By Rob Dolen – Staff Writer
“Quantum Break” is a unique blend between an action video game and an action television show that satisfies both playing and viewing rather successfully.

“Quantum Break” is a third-person action shooter game based on a science fiction universe where an experiment has gone wrong and time itself is ruptured.

The player takes on the role of Jack Joyce, the brother of a scientist who has created a time travel machine. Joyce is caught in an accident with the machine where time itself has transferred its power to him, effectively allowing him to control time.

Paul Serene, another scientist and the brother’s partner, has also retained these powers. Serene takes advantage of these new powers to go back and forth in time to facilitate the end of time on his own terms as CEO of Monarch Solutions, the company he created as a private military corporation as well as a research company to help facilitate the end of time.

“Quantum Break” follows a similar formula that Remedy Entertainment pioneered with the “Max Payne” series in the early 2000s. It’s a cover shooter where the player is forced into constant firefights with Monarch soldiers as they attempt to fight the destruction of the future.

Firefights are fast-paced, exciting and rewarding to players who master their movement and abilities to dominate the enemy forces. Controls are familiar to any “Max Payne” fan and are very intuitive for those unfamiliar with Remedy’s previous works. The main difference in “Quantum Break” is the power to manipulate time with various abilities.

These abilities vary from defensive, offensive and technical applications such as shielding the player from bullets or dodging them altogether to flank the enemies. All of these abilities are also introduced quite early on in the story. Much of the second half of the game relies solely on story progression rather than unlocking new abilities and shifting the difficulty of enemies.

This is not necessarily a downfall for “Quantum Break,” as the storytelling is actually compelling, considering it’s one of the first games to seamlessly combine video game sequences with live-action storytelling.

“Quantum Break” is divided into five acts interspersed with 20-minute episodes of live action television in between. Before each television episode is a junction, which is a sequence where the player makes a decision that influences which scenes are shown in the live-action sequences.

Despite being one of the first of its kind, the television show part of “Quantum Break” feels like a very run-of-the-mill sci-fi action show with several notable actors including Shawn Ashmore (“X-Men” series) and Aidan Gillen (“Game of Thrones”).

The television show serves mostly as a way to flesh out the backstory of the villains in “Quantum Break.” Altogether this creates a surreal but slightly mediocre experience in storytelling, as the story itself doesn’t necessarily innovate in the science fiction genre.

“Quantum Break” is a fresh experiment into how games are developed and played, making it successful for the most part. Despite conforming to genre tropes of science fiction, in execution “Quantum Break” is still fun to play and fun to watch, helping to satisfy both ends of the entertainment spectrum.