Vanquish Review

                                                                  Score:8.25 

What's the answer to full robo-russian invasion on a space colony, where there are only 8 hours to annihilation? Meet the Sam Guideon, the jack@$$ with a suit that has rockets, guns, and slo-mo for awesome head shots. God bless America.

                                             



                                             Story

It's the near future, and guess what? Earths running out of resources and America makes a space station/colony that harvests solar energy for all the world to share,NOT. Russia was like "aw hell no, we nedz energy too", and USA was like "foo,git ur own solar station".

So the russians forcefully overtook the station and used the energy to attack San Francisco and basically microwave the whole town which blows everybody up in a sticky ooze, America vows to attack despite promise of another attack. Then theres you, Sam Gideon, with the AR suit [augmented reaction] which gives you boosters on your legs n arms, access to three "remembered" weapons, and slo-mo to save you from death or for some badass headshots.

DARPA made the suit and this is the perfect scenario to test it out. He joins a team known as "bravo company" and you have recapture the colony with some big guy who looks like jerk and is, but whever, some robo-russians need so "re-programming", so lets get into how we "re-program" in the gameplay.

                                   Game Play

This is a third-person shooter that falls into a "bullet hell" environment where bullets are flying 24/7 and makes it seem frantic but controlled. You may have the AR suit but that's basically the key trick of the game.

More than half the time its "clear this area of enemy's and wait for the elevator" or "kill all the turret gunners" dominate missions, but some missions like the slow ride on a monorail car where you have to kill all the spotlights with a silenced rifle mix up the play and smooths the games pacing, which is lightning fast and a little repetitive but stays fun.

Also the AI [artificial intelligence, or you enemy's smartness] is very well designed and will hunt you down, same with friendlies who actually kill bots for you. There is also a steep learning curve on the controls, but feel natural when you get a hang of them.I'll put it in stupid terms: SHOOT,BOOST,SHOOT,BOOST,COVER,recharge suit,BOOST,SHOOT,SHOOT,cigarette.

Overall intense and enjoyable despite the short campaign that took me about 6 hours to kill on normal, 4 on casual. Now can vanquish display itself in stylish fashion. Lets find out.



                                                      Visuals

The game has grey-green/future pallate that looks a little bland but robots should keep you occupied. Which, by the way looks impressive and character models and faces look fantastic. The cut scenes were like movie scenes, just brilliant.

Also most of the backgrounds look stunning and qualify as stunning setpieces, such as the time where you are shooting of robots on a train that is going on a 360 degree-course that goes upside down, sideways, with the city zooming by. The Havok engine was put to great use here too. This game took three years to make with a high production budget, and it shows.

             

                                                           Verdict

Vanquish was a great departure from today's shooters with its suits game play mechanics, humor, and overall feel. If you love anything anime-robo-ish, then buy this game at once. I loved it despite short campaign and half repetitive game play. I loved the look,concept, and overall play. Now if you could excuse me, some robo-Russians need pwning.

                                                        

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