Vanquish

Vanquish is a third-person shooter from the creator of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami. Developed by Platinum Games and Published by Sega Vanquish is a incredible third person shooter. After the first ten minutes of the campaign you’ll realize that Vanquish is an exceptionally cool game that emphasizes on style, skill, and over the top action. Players will shoot, slide, dodge, and sometimes smoke through elaborate action-based environment. From beginning to end Vanquish offers an experience that will satisfy any action junkie.

 The story of Vanquish is the low point of the game but offers context. Players are put into the shoes of Sam Gideon, a researcher for DARPA industries that specializes in creating high power battle suits and power systems for the United States. A Space Station that was partly developed by DARPA is taken over by a Russian extremist group known as the Order of the Russian Star. The station is weaponized via microwave energy and turned on San Francisco. In responses to the attack, the United States deploys a full fleet of soldiers to disable the group and recapture the weapon. Sam joins the operation to gather intel on the ARS battle suit performance in battle, but in fact Sam is conducting a secret mission rescue Professor Candide, partial creator of the space station and captive of the Order.

The story sounds complex on paper but becomes rather dull due in large part to cliché voice acting. The characters offer little interest other then offering reasons for while the player should be in a certain area. Even though the connection between Sam and his tactical operative Elena offered a small dose of romantic connection, it wasn’t strong enough to gain interest.

Vanquish is an excellent combination of gunplay, shooting, arcade-style shooting, and insanely fast based movement that never feels overwhelming. The gunplay is very easy to handle and plays similar to more popular third-person shooters. There are several weapons to choose from that include the classic assault rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, and sniper rifle. There are also more elaborate weapons such as the lock-on-laser. Every weapon, including grenades, can be upgraded based on weapon Sam’s holding either through upgrade cubes or having the maximum amount of ammunition. This requires that the player manage their inventory to determine what they want to upgrade.

However Vanquish is a game that requires quick reflexes due to it fast pace action scenarios. The cover system is responsible and is vital for staying alive. Vanquish isn’t an easy game and demands that the player becomes fully aware of the abilities the ARS suit grants him, such as sliding in surfaces and slowing down time. When Sam is near death the suits slowing ability kicks in allowing him to evade danger. However death is generally fair and due to human error rather than unfair balancing.

The most noticeable difference between Vanquish and other shooters is the ARS suit’s boosting mechanic. This ability allows Sam to activate thrusters throughout the ARS suit that allows Sam to travel at insane speeds throughout the various environments.

The visuals in Vanquish are spectacular. Sam’s ARS suit alone is wonderfully designed with so many moving pieces. The environments themselves are also something to marvel at. The game is cluster with collapsing buildings, bullets spraying, and fights in the background. However I found the inorganic locations to be the most interesting while the organic areas seemed to be lacking the same level of appeal.

The sound and music in Vanquish isn’t anything appealing on its own but works well when coupled with the gameplay. Bullets, explosions, and various other common noises are done fairly well. The music in Vanquish is a collecting of electronically based music that fits Vanquish. There’s nothing wrong with the sound design, but their nothing great about it either.

The campaign isn’t long and can be completed in around six to eight hours. There are leader boards, challenge rooms, and adequate achievements to collect. Vanquish is a stylish and incredible game that has a lot of great gunplay and stunning environments. Even though it was a short seven hours for me I had a great time from start to finish. Overall if you’re looking for something outside the populist gaming library then you should check out Vanquish.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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