Then the final boss took me 3 hours to beat as it's so incredibly difficult and requires you to use all your powers beyond what the game will allow. Then you would get an hour of non-stop shooting. The action and storytelling are also poorly paced with entire chapters of just pressing buttons, walking around, and climbing things.
You can upgrade your powers to make them more useful, but they require hidden upgrade points which are really hard to find (I only found 5 through my whole playthrough) so it defeats the purpose of having an upgrade system if the points to use it are hidden. I did use different weapons for different situations, but I had no choice as the game can be so difficult at times you need to use these weapons or powers by default and not by choice. They don't show up often, but when it does it slows down the gameplay and makes it drag. The same four enemies repeat, and to make you use your powers they throw in enemies that are immune to your powers and ones that you need to use your powers to get past their armor. The guns feel fun to shoot, but it's all so generic and boring. You will use them all throughout the game but it feels forced.
The gameplay itself has time stopping and bending abilities with Jack Time Rushing enemies to fly by them, using Time Blasts for AOE effects, shields, and various other abilities. Then you get a 15-minute live-action cutscene which is the best parts of the entire game. After each chapter, there is a junction in which you play as Paul and have to make a choice. On top of this, the 5 different choices you make in the story don't affect the outcome of the story which makes it feel pointless. Seeing the end of time would have been fascinating if just for a little while. It's referenced frequently that the end of time is caused by the fracture from the time machine, but we never see it. I really wanted to like the story here as the acting is top-notch and the live action cut scenes are fantastic, but it's so convoluted and there are so many things that aren't explored. The game does this whole start at the end, then work your way back to the beginning sort of story and filling in gaps on the way. Paul Serene, the antagonist of the game, steals a time travel device from William Joyce and uses it for profit.
Sounds pretty cliche, but the time-bending gameplay and story have some merits. The game starts off with you playing as Jack Joyce who is the brother of William Joyce, who gets stuck in a fight against Monarch Solutions to save the universe. It's been a while since we have seen anything from them, and Quantum Break was quite ambitious with big-name actors, live-action cutscenes, and just an overall large budget. These were both fantastic third-person shooters with great characters and an interesting story. You may know them from little games like Max Payne and Alan Wake. Remedy Entertainment is one of my favorite developers.