Hands-on: Quantum Theory (PS3)
Aping a popular franchise's mechanics and style may be seen as a safe business proposition, but in terms of critical evaluation, the copy-cat game is likely to face stricter judgment. After all, if you're going to copy the good stuff, you've got to get it right.
Tecmo's PlayStation 3 exclusive, Quantum Theory (just Quantum outside of Japan), certainly succeeds in evoking memories of Gears of War -- at least, if you remember Epic's shooter being a technically unsound and completely unappealing disaster. If the Tokyo Game Show build is any indication, Quantum needs to undergo crucial work before its early 2010 release.

Set in the halls of a massive, shape-shifting tower (an intriguing concept on paper), Quantum has all the elements of a solid third-person shooter: the solid protagonist; the cover system and a selection of assault rifles and shotgun equivalents. The game's unique addition to the genre comes in the form of a female, AI-controlled partner who can be tossed toward enemies -- if she's in range -- to temporarily stun them. Though an on-screen indicator reveals when this ability is available following a brief cool-down time, there's no way of telling where your acrobatic aide is in relation to your position. In the middle of a hectic shootout, it can be really difficult to locate her, which is especially problematic if she's been incapacitated by enemy fire.
She's also able to join you in melee combo attack, but the timing required is difficult to discern from what little visual indicators you're given. The whole process is rendered even more difficult by a framerate that can never seem to pull itself out of a slow, stuttering state. Worsened further by blurry, insipid visuals and sluggish controls, the technology powering Quantum clearly isn't ready for a public showing.
While it should (theoretically) see improvement by next year, the uneven graphics engine doesn't appear to be the only source of concern. A boss fight later in the demo only served to frustrate, with a gigantic enemy knocking our burly protagonist to the floor and killing him before his recovery animation could complete. One can hope that Quantum's final release date affords it enough time to get up.
Tecmo's PlayStation 3 exclusive, Quantum Theory (just Quantum outside of Japan), certainly succeeds in evoking memories of Gears of War -- at least, if you remember Epic's shooter being a technically unsound and completely unappealing disaster. If the Tokyo Game Show build is any indication, Quantum needs to undergo crucial work before its early 2010 release.
Gallery: Quantum Theory

Set in the halls of a massive, shape-shifting tower (an intriguing concept on paper), Quantum has all the elements of a solid third-person shooter: the solid protagonist; the cover system and a selection of assault rifles and shotgun equivalents. The game's unique addition to the genre comes in the form of a female, AI-controlled partner who can be tossed toward enemies -- if she's in range -- to temporarily stun them. Though an on-screen indicator reveals when this ability is available following a brief cool-down time, there's no way of telling where your acrobatic aide is in relation to your position. In the middle of a hectic shootout, it can be really difficult to locate her, which is especially problematic if she's been incapacitated by enemy fire.
She's also able to join you in melee combo attack, but the timing required is difficult to discern from what little visual indicators you're given. The whole process is rendered even more difficult by a framerate that can never seem to pull itself out of a slow, stuttering state. Worsened further by blurry, insipid visuals and sluggish controls, the technology powering Quantum clearly isn't ready for a public showing.
While it should (theoretically) see improvement by next year, the uneven graphics engine doesn't appear to be the only source of concern. A boss fight later in the demo only served to frustrate, with a gigantic enemy knocking our burly protagonist to the floor and killing him before his recovery animation could complete. One can hope that Quantum's final release date affords it enough time to get up.












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ifalldownstairs @ Oct 5th 2009 12:50PM
ouch. doesn't sound like you have too much hope then...
Demaar @ Oct 5th 2009 11:22PM
They paint a very bleak picture, huh? Personally I'm hoping Tecmo can get their shit together. This sounds like it could turn out to be something interesting. Hopefully the developers understand what made Gears so much fun and that the melee combat meshes well with the gun play.
tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 5th 2009 12:53PM
What a surprise, a japanese company failing to successfully mimic a western genre as well as failing to get a modern engine running on 360/ps3. I'm probably being a bit unfair here, as I routinely bash japanese companies for making the same thing all the time, but if you're gonna put out a poor effort then why bother at all?
baby sea tuna @ Oct 5th 2009 1:03PM
You're gonna get downvoted, most likely, but you're totally right this time.
DeathroW @ Oct 5th 2009 1:09PM
Even those in the japanese games industry (Higher ups at Capcom, Hideo Kojima, etc) have been talking about how they have fallen behind, hence the reason Hideo kojima has been determined to stay connected with western games developers.
ducttapeBigSexy @ Oct 5th 2009 1:10PM
What's even worse is that they can't blame it on a poor 360 port - this is a PS3 only title.
Considering that developers have proven that PS3-only titles can (and should) look amazing (Killzone 2, Uncharted 2), there's just no excuse anymore.
Ghen @ Oct 5th 2009 1:20PM
I downvoted baby sea tuna because today is opposite day.
Jerk Face @ Oct 5th 2009 1:32PM
It's kind of a shame, right? There's such a disconnect between the kinds of games Japanese gamers like and what the rest of the world is into. It makes companies out of Japan seem so behind the times, in a way. It kind of sucks, since if it weren't for Japanese developers and hardware manufacturers, video games wouldn't be where they are today.
It kind of makes you want to grab the execs and be like, "MAKE BETTER VIDEO GAMES."
And then just shake the shit out of them.
Matt @ Oct 5th 2009 1:53PM
Hey now, this has a nice grainy, war-torn look to it.
That is if the game itself was... made during or after a war, on destroyed old computers that lack modern rendering technology.
All I can say is, I remember you guys discussing this in I think the 9/25 podcast, and how right you were - this footage looks like shit.
XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 5th 2009 2:10PM
Not to mention terrible voice acting in the first trailer I saw, complete with trite-looking characters.
freaparn @ Oct 5th 2009 2:27PM
Yeah, that chipper fellow with the X on his forehead makes me chuckle every time I see him. Somehow the whole "roid rage" look doesn't mesh well with the "goth as fuck" look.
XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 [Planeteer | Power of General Hostility and Angst] @ Oct 5th 2009 2:37PM
"Everything changes...but the rush."
**Facepalm**
Josh @ Oct 5th 2009 4:10PM
The reason the game fails is that the developers are trying to mimic what they *think* the West is (guns, action, dark, third person, etc. -- superficial stuff), instead of actually developing games to their own strengths.
It's fine if they want to make those games that just *happen* to be popular in the West, like Gears of War, but they have to actually truly want to make a game like that, rather than just want to superficially mimic one based on a misunderstanding of what exactly makes the game popular over here.
Gavin @ Oct 5th 2009 7:45PM
The moving floors in the trailer were an interesting touch... but yeesh, the edges on the models and how cuts in enemies looked like 'chunky poligons' is pretty bad looking
kentuckyfried @ Oct 5th 2009 11:57PM
MGO is a good start...not perfect, but a good start.
It's unfortunate that the game got saddled with the Konami ID system stuff.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 5th 2009 12:53PM
Weird, it's Gears with Japanese-style boss battles.
robert @ Oct 5th 2009 4:52PM
...
And yet it's shite?
J @ Oct 5th 2009 12:54PM
I wanna break all the party balloons!
robotoid @ Oct 5th 2009 12:55PM
wow the character design is terrible.
SugarDaddy @ Oct 5th 2009 2:46PM
Seriously. Instead of a giant X, the character should have a giant "LAME" written on his forehead. What the hell is that about?
This game is the very definition of cliche.
Captain Planet [Planeteer | Power of Captain Planet] @ Oct 5th 2009 12:56PM
This has "meh" written all over it.
daniel @ Oct 5th 2009 1:01PM
Give the game a chance... at least there doing something that no one else is really doing... apart from gears of war.
Its always going to be hard to make a game when everything you do is going to be compared with gears of war just liek dark sector...
I say give the game a chance and stop being pessimistic!! The trailer looks pretty cool btw... even if the rendering looked reall good in some parts and rubbish in others, but i suppose its no finished yet.
dgknight500 @ Oct 5th 2009 1:43PM
dude... the running animation and getting behind cover is EXACTLY like gears. Hell, the sniper riffle scope looks the same as well... If that doesn't make you think thats its a complete and utter gears clone, wait till you see the grenades...
Matt @ Oct 5th 2009 1:53PM
Daniel,
You're either a fanboy douche, or just a douche.
Either way - good luck to you, sir!
michael @ Oct 5th 2009 2:01PM
I agree with you, people stop bashing the game. Just give a chance. If you're going to attack the game. You might as well attack Uncharted 2, because both Uncharted uses the same cover system as Gears.
Did you forget Gears Of War took the cover system from Namco's Kill.Switch (I wish Namco could make the sequel to that game). Just give this game a chance OK.
SoulBlade @ Oct 5th 2009 2:48PM
i second the vote for a kill.switch sequel. not many people realize it did a lot of things prior to Gears.
SugarDaddy @ Oct 5th 2009 2:50PM
It's an obvious Gears clone. It's Gears for the PS3.
Cover system? Check!
Sprint system w/ crouched running? Check!
Big characters in big ass armor? Check!
Giant lancer-esque assault rifles? Check!
Gritty look and feel? Check!
Gritty-voiced main character? Check!
Apocalyptic setting? Check!
Shall I go on?
David @ Oct 5th 2009 3:34PM
Did you watch that video or read the article? The game has already had all the goodwill it deserves. People did give this game a chance; now it's been shown and the result has proven the skepticism and disproven most optimism. This game has had its chance and blown it, apparently rather spectacularly. It's nice that there is some residual hope that this game can turn itself around, but to pretend any "bashing" of this game is somehow unwarranted is just completely unreasonable now. I haven't played it yet, but problems as glaring as stuttering framerate, mediocre graphics and design, glaring oversights in gameplay (that boss fight sounds ridiculous) and poor implementation of experimental mechanics leave little room for justifiable optimism.
Kaio @ Oct 5th 2009 3:53PM
Joystiq is riddled with 360 fanboys
pewpewzkay @ Oct 5th 2009 4:41PM
joystiq has its fair share of fanboys from all consoles moron
Bobsuruncle @ Oct 5th 2009 4:51PM
@Kaio
lol says the ps3 fanboy, seriously I've seen you say the same shit in other posts
I would say joystiq is overrun more by ps3 fanboys these days trying to justify their "glorious" console/games
Saihna @ Oct 5th 2009 6:43PM
Console wars are stupid.
TRACE @ Oct 5th 2009 12:59PM
Whoa, that was pretty bad dialog and narration. If The Conduit was attempting to be the Wii's Halo then this is obviously trying the be the PS3's Gears.
jarhead906 @ Oct 5th 2009 1:24PM
Just in case everyone forgot, the dev team was candid about the whole game stating that they were huge fans of the Gears of War series (not to mention Epic) and that they wanted to build upon the genre that Epic/Gears contributed to.
Babel @ Oct 5th 2009 12:59PM
Aw man, I was intrigued by the 'living tower' idea when I read about it...
Tao Xuin @ Oct 5th 2009 1:01PM
Gears of Bore.
Captain Planet [Planeteer | Power of Captain Planet] @ Oct 5th 2009 1:29PM
More like Gears of Suck
robotoid @ Oct 5th 2009 1:40PM
Gears of Crap
dgknight500 @ Oct 5th 2009 1:44PM
Gears of Feces
Phizzy @ Oct 5th 2009 2:22PM
Yeah, Gears of War is shit, right guys?
MrAlex @ Oct 5th 2009 1:01PM
Ugh, game looks horrible, quite liked gears but this lacks all of the good features, just leaving the generic design and plot, which is practically ripped from gears. Definately not interested for now.
MrAlex @ Oct 5th 2009 1:02PM
Also why are you fighting the guy from white knight chronicles?
GiggMan @ Oct 5th 2009 1:01PM
Looks like Gears is safe....
Whoever thought up those character designs needs a career change.
murray_cathal @ Oct 5th 2009 1:24PM
Yes because gears is the fucking king when it comes to character design
Kdiggy @ Oct 5th 2009 2:45PM
Ironic... the characters look like they were pulled straight from Gears. But they suck because they are not found in a Gear's game. If they were placed in a Gears game then they would be ZOMG WTF BBQ, right?
WiredKnight: Keeper of Threads @ Oct 5th 2009 3:39PM
Gears' character designs may be kind of generic/cliche, but at least the models are done well. Quantum's character models look awful, the detailing on the armor all just runs together and looks like noise, it lacks any distinct shape or form.
Skizz @ Oct 5th 2009 1:02PM
DID YOU HEAR! A LIVING TOWER. IT'S ALIVE!!!!
Stevetrop @ Oct 5th 2009 1:05PM
I just want a damn new rendition of tecmo bowl. No nfl teams has to be in it just football. Keep the classic look though they could bump it up for a 2d hd look to it.
Thats all i ask tecmo....
useedems @ Oct 5th 2009 7:12PM
Bah, give us another Deception with a modern rendering engine that doesn't bring the console to its knees (Deception 4) and we're good.
Kinsey @ Oct 5th 2009 1:10PM
The game looks like it has a lot of potential, but even the graphics in the trailer are subpar so far. I look forward to seeing more progress in the future.