Game review: Quantum Break has impressive presentation but could use a break from all the shooting

The most impressive factor about Quantum Break is its presentation. Microsoft via AP

Quantum Break

Microsoft

Xbox One, PC

Two and a half stars

What would you do if you could control time? Visit the future and grab an iPhone 50? Kill a despised historical figure while he’s still a baby? Carve out some time to catch up on your Netflix queue?

Will Joyce, the genius who discovers time travel in Quantum Break, wants none of that. He's the kind of quirky brainiac who just wants to unlock the secrets of the universe. Unfortunately, his tinkering has busted the time-space continuum so badly the whole thing is about to ­collapse.

You play Jack Joyce, Will’s brother, who is dragged into the whole mess by an old friend called Paul Serene.

Paul is head of Monarch Solutions, one of those mysterious corporations that is so powerful it needs its own military force – and he has his own ideas about how to harness the power of time travel.

Is Paul insane? Can Will be saved? It’s up to Jack to find the answers.

Fortunately, he’s the kind of average Joe who, when put to the test, turns out to be ridiculously skilled with firearms.

Unfortunately, saving the world is going to require him to kill hundreds of people who made the mistake of signing on with Monarch. So what could have been an interesting, brain-bending time-travel romp turns into yet another ­trigger-happy violent saga.

At least Jack’s exposure to Will’s device gives him some unique talents. He can dodge bullets, freeze enemies and unleash “time blasts” that hurl opponents into the air.

Occasionally, Jack needs to use his powers to solve rudimentary puzzles – reversing time to restore a broken bridge, for example.

The most distinctive thing about Quantum Break is the way it is presented.

Most of the time, you are controlling Jack in computer-­generated scenarios, like you would in a typical video game. But every so often you are invited to put down your controller and watch what Paul and the other characters are up to.

These non-interactive episodes are shot in full-motion video, with real actors in ­real-life settings.

The quality is decent – on a par with the average episode of 24 – and the cast features some familiar famous faces, including Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones, The Wire) and Lance Reddick (The Wire, Fringe).

Jack is played by Shawn Ashmore, best known for his recent role alongside Kevin Bacon in TV serial-killer drama The ­Following – and it is a little disconcerting to switch from watching the real-life actor to controlling his digital avatar.

The combined effect is a little like binge-watching a season of a middling TV thriller, except that you have some control over the outcome. The video segments you get to see are determined by choices you make in-game, enough so that you'll want to play through Quantum Break a few times to see all the possibilities play out.

That simply makes it all the more disappointing when the drama wraps up with an exasperating, all-too-common firefight that depends more on old-fashioned ballistics than trippy quantum physics.

Quantum Break pulls off some neat tricks with its overall presentation – but you will wish that its individual elements were a bit more clever.