Quantum Break's Latest Gameplay Video Looks Very Similar To Max Payne

A new gameplay video has released for Quantum Break coming out of this year's GamesCom event in Cologne, Germany. Microsoft and Sony had a pretty big showing so far at this year's event and both companies have been whipping out their big guns. Speaking of big guns... Microsoft and Remedy Entertainment letting loose eight whole minutes of gameplay for the Xbox One exclusive Quantum Break is a nice way to get gamers excited about the upcoming third-person shooter.

We've been teased with Quantum Break since the Xbox One's debut in 2013, so it's nice that Microsoft and Remedy didn't let the opportunity pass them by to help keep the hype for the game present and relevant as the title heads toward a potentially late spring release in 2015.

The video looks awfully similar in tone to Alan Wake, where-as the gameplay comes across a slowed-down and less thematic version of Max Payne – not counting the time manipulation of course. If we are counting the time manipulation we're looking at a game that still acts like a tonally tame version of Max Payne.

The quantum time works on several different levels, very similar to the bullet-time in Max Payne 2. There's the basic time-stop skill that enables players to move around while everything else freezes, and then there's a slightly more isolated version of the skill that only freezes time within a quantum bubble. When the quantum break occurs (no pun intended) everything that was taking place outside of the bubble will affect anything in the bubble. So as you see in the video above, when you shoot at a quantum bubble it stops the bullets on the outside, but once it breaks the bullets penetrate and hit whatever is inside. It's almost novel but borrows a lot from the one gun from Insomniac's Resistance series.

The time manipulation gimmick is visually engaging, but from what I'm seeing it kind of lacks synergy with any sort of gameplay excitement. The whack-a-mole shooting mechanics look functional but there's not much more than that. Being able to freeze time and run up and punch someone in the face looks kind of cool, though.

I do worry that the game may have a hard time finding an adequate niche to fill. It's not quite as dynamic and no where near as frantic as Max Payne (especially following in the footsteps of Rockstar's impressive take on the series with the third outing) and yet it's not quite as intriguing or as atmospheric as Alan Wake. So it kind of falls somewhere in between as a sort of mediocre looking shooter with an okay time gimmick. It reminds me a bit of LucasArts' Fracture.

Quantum Break has potential but it all depends on how they flesh out the gameplay beyond the freeze time and whack-a-mole shootout segments. Rinsing and repeating that could get pretty tiresome pretty quickly. But we'll see how well it all plays depending on how Remedy evolves the game leading up to its release next year.

For more info feel free to visit the game's official website.