Geekscape Games Reviews Quantum Theory
PS3 owners haven’t quite gotten to experience a decent third person shooter in the Gears of War series. But now, with Tecmo Koei’s release of Quantum Theory, PS3 owners can now have a taste of what 360 owners had… back in 2006.
Quantum Theory plays, looks, and pretty much sounds like Gears of War. It also takes all of the bad from that series and throws it, unwillingly, into this game. I’d like to tell you the story of the game, the plot and the key character points, but it’s told in such a disorganized way that I’m not sure there’s is a story to begin (or end) with.
From what a lowly video-game aficionado gathered from trying to play this monstrosity, Syd (the protaganist) is trying to destroy towers that are spewing monsters from them that terrorize the post-apocolyptic world that you and a team of space marines that look like the flea market versions of the team in Gears of War must defend.
You end up running into a woman by the name of Filena that is on a similar quest and you team up with her (bow chicka wow.)
Syd uses her by throwing her into enemies and by doing so, Filena slices them up, making sort of a sexist fastball special move that you use throughout the game.
The graphics (seen here, in a really crappy Venon-in-Spider-Man-3 looking scene) are as bad as the voice acting, but the main reason I turned off Quantum Theory was the control scheme. Throw an insane amount of lag on top of unresponsive controls and you’ve got yourself a recipe for some pretty frustrating battles right from the beginning. Lining up to get a headshot only to have the input lag ruin your shot can make absolutely anyone rage, hard. I even almost made my entire review one long “FFFFUUUUUUUU.”
On top of that, the cover system they copied from Gears of War did not always work, which sucks because shoot and cover games are becoming so common that one tends to yearn for the days in which you could charge into a fight, almost as if they were playing a “video game.”
Having destructable cover, but not telling the player that, is a major annoyance that will kill you at least once. Why give us a wall to hide behind only to have it destroyed by a laser when hiding behind the pillar next to us makes us damn near indestructible. Yes, I know. Me too. It’s okay. Let’s move on.
For some reason, platforming was also added to the game design. The first time in the game I was presented with platforming, I died about 4 times before I got the timing right and no, that’s not my fault, the control scheme sucks enough so that it makes it a challenge (but not the fun kind.) What is the point of platforming in a third person shooter. I don’t want to have to worry about timing a jump in a game that should be about killing everything that moves… If the input lag wasn’t present, I am sure it wouldn’t be too bad, but still seems out of place for the style of gameplay Quantum Theory is going for.
Alright, okay, I know, this is Tecmo Koei’s first game in this genre and I should be a little more forgiving. But here’s the thing: I just wish that Team Tachyon, the developers of Quantum Theory, had taken more of the good things from third person shooters than bad.
