An insanley fun and original TPS, Vanquish is a game made with skill and care.
Graphics: The game looks fantastic. The artistic design is great, with a very cool sci- fi feel and look. The technical side is also great, with a very consistent framerate and minimal visual quirks. Things will be flying around the screen, and you'll be moving at an insane speed, but the game always has a consistent feel to it. It will rarely falter in any way. As far as how the game looks, to sum it up in a word, great. The explosions are awesome, the weapon fire looks great, everything has a high level of detail to it. If you love games with awesome graphics, be prepared; Vanquish is one of the best looking console games, right up there with the likes of Dead Space 2, RE5, Final Fantasy XIII and Uncharted 2. 10/ 10
Sound: The sound effects in the game are amazing. The gunfire, robots, battle cries, everything sounds great. Now, a lot of people complain about the voice acting; I personally found it to be decent. I personally think that this game is a subtle parody of shooters (there's one point in the game where the main character, Sam, yells "This is like a really bad video game!") and the voice acting would fit that perfectly. The soldiers yell out exaggerated things, the main character has a gravelly voice, as does another character, Burns. Anyways, the music is also very well done and adrenaline pumping. Overall, Vanquish is a terrific sounding game. 10/ 10
Story: The plot of the game may also be a parody of shooters. Basically, Earth is having an overpopulation problem, and tensions are high between Russia and the US. Eventually, a Russian dude attacks San Francisco, killing the entire city (in a disturbing way I might add) and the US strikes back. The plot then becomes a pretty typical war story. Betrayals, twists, death of characters, it's all here. The plot is pretty cliché, and you will stop caring pretty early on. With that said, there are some pretty awesome cutscenes that are definitely worth watching. 6/ 10
Gameplay: The game is a third person shooter with a twist: your character can slide around on rockets strapped to this cybernetic suit he's wearing and slow down time to place more accurate shots. This really sets it apart from the crowd.
There are a lot of epic set pieces in this game. There are a few that take place on rapidly moving tram things, others on elevators and even one in a zero gravity area. These all make you use your skills to the max; this game is very challenging, and, without careful timing and quick thinking, good luck making it very far. Expect to die a lot on your first playthrough. However, the game is rarely unfair. There is always a way to beat the odds; sometimes it's as simple as a well-placed grenade, other times, it's something like an entirely new area you didn't know was there.
The basic gunplay is like this: you enter an area, slide to cover, and plan your attack. You can play this game like a more traditional shooter by just staying in cover. However, it's a lot less fun and more annoying if you do. Rather, if you make use of the slide and slowdown ability, the game is far more exciting and fun. Anyways, once you've planned your attack (or not) you slide around the room, taking out as many enemies as possible (the game slows down if you zoom in or shoot while sliding) then hiding behind cover while your Cooldown guage recovers. (There is a bar in the bottom of the screen that shows how much slowdown and/ or sliding you can use before it must recharge.) You may think this gets boring, but the enemies have a lot of variety. Aside from the basic grunts (who can actually take you down quickly if you aren't careful.) there are ones that can overheat you with a flamethrower, ones that burrow underground, ones that can shapeshift and more. Every type of enemy has a weakness, and you must use the slide and slow down powers to find where it is. Speaking of reat enemies…
The bosses in this game are epic. There isn't a huge variety of them (only like 4 or 5) and the fights tend to repeat a lot, but they are fun to fight. They all have a very specific strategy to take them down, and you must always remain on your toes, otherwise, there's a good chance you will be ripped apart by their aggressive attacks or a one hit kill move. Finding out the pattern behind each one is a lot of fun, and they usually have awesome death scenes. Additionally, one of them requires the use of the occasional Quick Time Event, which looks awesome. In one, Sam jumps in the air, catches a shell launched by the robot and throws it back into its arm. Moves like this are common but look awesome.
In-between the bosses and enemies, it's a good thing that the game controls like a dream. For some reason, this game just feels right. Everything feels very natural, even when you're pressing multiple buttons at once. Again, it's nothing I can really explain, but the game just feels very smooth and natural.
Overall, Vanquish is a very fun game, but there are a few issues. One, there is an instance or two where you will be incredibly short on ammo. Another, there are times where repeated bosses feel like filler. While, yes, they are incredibly fun to fight, it can get tedious to fight the same enemy over and over. However, despite any flaws, Vanquish is a ridiculously fun barrage of bullets, explosions and robots that will entertain you right to the end. 9/ 10
Vanquish is a very fun game. It looks and sounds great, and the gameplay is fun as hell, and original. This is a very replayable game, and is well worth playing through more than once. Despite the fact that the story leaves a lot to be desired, Vanquish is a game worth your time and money. So long and thanks for reading!