.

Getting to the end of Quantum Break can be an interesting ride at times, but no matter how impressive the combat is, or how great the game looks, there's no getting around the fact that it's driven by a story with limited appeal and hindered by disappointing design decisions.

All Quantum Break made me want to do is invent my own time machine to go back and un-play this title, so I could reclaim the nine hours I spent on it.

Some parts the handwriting of Remedy veterans is easily recognizable, but the gameplay is stereotyped and uninspiring. Also the proclaimed connection of the game and the live-action series does not work as intended.

This kind of thing only works when you’re invested in the characters and plot, and with little emotional payoff, the branching narrative feels more like a fun gimmick than anything else...And despite its impressive vision, “gimmicky” is a pretty accurate description of Quantum Break. I give Remedy credit for having the stones to actually follow through on its promise of combining a TV show and a video game, and perhaps there’s indeed a future here. But in a world crammed to the gills with great shows and great games, an experience that does neither particularly well just isn’t worth your precious time.

With this time-spanning opus, Remedy Entertainment hoped to unite narrative gaming and linear television for its Xbox One title. But neither comes out of the experiment well.

What may seem like an ambitious project is in the fact the combination of a standard third-person shooter and the kind of cheap sci-fi drama you might find in the darkest corners of Sky TV. Visually tepid and filled with abortive gunfights and platforming, Quantum Break also struggles to contain its plot, while at the same time underselling its characters. Remedy's previous games have been characterised by a distinctive tone and knowing humour. By comparison Quantum Break is a glossy, charmless, wholly moderate outing.

With great power should come interesting opposition, but in Quantum Break opponents are familiar busywork. First come the clueless bad guys with pop guns, then the smarter ones with high-powered rifles and grenades. Eventually the armored heavies lumber on set schlepping monster machine guns, followed by the spooky special forces with diet versions of your own abilities. Mix and match with scenarios where there’s a device that saps your powers, or the mini-boss has a weak spot on its back, or there’s a Braid-like puzzle you have to solve by slowing an object to open the way forward. It’s all perfectly competent and boringly idiomatic.