Quantum Break is Remedy’s highly-anticipated follow-up to the Alan Wake games.

Was it worth the wait?

And I wish Id had the willpower to do so.

The digital series is meant to be interactive, too.

After the end of each act of the game, the story switches to the villains point of view.

The Junctions arent all that interesting, though, and mainly serve to decide which episode to play next.

You are only given two choices in each Junction and the outcome plays out in the digital series.

This is meant to lend a bit of replayability to the story.

But that would mean having to watch more 20-minute videos than I have to…

In Remedys defense, theres no lack of ambition here.

who is admittedly fantastic as the calculating Martin Hatch.

But in doing things this way, Remedy gets its priorities a little mixed up.

Remedy could have easily used its budget to make its game truly stand out from other cover-based shooters.

InMax Payne, it was bullet time.

InAlan Wake, you used light to fight back against enemies that thrived in darkness.

The powers themselves arent all that remarkable.

The same happened when I used Time Dodge, which is essentially bullet time but more timey wimey.

Time Shield is basically a bubble shield that slows down time in a limited radius around you.

So theres a bit of puzzle-solving, but nothing too crazy.

Special units equipped with time harnesses offer a more entertaining challenge, and they look cool, too.

Theyre basically dudes in hazmat suits with these big, grotesque apparatuses on their backs.

(you could see one above.)

Theres deliciously weird science in this game and its impossible not to love.

The gameplay is only really weakened by its predictable action beats.

One thingQuantum Breakdoes really well during its action sequences is that it often forces you to improvise.

(I found the infinite ammo thing kind of dated.

No pun intended.)

The way you use your abilities feels organic.

Controls take a little bit of getting used to, especially when it comes to taking cover.

Jacks a bit stiff when approaching cover.

(Which is why its so frustrating that theres AN ACTUAL TV SHOW stacked on top of it.)

Remedy has always been a studio thats strived to tell great stories in innovative ways.

Remedy even developed fake schematics for the time machines to obsess over.

Because theres always another mission, another objective, and plenty of quips.

The fabric ofQuantum Breakonly begins to fracture when it tries to be more than just a really fun game.

John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek US.

Find more of his work onhis website.

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Rating:

3.5 out of 5