Vanquish - review

EVER a fan of pithy, one line game summaries, I will bluntly summarise the marvellous Vanquish as Gears of War goes happy hardcore.

The second game to officially land on these shores this year from Japanese developers Platinum Games, after January’s bonkers masterpiece Bayonetta, Vanquish oozes fun, energy, adrenaline and more fun from every last one of its shiny, futuristic pores.

Our hero is manly Sam Gideon, a former American footballer who got injured and ended up as the guinea pig inside a supercharged bionic suit, leading the charge against an insane, space-based Soviet terrorist intent on causing all the usual murder, mayhem and bruhaha to the good people of Earth. Kind of like a cross between Halo’s Master Chief and Andrew Flintoff, only with a Clint Eastwood growl and an unhealthy dedication to fags (which, unbelievably, you can actually stop and smoke mid-battle by holding the left bumper button while in cover!)

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Gideon’s suit allows him to slow down time or slide at lightning speed, both only for a short space of time, and also instantly use any one of three weapons currently armed at the touch of a button.

These armed weapons can be swapped when different weapons are discovered, either in the numerous crates which litter the environment or just because they happen to be lying around, and it’s down to you to decide which might be more effective for what lies ahead. Some, such as the sniper rifle, rocket launcher or shotgun, sacrifice firing rate and ammo for power, whereas the assault rifle won’t do a significant amount of quick damage to the bigger foes, but will let you dispatch numerous smaller minions quickly and efficiently.

Picking up arms already in your possession either refills your ammo or levels up the weapon, depending on what state it’s in. The ongoing status of how you are doing with each can be checked by looking at the armory in the pause menu.

Cover is a major part of the game, with the way you slide and dive from haven to haven in between high-speed bursts of firepower and weapon changes generally defining how successfully and quickly you proceed.

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As you proceed within the game, the frentic pace with which you learn to work causes the experience to achieve an almost balletic quality, especially once you become fluent at manually slowing down time, changing weapons and tossing out the odd EMP grenade (dance, robot Russkies, dance!).

Gameplay variety comes in the form of certain levels aboard moving ships or platforms, or having Gideon dodge falling debris from massive crumbling edifices, and visually, the game is nothing short of spectacular. It will frequently leave you letting Gideon just turn in a circle so you can admire what’s around you. A touch I particularly liked was how you can sometimes watch battles between the space marines you are assisting and vast enemy bosses through windowed skyways as you run to join the fight.

Progression through the game unlocks another game mode, tactical operations, which are pretty basic recreations of set-piece events from within the game, only with more of an eye on score and time.

It’s the scoring which provides another of the game’s attractions. Nobody could deny the overall story is quite short, but replay value comes from wanting to give it another go and do it differently, better, and for a higher score, perhaps even on the God Hard difficulty which unlocks after completion.

Vanquish is as enjoyable a ride as you could hope for, totally epic in achievement if not in scale, and a glimpse into a very bright, shiny future.

9/10

Vanquish (18+)

Sega/Platinum Games

XBox 360, PS3

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