It seemed that a native 1080p mode was included in order to iron out the performance issues, while still offering an image quality boost over the 720p of base hardware. Going back to the preview code, we noted a 1440p presentation scaled up to an approximation of 4K via Remedy's temporal filtering technique, but hitting a stable 30fps proved challenging, with the game often dropping frames and introducing screen-tear as a consequence. Xbox One X offers the opportunity to unshackle the game from the confines of the original hardware and in many ways, it achieves this with much success. Combined with the slow-motion gunfights and powerful soundtrack, Quantum Break is a stand-out experience.
Remedy's original game is one of the most technically demanding console titles ever made, featuring an advanced real-time global illumination system and a brilliant effects pipeline, put to use via a stunning time-warping gameplay mechanic.
The good news is that frame-rate problems are essentially a non-issue in the final release, but the bad news is that several distracting visual bugs have been introduced: distracting artefacts that weren't in the port when we first looked at it.įrom our perspective, Quantum Break is an important release for the new console, because the beefed-up hardware represents an opportunity to allow one of Microsoft's most impressive exclusives to more closely reach its full potential. There was just one problem - performance. Visually, it offered a night and day improvement over the existing version of the game, moving more into line with the PC release running on mid to high-end hardware. My full review will be up shortly.Out of the many Xbox One X upgrades we tested during the preview period, Quantum Break was one of the most intriguing, featuring the choice between 1080p and '4K' modes - both a leap over the base Xbox One's 720p - along with enhanced detail.
In the meantime, I’m going to continue playing the game and hoping a patch will sort these lingering frame rate blips out. Quantum Break uses a new engine, Northlight, so perhaps it’s related to that? Who knows. So I don’t know if this is their fault, or if the game is suffering because of having to support the UWP. The PC version of Alan Wake is great, and Remedy have always served our platform well. This thread on NeoGAF is worth keeping an eye on. Posts on forums and social media suggest others haven’t been so lucky-someone with a GTX 980 is allegedly getting under 30 frames on low settings-but not enough people have the game yet to get a real sense of how widespread its problems are. I haven’t played enough of the game yet to form a solid opinion, but I’m glad my performance issues have largely cleared up, because now I can focus on reviewing the damn thing.
Again, I don’t know if this is a problem only affecting me, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I’ve just watched the first ‘episode’, and while the video quality is fantastic, there was some stuttering-especially in fast-paced scenes with a lot of camera movement.
One of the most talked about features in Quantum Break is the live-action TV show that accompanies it, which changes depending on your actions. And I have no idea why a digital copy of the game is £45 on Xbox, yet PC gamers are being charged £50. After the sorry reputation Games For Windows Live had, this isn’t exactly going to enamour people to this new venture. The inconsistent frame rate doesn’t render the game unplayable, but it’s a shame, because this is supposedly one of the flagship games for Microsoft’s new Universal Windows Platform.