Game review: Slow down and enjoy Quantum Break

Screenshot from Xbox One game Quantum Break.

Slow down. Take a minute. Hit pause. Just chill. That's exactly what Quantum Break asks you to do. Frequently.

A time travel drama about, potentially, the end of time, this uber-ambitious Remedy Entertainment production allows players to freeze gameplay and wander around explosive action scenes like they're in the Matrix. That's not all.

Quantum Break includes its very own television show, starring actors from The Wire and Game of Thrones, with episodes interspersed throughout its 10-hour run time.

Shawn Ashmore from Xbox One game Quantum Break.

And, if you really want to take it all in, you'll want to read all the emails, posters and notes dotted around the game that help flesh out the story. Unfortunately, the story is Quantum Break's weakest link.

Early in the game, Lost's Dominic Monaghan mansplains the game's time travel components like this: "Explosion makes time go bad. If time is an egg, that egg is f***ing broken."

Doc Brown just had a hernia.

There are also awkward cover systems to get to grips with, and some terribly generic whack-a-mole shoutouts to get through. Ignore moments like that, though, and you'll find a game that's a blast to play.

As everyman action dude Jack Joyce, you get plenty of time travel abilities to toy with. As well as freezing time, you can time-blast enemies to take them out, and, in some of Quantum Break's best bits, help rebuild key moments from the past to move into the future.

It's a game that throws everything at the wall, and though much of it sticks, it runs the risk of being frozen in time.

Quantum Break

Platform: Xbox One
Rating: R16
Verdict: For once, time is on your side