vanquish
Matthew Cash
Shinji Mikami is often hailed for the famed Resident Evil franchise and more recently praised for the action/adventure game named Bayonetta. For Vanquish, a game that's been in development for 3 years, it SHOULD be good, right? I mean, it's been in development for three years, a year longer than most games these days. With him at the head, the question remains as to whether his fame is well deserved or should be thrown in the trash.
I'll feel cruel if I hold the answer back, so, yes, his fame is damn well deserved. While that ruins the suspense of the review score, I really needed to tell you guys that the game is just REALLY bad-ass. From the graphics to the gameplay, the game is good. But you probably want to know WHY the game is good or this entire paragraph would be pointless.
But you know the drill: story first. Russia tries to destroy the US, the US strikes back. End of story. Each one of the cinematics are brief and are used to take you from one area to the next; The absence of a good story makes these pointless, though. Oh, and your name is Sam Gideon and you work for a company named NARPA in the near future. You have an ARS (arse?) suit that is loaded with time-slowing mechanisms and ass-jets. I guess that's why the thing's called ARS(E).
The presentation is where you first notice how this game really shines. The graphics are superb, to say the least and look good even on a 360. Your character's suit has to be one of the most intricately designed outfits any game characters has ever has the blessing of wearing. The environments feature variety and detail and enemy and ally character models are well done. The voice acting is cheesy, as is the script, but the wonderful sound effects of gunfire from across the battlefield and the abilities your character possesses. The techno-pop soundtrack is cool to listen to, but isn't incredibly memorable.
However, the gameplay is the game's best feature. The game actually plays like Gears of War, but much faster paced. With Sam's suit, the ability to flip over this or that, then go into a slo-mo type thing to kick some ass is very easy to pull off. Sam's a flexible bastard and a chain smoker, often jumping, shooting, boosting with ass-jets, shooting in slo-mo, then smoking. In that order, of course. The boost is essentially the ability that lets you slide across the floor like a piece of ice against a bowling lane; you'll be sliding all over the place and the ability to slow down time is a neat addition. The drawback is that the suit is limited and overusing these abilities will overheat the suit, causing your powers to sit out for around 10 seconds.
I must say, though, the set pieces are amazing, especially the one with a train. The less said about this piece, the better. Everyone needs to experience it first-hand. Yeah, it has a zero-gravity segment, but the train beats it. The game's also very fond of close encounters. Ship misses you? Close call? Boss killed with last bullet? Close call. Almost died from bunches of enemies? Close call. That's a lot of what the game is and it compliments the furiously fast gameplay style incredibly well. How fast is the gameplay? Okay, imagine Devil May Cry. Okay, now put in Gears of War and this is what you get, a good mix considering the developer.
It seems the critical reception Vanquish has gotten today is very much positive and for good reason. It has a fantastic presentation and an even more well done single-player experience. While the game only lasts around 6 hours, it has replayability and I'm happy it didn't just shoe-horn in multiplayer. It has leaderboards, something that many people will waste their lives on to reach the top. That, and the game is fun makes this a contender for game of the year. While the game ends up being a one-trick pony with some repetitive boss battles, it's one damn fine trick.
Score: 8.75
Shinji Mikami is often hailed for the famed Resident Evil franchise and more recently praised for the action/adventure game named Bayonetta. For Vanquish, a game that's been in development for 3 years, it SHOULD be good, right? I mean, it's been in development for three years, a year longer than most games these days. With him at the head, the question remains as to whether his fame is well deserved or should be thrown in the trash.
I'll feel cruel if I hold the answer back, so, yes, his fame is damn well deserved. While that ruins the suspense of the review score, I really needed to tell you guys that the game is just REALLY bad-ass. From the graphics to the gameplay, the game is good. But you probably want to know WHY the game is good or this entire paragraph would be pointless.
But you know the drill: story first. Russia tries to destroy the US, the US strikes back. End of story. Each one of the cinematics are brief and are used to take you from one area to the next; The absence of a good story makes these pointless, though. Oh, and your name is Sam Gideon and you work for a company named NARPA in the near future. You have an ARS (arse?) suit that is loaded with time-slowing mechanisms and ass-jets. I guess that's why the thing's called ARS(E).
The presentation is where you first notice how this game really shines. The graphics are superb, to say the least and look good even on a 360. Your character's suit has to be one of the most intricately designed outfits any game characters has ever has the blessing of wearing. The environments feature variety and detail and enemy and ally character models are well done. The voice acting is cheesy, as is the script, but the wonderful sound effects of gunfire from across the battlefield and the abilities your character possesses. The techno-pop soundtrack is cool to listen to, but isn't incredibly memorable.
However, the gameplay is the game's best feature. The game actually plays like Gears of War, but much faster paced. With Sam's suit, the ability to flip over this or that, then go into a slo-mo type thing to kick some ass is very easy to pull off. Sam's a flexible bastard and a chain smoker, often jumping, shooting, boosting with ass-jets, shooting in slo-mo, then smoking. In that order, of course. The boost is essentially the ability that lets you slide across the floor like a piece of ice against a bowling lane; you'll be sliding all over the place and the ability to slow down time is a neat addition. The drawback is that the suit is limited and overusing these abilities will overheat the suit, causing your powers to sit out for around 10 seconds.
I must say, though, the set pieces are amazing, especially the one with a train. The less said about this piece, the better. Everyone needs to experience it first-hand. Yeah, it has a zero-gravity segment, but the train beats it. The game's also very fond of close encounters. Ship misses you? Close call? Boss killed with last bullet? Close call. Almost died from bunches of enemies? Close call. That's a lot of what the game is and it compliments the furiously fast gameplay style incredibly well. How fast is the gameplay? Okay, imagine Devil May Cry. Okay, now put in Gears of War and this is what you get, a good mix considering the developer.
It seems the critical reception Vanquish has gotten today is very much positive and for good reason. It has a fantastic presentation and an even more well done single-player experience. While the game only lasts around 6 hours, it has replayability and I'm happy it didn't just shoe-horn in multiplayer. It has leaderboards, something that many people will waste their lives on to reach the top. That, and the game is fun makes this a contender for game of the year. While the game ends up being a one-trick pony with some repetitive boss battles, it's one damn fine trick.
Score: 8.75