Rent it, but do play it.
You play as Sam and your off to a space station to stop the Russians from using a devastating space weapon that has already claimed the city of San Francisco. You, along with the marines have just over 4 hours to reach the control room and stop it. But it's not going to be easy as the space station is GIGANTIC, full of cities of it's own, maintenance tunnels and jampacked with evil Robots that are fast and a good shot.
Luckily you have on a special suit that enhances all your abilities. Extra speed, extra strength, more resistance, making you into a super human. This doesn't mean to say that you are some sort of god, because use the suit too much and it will overheat, leaving you wide open to attack. This allows for some quick strategic thinking, and you can approach each of the arena designed levels in really whichever way you see fit.
There are 5 acts in total, with each act consisting of 4-5 levels. There are huge boss fights scattered around these acts that really do get your heart racing. Even so, my first playthrough lasted 7 hours on hard difficulty, so I would definitely rent this game instead of buying it. You may want to play it again because you unlock an even harder difficulty plus various challenges, but really, there isn't much else to come back for once you've finished it. There is no multiplayer anywhere either.
Even so, this is still a great game that I thoroughly enjoyed, so I do reccomend it.
Vanquish is a visually astounding game with really pretty graphics, plus an exccelent framerate that never falters. Not bad with everything that's going on.
The voice acting and sound effects are also of very high quality.
That's about it really. A short and sweet review, for a short and sweet game.