Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

Hello again! And thank you for taking the time to read my super awesome, adrenaline-fueled review for the equally super awesome and adrenaline-fueled "Vanquish". It is a sad fact that this title has slipped under the majority of gamer's radars in America, and I am here to tell you that (especially after the recent price drop) there are few titles available these days that give you the satisfaction, gratification, and ultimate entertainment that Vanquish provides in spades, and slow-mo kicks you in the kidneys while it does so. Let's get started…

OVERVIEW

I know what all of you are thinking when you look at a screenshot for Vanquish.

You're thinking, "I've played this before". And you know what? You are correct. And you also could not be more wrong. Vanquish takes familiar elements from other games and combines them in a way that has yet to be seen or experienced with such grandeur. Vanquish is a third person shooter developed by Platinum Games and directed by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami. It takes place in the near future where a frightening new weapon of mass destruction has been unleashed against America by the growing Russian threat, and it is up to Sam Gideon and pals to stop all this nonsense, and the giant robot army that is there to hinder his progress.

HOW VANQUISH WORKS

Vanquish delivers what we have all come to expect from a third person shooter. Big explosions and lots and lots of action. The thing that differentiates Vanquish from other third person shooters is the fact that it has seemingly been raised on a pure and steady diet of super steroids. When I say this game is FAST, that is a major understatement.

As Sam Gideon, you have the pleasure of being provided with the government's top-of-the-line advanced combat suit, the ARS (Advanced Reaction Systems). This suit comes fully equipped with a plethora of awesome features, including sweet rocket packs on your thighs that allow for lightning fast rocket boosting while sliding around on your knees, the ability to slow time for advanced precision, and the BLADE weapon system that allows for a single weapon to transform into multiple weapon types at the press of a button.

The ability to slide around at amazing speed and then launch yourself into a dodge roll that slows time, and then proceeding to mow down enemies with brutal efficiency provides "never-gets-old" lightning fast gameplay that I personally have yet to experience on such a high level in any other game.

GAMEPLAY- 9.5/10

Holy crap, this game is pure, unadulterated fun from start to finish. I can't emphasize enough the immense sense of speed and chaos that this game provides during every sweat pumping, heart rate rising second of gameplay.

This game is 100% action. Every enemy, every weapon, every level, and every explosion that colorfully lights up your screen will leave you breathless and craving for more. It's hard to keep talking about how awesome this game is because, frankly, I'm running out of good words to use. So I'll just say this: Vanquish did gameplay right. Very fun, very addicting, and very pretty to watch at that.

The controls work wonderfully. The button layout may be a little different than the standard protocol of most shooters these days, and unfortunately lacks the option to map your controller. However, this is only a minor setback, as you will quickly learn the controls and be zipping around levels and slaughtering robots with ruthless efficiency in almost no time at all.

GRAPHICS- 9/10

This game is gorgeous. Not only from the spiffy and colorful environments that you encounter throughout this endeavor, but even the character models, animations, explosions, and cut scenes are wonderfully designed with extreme attention to detail. Nothing is more satisfying than launching a giant rocket at a towering enemy that is spitting a rain of lead and fire intended for your face and watching him explode into a massive, electrified explosion of sparks and blue fire. Man, are those explosions pretty.

SOUND- 7.5/10

Not a whole lot to say here. The sound effects are great, explosions and guns alike both pack a satisfying punch. The soundtrack is a little lacking, the music itself is good but unfortunately due to the massive amounts of chaos going on at any point in time, most of the music is drowned out and simply goes unnoticed. The times that you do pay attention to the music are good, your standard sci-fi shooter fair, full of techno-y beats and fast pacing. Overall the sound is good but nothing to write home about.

REPLAYABILITY- 8/10

This is Vanquish's one downfall: it's short. Not too bad, I've played shorter games, but the campaign itself clocks in at about 7-10 hours. But there is good news: in my personal opinion, this game is so adrenaline fueled and addicting that personally I still have the incentive to play through it at least one or two more times just to experience it again, as well as attempt some harder difficulties.

The other good news, is that Vanquish also houses an addicting Challenge mode (there is no multiplayer). Challenges are everything good about Vanquish rolled into a handful of missions. Each challenge takes (me, at least) around fifteen minutes to complete. However, due to the insanely ramped difficulty of these challenges, they will most likely keep you coming back for hours before you can successfully complete them all. Each challenge throws you into a room and pits you against numerous waves of enemies, from innumerable swarms of grunts to giant boss battles. In my opinion, the challenges are just as much fun as the campaign and provide double the intensity.

OVERALL- 9/10

This game is third person action shooting at its absolute finest and will hopefully set the bar for third person shooters to follow in the future. Platinum Games did just about everything right with this game, and to be honest my only complaint is that it ended just a bit too soon. I will continue to keep my fingers crossed for another hair-raising entry into the Vanquish series, but until then all I can say is that ANY gamer who enjoys these action types MUST give Vanquish a try. There are so many things about this game that, for such a low price tag, you would have to be crazy to miss out on this extravaganza of speed and action.

Sorry if this review seemed like nothing but praise, but honestly it is hard for me to think about anything wrong with Vanquish. Thanks for reading!