I got Vanquish on the cheap some time ago and remember loving it. Then I purchased Mass Effect 2 and forgot about it. In fact, I couldn’t remember playing it since I started dating my wife. I recently picked the game back up and decided to put my thoughts on it here.
As I like to do I will get my personal bias out in the open up front. I generally do not like shooters outside of multiplayer. Most of the time the combat is the same thing over and over and over and over (you get my point), along with a paper thin plot. This game is no different in that respect. The voice acting is atrocious, the plot is laughable vague, and the main character is the embodiment of everything I thought we got away from after 80’s action flicks died. The opening sequence had me laughing out loud as the evil bald Russian antagonist fired his “Microwave Ray” at San Francisco. Not because death is in anyway funny, but because the EVIL BALD RUSSIAN FIRED A MICROWAVE RAY AT SAN FRANCISCO!
BUT, after five minutes of gameplay I remember why I didn’t return it immediately. The combat is gloriously seamless and visually stunning. Vanquish felt like the third in a trilogy from how much polish the fight dynamics had on them. This game gives you the feeling of being the ultimate gun toting hero. You boost (you literally have little booster rockets in your armor) around the battlefield shooting people with a good variety of interesting weapons in slow-mo while dodging rpg’s and spouting one-liners. I can’t think of another game that makes you feel this powerful. That is not to say that the game is too easy however. Learning when to boost and the best weapon for each situation is mildly challenging, yet easy to pick up on the fly.
Sadly, this game has no multiplayer and a standard campaign (8 hours). This severely limits the replay value, but does not render the game valueless. I was a little disappointed with the constant use of the F word, and that the protagonist lights up a cigarette every chance he gets. I looked up prices and you can get this for 8-10 bucks for Xbox or PS3, so if you are looking for a cheap thrill ride, and don’t mind a little swearing, this is the game for you.
If you have any corrections/comments/concerns please email me at aaron.geekykool@gmail.com
