User Review : Vanquish

Ups

• Fantastic graphics and art direction
• Insanely fast gameplay
• Full of replay value

Downs

• Voice acting is laughable
• Short gameplay
• Leaderboards? That's it?

Real Review: Vanquish

Shinji Mikami is often hailed for the famed Resident Evil franchise and more recently praised for the action/adventure game named Bayonetta. For Vanquish, a game that's been in development for 3 years, it SHOULD be good, right? I mean, it's been in development for three years, a year longer than most games these days. With him at the head, the question remains as to whether his fame is well deserved or should be thrown in the trash.

I'll feel cruel if I hold the answer back, so, yes, his fame is damn well deserved. While that ruins the suspense of the review score, I really needed to tell you guys that the game is just REALLY bad-ass. From the graphics to the gameplay, the game is good. But you probably want to know WHY the game is good or this entire paragraph would be pointless.

But you know the drill: story first. Russia tries to destroy the US, the US strikes back. End of story. Each one of the cinematics are brief and are used to take you from one area to the next; The absence of a good story makes these pointless, though. Oh, and your name is Sam Gideon and you work for a company named NARPA in the near future. You have an ARS (arse?) suit that is loaded with time-slowing mechanisms and ass-jets. I guess that's why the thing's called ARS(E).

The presentation is where you first notice how this game really shines. The graphics are superb, to say the least and look good even on a 360. Your character's suit has to be one of the most intricately designed outfits any game characters has ever has the blessing of wearing. The environments feature variety and detail and enemy and ally character models are well done. The voice acting is cheesy, as is the script, but the wonderful sound effects of gunfire from across the battlefield and the abilities your character possesses. The techno-pop soundtrack is cool to listen to, but isn't incredibly memorable.

However, the gameplay is the game's best feature. The game actually plays like Gears of War, but much faster paced. With Sam's suit, the ability to flip over this or that, then go into a slo-mo type thing to kick some ass is very easy to pull off. Sam's a flexible bastard and a chain smoker, often jumping, shooting, boosting with ass-jets, shooting in slo-mo, then smoking. In that order, of course. The boost is essentially the ability that lets you slide across the floor like a piece of ice against a bowling lane; you'll be sliding all over the place and the ability to slow down time is a neat addition. The drawback is that the suit is limited and overusing these abilities will overheat the suit, causing your powers to sit out for around 10 seconds.

I must say, though, the set pieces are amazing, especially the one with a train. The less said about this piece, the better. Everyone needs to experience it first-hand. Yeah, it has a zero-gravity segment, but the train beats it. The game's also very fond of close encounters. Ship misses you? Close call? Boss killed with last bullet? Close call. Almost died from bunches of enemies? Close call. That's a lot of what the game is and it compliments the furiously fast gameplay style incredibly well. How fast is the gameplay? Okay, imagine Devil May Cry. Okay, now put in Gears of War and this is what you get, a good mix considering the developer.

It seems the critical reception Vanquish has gotten today is very much positive and for good reason. It has a fantastic presentation and an even more well done single-player experience. While the game only lasts around 6 hours, it has replayability and I'm happy it didn't just shoe-horn in multiplayer. It has leaderboards, something that many people will waste their lives on to reach the top. That, and the game is fun makes this a contender for game of the year. While the game ends up being a one-trick pony with some repetitive boss battles, it's one damn fine trick.

Score: 9

Short length means nothing if the game is fun, which it is. One of Shinji Mikami's finest. I recommend a full-out buy

Score

8.9

Graphics

7.5

Sound

9.2

Gameplay

9.7

Fun Factor

7.0

Online

Overall

9.0

[TenSteps]

Hmm interesting but one thing I always ask for games I'm willing to buy.

How varied are the enemy design I always feel disappointed at mechanical enemies because I always see their design as too similar even though they sometimes aren't

[Neckbear]

There are a few of enemies (In fact, the number is quite healthy, if you only wanted to know that. Anyways, I'm going to list off some, so beware of some spoilers and all of that. Won't mention some SPECIFIC enemies that are HUGE spoilers, though.)

First off, the red type (Gorgies). These could be considered the "normal" soldiers, and carry a variety of weapons. Rocket launchers, sniping rifles, you get the idea. You will see them everywhere, and they're pretty simple to kill.

Then, we have the Chicanes. Those transform into cover for the Gorgies (And sometimes, into a Boombox. No kiddin'). They also have their heads popping up sometimes to attack you with their laser or a machine gun on their forehead.

Then, we have Romanovs. These come in three types: Cannon, Drill and Dual Machine gun ones. Each of them has their own set of attacks, but they're somewhat alike in size and resistance to gunfire.

After that, we have Blue, Gorgie-like flying things. They have a good deal of HP, are fast, and mostly close up to you to attack you with a blade. They also carry Shotguns.

We also have Yellow Gorgie-like fellows, who are the "Elite" version of Gorgies and usually are hidden between the stages as Top-Tier Snipers or melee attackers with a machine gun.

We also have Sphere-like robots, they have great, GREAT attack. They can get you in AR mode with one simple attack, and to kill them you have to wait for them to "open up" and shoot them.

After that, we have the bosses:

Argus Robots: Come in two types, are the kind you see on the first Demo. Bipedal and Spider-like. They can switch between those "types"/modes (Bipedal or Spider-like) and each mode has a different set of abilities and attacks. Bipedal ones, for example, usually have a One-Hit laser, a weak point in the back, and some attack with their arms. "Spider mode" ones have a cannonball attack, love throwing missiles at you, and rushing at you while having a few machine guns on their lower part of the body.

Then, there are the Unknowns. These fuckers will tear you apart with one attack, have a "weak point" they reveal while performing said attacks, have a set of machine guns, and lasers (Yes, this game loves machineguns and lasers.)

Uh, also, there's the Buzzards. They're basically blue ships that have a set of missiles, lasers and cannonballs.

The Crystal Viper, a Silver Surfer-like enemy made out of plasma it was? that basically attacks you with his sword and explodes when you kill it, but the explosion has a chance of killing you, too!

There are also: Tanks, "Drill" Transports, the Kreon, etcetera.

To be honest, you NEVER get bored of the enemies in Vanquish (At least, I didn't.) because they all manage to feel different and keep things spiced up.

[gamerdude132]

Don't quite listen to Neckbear. Some of the enemies are the same as the others but tweaked VEEERY slightly and then called "new". Some of the bosses are repeated as well.

[Neckbear]

The double Argus Robot fight with more Argus robots and the Zero-G Unknown fight with another 2 Unknown fights inside the Kreon and the two Crystal Vipers fights?

Vanquish DOES suffer from repeated Boss Fights, but the enemies themselves had a good variation (And the game also added different enemies on higher difficulties) even when the 90% of the things you're killing are Gorgies.

[TenSteps]

I'm sorry but they're called gorgies?

4 years ago I had a dalmatian I named Gorgie. Sad he died.

[shikamaroooo]

i finished the game in 3 hours and 15 Mins and it was my first play through but it felt like the game goes for 8 hours