We auditioned Quantum Break – Gamereactor Norway

Gamereactor and yours truly got a chance to visit it as enough is the most ambitious developer studio in Finland. Remedy has 20 years created a number of well known and lesser known games from its building in Espoo (neighboring city Helsinki). Now they are at the end of releasing one of its biggest and most important games ever. Can Quantum Break live up to the enormous expectations gaming world by Max Payne and Alan Wake?

My visit started with a pleasant surprise. During his welcome speech confirmed the fact that the rumors were true: Quantum Break comes to PC via Windows 10 computer players do not have to wait long since the game launched for the Xbox One and PC on April 5.

Before we went away on the game itself, we got a great tour around the area. The tour took us among other motion capture their studio and a number of other impressive departments where countless man hours have gone by. The main message was crystal clear. Remedy want to achieve production values ​​that rival the biggest studios in the industry. The work methods and methods reminiscent in many ways to those used in the film industry. Remedy has however had a tougher job since they have developed their own tools for facial and motion animations.

Everything on the tour without a doubt, which of course was the point. But it also got me to understand why they have spent so long in Quantum Break. Remedys principal and “Creative Director” Sam Lake told that from the beginning of wanted to create game worlds in response to a Hollywood blockbuster. This by combining a cinematic representation of an action-dominated gaming experience we’ve never seen before. Lake admitted that it is a brave, if not daring, aim, but he was optimistic that everything was in place to achieve both high production standards and innovative ideas by integrating live action in history.

Quantum Breaks gameplay consists of five acts in which you control Jack Joyce (Shawn Ashmore). Your goal is to survive both the time is about to collapse, and your former friend Paul Serene (Aidan Gillen) and his unscrupulous company, Monarch Solutions. Towards the end of each act the game switches dog’s eye view of the Serenes page, where we learn that everything is not so black and white as you might think. As Serene players must choose between different paths the future will bring. One should be careful about the choices one makes in these “crossroads” because they literally manage the timeline in different directions, which in turn affects the game progress and live action sequences. This is where we find one of the game’s biggest advantages. For since these choices of different follow both individual events and end of the story could change drastically. Remedy said that this was a production and author-related nightmares. The last live action episode had created in 40 different variations.

As an example, we got to experience the game’s first intersection. It took place after the first counted, and in the aftermath of a time breaking event. Paul Serene had to decide how to deal with the situation in terms of publicity. The options were “Hard Line” or “PR”. If they chose the former would Monarch do absolutely everything to cover up the incident, and even kill witnesses. Although the solution would have been effective in the short term would the first to the inhabitants of River Port City to turn against the company. “PR” option, however, would lead to that Jack was seen as the culprit, and increase the chance of an imminent arrest. It would, however, also could lead to more traces of Monarchs involvement in tidseksperimentene and disaster. Fortunately, one does not these elections completely ignorant. Serenes exposure time cracks lets the player see small parts of each timeline before a decision is made.

After the election we saw what may be most controversial of the game. When the game was first announced it seemed as if it would go a television series simultaneously with the game, but this is not the case anymore. Now they will instead come as 20-40 minute episodes between each act. They focus mainly on what Serene and Monarch makes while playable sequences occurred. The first episode focused on Monarch agent Liam Burke who woke up to a phone call about what the company had done. Since I chose “Hard Line”, and many innocents had been killed, began Burke to question the loyalty of his and his future in the company.

The live action sequences were pretty well completed, and was definitely on par with most American television series. I must give extra widely praised for Adian Gillen, like most well known as Game of Thrones’ Petyr “Little Finger” Baelish and Lance Riddick from The Wire. Both do a very good job as the game hovedantagonister.

The quality of play is reflected in game sequences. Facial animations are arguably some of the best I’ve seen in a videogame. I must nevertheless admit that the transition from live action and game were shocking even though I knew about it beforehand. Leaving the control for several minutes to see an episode is probably what some people will not like. Although you can jump over them, to see them later. I can not, however, imagine doing this yourself. They portray a completely different side of the game and felt to me that as a nice addition to the experience. Again, this is clearly going to split the players’ opinions.

But how was the gameplay itself? We got a surprising amount of time with the game. Not only did we complete the first counted, but also some strategically selected sequences from the second act. I does not wish to divulge much of the story since Quantum Break is clearly a game it pays to know as little as possible about before you play it. The game starts peacefully Riverport University, where you meet the main characters and introduced for time travel experiment. Of course, everything goes wrong, and the player is thrust into chaos. Beginning felt well balanced and there were minimal training and distractions. Quantum Break is essentially a third-person shooter, which obviously has some interesting peculiarities in terms of time manipulative powers. First, the game serves as a game that is about to peep in and out of coverage, but that impression is misleading. To hide behind cover protects the player to a small degree, and the only way to significantly damage is going from cover to cover while using special powers.

Remedys representatives told us that the combat system is made as easy as possible to emphasize Jacks forces. For example, it is not separated buttons for coverage, jumping and stealth, which many third-person shooter has nowadays. Instead you have to use skills which freezes enemies in time, helps you quickly from cover to cover and protective time bubbles that protect you from bullets. Harnessing these skills were absolutely necessary for survival Monarch soldiers attack. Many of the journalists got so much pounding on the highest difficulty level that they had to curb it.

Aiming and shooting felt on the other side a little too sensitive. I generally have high sensitivity, but this time I had to curb it properly. Outside of that it was hard to find major problems with the game. The excitement was dynamic and entertaining, and was well balanced with some light plattforming- and puzzle sequences that required that you used the different forces in creative ways. The menus revealed also that we get more skills in the later acts. These can be upgraded using skill points you accrue by killing enemies in imaginative ways. It is of course also collect items, recordings and similar spread throughout the game.

Quantum Break is an extremely interesting game launch. The time of the game, junctions and live action sequences has made me very optimistic. The long wait and delay had put a damper on my expectations, but advance the look-fired to the up to full blast again. Remedy has obviously used the extra time well and Quantum Break seems to be one of the most visually and story wise ambitious games in a long time. It is a fascinating mixture of a sci-fi, action games and live action storytelling, but it is almost impossible to predict how they merge eventually. One can not denying people will find live action section is an unnecessary element. Remedy seems to be aware of this, but opted for this procedure in hopes of setting new standards in video game history representation. I am at least optimistic and can not wait to get your hands on the finished release April 5.