An exciting,fast paced,3rd person shooter set in some great looking sci fi environments
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Story
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The story in Vanquish is about how in the future,earth's population has grown so huge and earth's nations are fighting for the last remaining resources.The U.S built a space station to collect solar energy from the sun to help them with their energy problems,but after the Russian government was overthrown by another ultra nationalist group from Russian known as 'Order of the Russian Star',the Order of the Russian Star's forces captured the space station and used the solar energy that had been collected to create a blast wave that destroyed San Fransisco.They threatened to destroy more American cities unless the U.S surrenders to them.
Instead of surrendering,the U.S president sends a special force who includes your character(Sam Gideon)and a decorated war veteran named Robert Burns and some other soldiers.
The story has some thrilling plot twists,and interesting moral and philosopical elements come into the story,and I will say the story isn't as black and white as it will first seem.
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Gameplay
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What makes Vanquish stand out is it's 'boost' feature,which is a rocket sliding ability that your character can use to slide across areas very quickly.Sometimes being able to use the boost ability will be crucial to surviving but at other times it's more of a feature that you can use for fun to quickly slide behind enemies and shoot them from their blindside while your allies have the enemies distracted.You can only use the boost when you have meter for it and once the meter is depleted,your suit will overheat and you'll have to wait a few seconds for the meter to refill before you can use boost again.
There's also cover mechanics in Vanquish which are similiar to the ones in Uncharted or Gears of War.However,in Vanquish sometimes the places where you can use cover will be quite a distance away,which is why you'll need to use the boost to move quickly over these distances without getting killed.The boss fights in Vanquish are fun because some of the bosses are huge and will shoot rockets,lazers and explosives all over the place(which cover won't protect you from)and you'll need to use the boost to dodge and move around fast enough for you to dodge the rockets and lazers and to get far away from the explosions.Some bosses are also in high tech suits just like your character is and they will fly all over the place and shoot at you from the air and you'll need to spot them and shoot them quickly when they're in the air while dodging their attacks.
Sometimes your cover can be blown away and often you'll find yourself caught in crossfire because the enemies like to shoot at you from opposite sides.
Another interesting feature Vanquish has is Adrenaline Rush(AR)mode which allows you to see things happen slowly around you and you can still quickly shoot at enemies.AR mode can be activated manually or is activated when you are close to death.To manually activate AR mode,you'll need to have some meter for it.
The game also has many flying enemies and some very big enemies and enemies that move around on giant walker things that they use to shoot at you but you can shoot the enemies off them and take control of the walkers yourself and there's sometimes enemies in other types of vehicles.Some enemies will be shooting at you and will be guarded by turrets and there's some exciting,fast paced gameplay sections such as needing to make your way over a collapsing bridge while shooting your way through enemies and sometimes you'll be on vehicles/objects that move very fast and you'll need to shoot enemies and missles(you'll want to destroy the missles before they can hit the object your riding on).
The game is a bit short too(can be beaten in around 5 or 6 hours).
To sum up the gameplay,it's fast paced,exciting and fun,and a large reason is because of the boost feature.
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Graphics
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The environments have a very futuristic feel.The buildings have very futuristic designs,there's lots of flying vehicles and the city environments look beautiful as well as sci fi.There's some nice scenery such as how part of the city is next to some beautiful blue water and the game actually has some nice natural environments that have trees and grass.
The suit that Sam wears looks awesome,it looks like a high tech battle suit and when he uses the boost it looks cool when he slides from place to place.
There was a scene when Sam and some other characters rode these lifts that took him from the surface of the space station they were on to very deep inside it very quickly and it looked breath taking and high tech.There's also some other spectacular scenes but I don't want to spoil them for you.
The leader of the Order of the Russian Star looks so creepy but in a good,cold sci fi kind of way,he looks similar to one of the Borg from Star Trek.
However,IMO Robert Burns looked a bit out of place in this game,because he walks around slowly and carries a huge,heavy gun(similar to a mini gun)and it looks strange how enemies are unable to shoot him when he's walking around slowly and carrying that giant,heavy gun.
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Sound
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The music has some nice electronic/techno sounds.The dialogue is more than annoying though because it sounds unnatural and the characters swear too much,to the point it's way over the top.I'm somebody who doesn't get bothered by swearing in video games,but if it's used to the point it sounds silly and goofy then it becomes annoying.
The voice acting for Sam,and the woman who sometimes helps and communicates with Sam(I forgot her name)and Victor Zaitsev(the leader of the Order of the Russian Star)was good but the voice acting for Robert Burns was a bit annoying because of how he needed to swear every sentence and he sounded more annoying than tough.
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Overall
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It's an exciting,fun,fast paced cover shooting set in some great looking sci fi environments.However the length,dialogue and voice acting off the game let it down a bit.