For the past 15 years, Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment has done its utmost to make video games feel like cinema. The Max Payne series mixed cop thriller grit with every action movie cliché known to man and overlaid its shooter mechanic with super-cool bullet time. Alan Wake shared not just the plot ingredients, but the very structure of a high-end television series complete with chapters that began with the refrain “Previously, on Alan Wake”.
Now the studio’s attempt to make players feel like they’re the star of their own TV show or movie has gone widescreen with Quantum Break. The game, which bears all the filmic hallmarks of the developer’s earlier work – including jump cuts, camera swirls and slow-motion action sequence – will even ship with its own tie-in TV show. In it, players will see the schemes and politicking behind the scenes at Monarch, the shadowy corporation that’s trying to capture the game’s hero, Jack Joyce. The narrative, Remedy says, will dovetail in and out of the game’s plot. What happens as people play the game, will somehow have an impact on the television plotline.
How is it going to work? Microsoft remains elusive on the subject. “The linear content producers have always been part of the Quantum Break team and have been working on that with our directors and talent,” says Microsoft corporate vice president, Phil Harrison. “Obviously the TV aspect has some significant story elements that we want to be careful not to reveal too early. But I think when you see the two working together, it will make it very clear that the player has significant influence and control over the way the story arc works. I think people are going to find that very exciting. More to come on that in due course”
It’s a pretty bold move and not just because tying the TV and gaming mediums together has met with limited success in the past – anyone remember Defiance? Also, since gaming is an interactive medium, one has to wonder how much of a draw a game-based TV series is. Still, if Quantum Break’s Gamescom demo was anything to go by, players will have plenty to keep them entertained when it’s released next year.
Time stands still
The plot pitch involves a time-travel experiment at a research facility that – wouldn’t you know it – goes horribly wrong. Shortly afterwards, Joyce discovers he has the ability to manipulate time in his immediate vicinity. Most people would revel in this demigod-like power, but Joyce soon learns that time itself is splintering and breaking and will eventually end if he doesn’t find a way to reverse the experiment’s affects. It’s not clear how he’ll be able to do this, but Joyce soon learns that operatives from Monarch Solutions are on his trail and their plans don’t seem to require him having a pulse.
At its core, Quantum Break is very similar to both Alan Wake and the Max Payne games in that it essentially plays like a pop-and-cover third-person shooter with some mechanics that allow players to bend reality somewhat. Joyce’s abilities to manipulate time come in quite handy when faced with a corridor filled with bad guys; he can slow time in his vicinity and thus move in a blur to flank his enemies, or he can stop the bullets from their guns in mid-air and then release them in a spray.
Since this a Remedy game, the combat has style to burn. As Joyce flits between targets the camera whirls and cuts, making every action set piece look achingly cool. When a hot tracer round hits a gas canister and it explodes sending Monarch goons flying, the camera lovingly slows the action down and the sound effects become muffled. When Jack executes a melee attack, his movements slow to the point of impact, at which stage the action speeds up and makes every blow look eye-wateringly painful.
A stuttering story
Away from the combat, Joyce has to navigate his way through Stutters – pockets of space in which time has frozen still. Since the time in Stutters can stop and start at random, Joyce has to use his ability to freeze flying debris in mid-air to create pathways or clear a way forward. In the demo, one particularly spectacular set piece has a bridge being rammed by an oil tanker, forcing Joyce to assemble a series of platforms in order to save himself from a terminal fall into the bay.
It’s all pretty eye-popping stuff, but one can’t help but wonder if Quantum Break has the juice to keep players interested over the eight-plus hours they’d expect to get out of a Triple A title. It all looks extremely familiar – the disaster movie setting, the crop-haired male protagonist, the cool motion effects, the cover shooting, the set-pieces, to shadowy corporation.... That said, Remedy has only shown a snippet of its brand new IP, and the mechanics seem fun. All it needs is a little depth – but that’s something a few cool bullet effects and a tie-in TV show won’t necessarily buy.
Quantum Break is released on Xbox One in spring 2015
