Quantum Break changes up the formula of the "cinematic game" in a couple of ways, namely by introducing choices, albeit relatively low impact ones, into the story. That makes all the difference to me, because virtually no cinematic games do this. They're not interested in the player; they're interested in The Writing®. Quantum Break certainly does this too to a degree, but it at least tries to do something different within that framework. The "tv episode" serves to provide a backstory to a character the player is ultimately tasked with defeating - and the choice is theirs to kill or not kill that person. The episodes serve to inform that choice. It's not groundbreaking stuff, and in fact it's likely a holdover from Microsoft's disastrous "TV TV TV Sports" focus at the time, but. it still lets the player express themselves in relation to the story - and it's still an improvement over the passive narratives most "cinematic games" shovel. The larger choices the player is presented with are also done in a relatively novel way; the player is not making choices from the perspective of the hero they play as, they're making choices from the perspective of the villain, during brief shifts in perspective. This allows us a window into the villain, where we understand the altruistic intention behind their actions. They're not on some petty revenge quest or operating under some poorly written Machiavellian excuse; their actions are not only understandable, but actually entirely justified and perfectly reasonable. Combined with the decent gunplay and the time powers, the story and gameplay are an entertaining combination, enough so to warrant a playthrough, and if the time story grabs you, it might be worth a second playthrough to see how the choices impact that story. It's not amazing, and there's still lots of forced "walk and talk" segements, but I enjoyed it enough, so I'll give it a solid 3/5, mostly for trying to do things a little different. Most "cinematic games" land at about a 2/5 for me.
