Quantum Break
My, oh my we’ve come a long way since Sewer Shark, haven’t we? Since CD-ROMs came into use in the early 90s, many video game developers have tried to fuse games and movies/TV to tell their stories. (In the early days, it was just called FMV, or full-motion video). Most of these attempts have failed, usually due to bad acting and poor production values. Quantum Break—an Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive developed by Remedy—succeeds where all of its predecessors failed. Following a time-travelling experiment gone awry, you’re a man on the run with a couple of guns, lots of bad guys to shoot, and an array of newfound time-altering superpowers. The introduction of the powers transforms an average third-person shooter into a memorable one, but the exceptional motion-capture performances and accompanying live-action show are what put Quantum Break over the top. Starring the greatly underrated Shawn Ashmore (The Following), Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings), and reuniting Wire alums Aiden Gillen and Lance Reddick, Quantum Break moves along at a brisk pace, when you’re controlling the action and when you’re not (though the choices you make in-game dictate which episodes you’ll see). You’ll binge watch/play through the whole experience as quickly as you ate up the latest season of Daredevil. Gamers owe a collective thank you to developer Remedy for finally showing us all what a successful melding of the two mediums really looks like.