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Just finished my second play-through of Sega’s Vanquish, and man – what a ride. The game is an immensely enjoyable, fast & frantic, action packed third person shooter that just oozes with style.
On paper, Vanquish may have similar gameplay mechanics to Gears of War – but in execution these two games are night and day. Unlike Gears’ big & heavy COGs, your character in Vanquish is light on his feet and extremely nimble thanks to a high-tech, Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS).
You won’t find a ‘Roadie Run’ in Vanquish. Instead, when you need to get from cover to cover in a flash fire up your suit’s boost function and you’ll rocket across the battlefield as if it was a sheet of ice. Initiate your suit’s Augmented Reality mode to slow down time while boosting and you’ll be able to drop enemies with ease as you blast between cover.
Firefights are epic in Vanquish, so to stay alive you are going to have to learn to take full advantage of your suit’s abilities, as well as be fast on your feet. Sure, there is plenty of cover to duck your head behind but don’t get too comfy when you do. Cover can easy be reduced to rubble and if you stay in one place for too long you’ll quickly find yourself with your pants down in the middle of a frenzy.
Your ARS suit is your greatest asset on the battlefield but with a limited duration and a required recharge period you’ll still have to stay two steps ahead of your enemies in order to survive. While the action in Vanquish is super fast, it’s not at all ‘twitch’ gaming. Vanquish requires focus & precision amidst all the chaos, which is where your suit’s AR mode and the game’s tight controls come to the assist.
In addition to your ARS suit you’ll have some unique weapons in addition to the standards at your disposal. The thing that struck me the most about Vanquish’s armaments however was the ingenious way the developers implemented an upgrade system without slowing down the pace of the game.
Spot an upgrade cube on the battlefield? Equip the weapon you want to upgrade, grab the cube and viola! – you’re done. Or say you have max ammo in your assault rifle and you stumble upon another one. Pick it up and you’ll put another notch in that weapon’s evolutionarily ladder. It’s a fast & painless system, but at times it will force you to make some split second decisions while a hail of bullets rain down on you.
Any complaints I might have about Vanquish could all be filed under nitpicking. The biggest of them might be cheap ‘one hit kill’ deaths but even those weren’t much of a nuisance once I learned how to avoid them. Honestly, the game is just way too much fun to care about the little things.
Bottom Line: Vanquish is an arcade-esque, over-the-top, sci-fi shooter with a very distinct Japanese flare. The game looks fantastic, is a delight to play and action packed from start to finish. Two big stupid grinning thumbs up – and here’s hoping we see Vanquish 2 before too long.
