Everyone and their cat and dog has pre-ordered or bought Bethesda's Fallout: New Vegas. Except me. I went and bought Vanquish, a stylish new shooter from Platinum Games, who also made Bayonetta.
It wasn't such a hard decision. I have no doubt that Bethesda's game is more epic and varied than Vanquish but I haven't even scratched the surface on Fallout 3.
From the first time I saw the Transformers-like animations and gravity defying quick-time events in a preview of Vanquish, the game has remained firmly on my radar. Does it live up to my expectations?
The games story is your typical foreign baddies (in this case the Russians) taking over a satellite superweapon and you having to stop them before they wreak more havoc. At the time the game starts they have already microwaved San Francisco to within an inch of its life and are threatening to do the same to New York.
It's different from similarly premised games like Metal Gear Solid in that in this case you're part of a relatively huge United States Army task force. Guess what? In early levels, these NPCs they aren't completely useless which makes a bit of a change. Apart from actually being able to take out some of the masses of enemy combatants, giving stricken Marines first aid on the battle field (achieved by moving to them and pressing the action button), randomly gives you ammo or grenades as a reward.
You play Sam Gideon, a DARPA researcher who is ostensibly sent on this mission to get combat data for the hi-tech battle suit he dons throughout the game. He has a secret mission to retrieve Dr. Candide, the creator of the suit, who has been kidnapped by the Russians. Expect lots of twists, turns and betrayals.
I wasn't a fan of the voice acting for most of the characters. There are however multiple language soundtracks on the disc so maybe like most Anime, the original japanese soundtrack will sound better than the English.
The story is servicable but the scripting is a bit a lame. This would hurt most games but luckily Vanquish's gameplay is challenging enough to make the game a worthwhile experience, even if you get the feeling the plot is just there to link the various set pieces together.
Vanquish is hard. On Normal it's pretty tough for your slightly-above casual gamer like me. On Hard and God Hard (which is unlocked after you beat the game once on any difficulty), I don't even want to think about how hard it is. Vanquish is a cover shooter- think Uncharted- that strangely doesn't really want you to spend too much time hiding in one spot and patiently taking out your enemies. I tried to hide out the first time I played and one of the enemy bots sought me out and meleed me to critical health.
To play vanquish like Uncharted would be to do it a disservice. While going gung-ho is inadvisable seeing as only a few shots from the enemy will send you into critical mode (the game calls it AR mode)- a kind of bullet time mode that allows you to evade enemy bullets and attacks and run to cover- the game does expect you to dispatch your enemies with style. The trick is finding that midpoint.
Your suit is equipped with high speed thrusters that allow you to slide across the battlefield at insane speeds. You can also athletically evade and if you hit the evade and target buttons at the same time you will manually trigger AR mode.
It is hugely satisfying to finally get to grips with the control scheme. Imagine taking cover, vaulting over the cover, engaging AR mode so you float Matrix-style, taking out the enemy bots and getting back into cover without them knowing what hit them. In the hands of an expert Vanquish truly hits the heights.
In my hands however, there were many deaths. While the checkpoint systems are pretty kind, each time you restart from a checkpoint takes 1000 points from you score. It's a bit bittersweet to finally beat a massive robot boss only to look at the leaderboards and see that you're 20000 points behind the leaders at that stage of the game. Assuming you care about things like that.
Having a score, and having it means so much in this Web 2.0 world helps add some replay value to a game that is pretty short if you're a hardcore gamer and focus on games (unlike me who tends to nibble here and there at my games). Not happy with your score, you can play it again and try to better it and hoist yourself higher on the worldwide leaderboards. If your friends have Vanquish, it also automatically creates a leaderboard for you guys too for local bragging rights.
There is no multiplayer but there is a tough Challenge Mode which throws increasingly harder enemies at you (with no checkpoints as far as I've seen) that adds a bit of length.
Vanquish is definitely a game you should give a chance. It is stylish. In quieter moments I dare you not to just stop and switch weapons repeatedly. It is the coolest thing I have seen in games this year. The visuals are amazing. Despite being set on a giant satellite they've managed to make the scenery astounding.
And it manages to allay the style with a fair bit of substance.
It wasn't such a hard decision. I have no doubt that Bethesda's game is more epic and varied than Vanquish but I haven't even scratched the surface on Fallout 3.
From the first time I saw the Transformers-like animations and gravity defying quick-time events in a preview of Vanquish, the game has remained firmly on my radar. Does it live up to my expectations?
The games story is your typical foreign baddies (in this case the Russians) taking over a satellite superweapon and you having to stop them before they wreak more havoc. At the time the game starts they have already microwaved San Francisco to within an inch of its life and are threatening to do the same to New York.
It's different from similarly premised games like Metal Gear Solid in that in this case you're part of a relatively huge United States Army task force. Guess what? In early levels, these NPCs they aren't completely useless which makes a bit of a change. Apart from actually being able to take out some of the masses of enemy combatants, giving stricken Marines first aid on the battle field (achieved by moving to them and pressing the action button), randomly gives you ammo or grenades as a reward.
You play Sam Gideon, a DARPA researcher who is ostensibly sent on this mission to get combat data for the hi-tech battle suit he dons throughout the game. He has a secret mission to retrieve Dr. Candide, the creator of the suit, who has been kidnapped by the Russians. Expect lots of twists, turns and betrayals.
I wasn't a fan of the voice acting for most of the characters. There are however multiple language soundtracks on the disc so maybe like most Anime, the original japanese soundtrack will sound better than the English.
The story is servicable but the scripting is a bit a lame. This would hurt most games but luckily Vanquish's gameplay is challenging enough to make the game a worthwhile experience, even if you get the feeling the plot is just there to link the various set pieces together.
Vanquish is hard. On Normal it's pretty tough for your slightly-above casual gamer like me. On Hard and God Hard (which is unlocked after you beat the game once on any difficulty), I don't even want to think about how hard it is. Vanquish is a cover shooter- think Uncharted- that strangely doesn't really want you to spend too much time hiding in one spot and patiently taking out your enemies. I tried to hide out the first time I played and one of the enemy bots sought me out and meleed me to critical health.
To play vanquish like Uncharted would be to do it a disservice. While going gung-ho is inadvisable seeing as only a few shots from the enemy will send you into critical mode (the game calls it AR mode)- a kind of bullet time mode that allows you to evade enemy bullets and attacks and run to cover- the game does expect you to dispatch your enemies with style. The trick is finding that midpoint.
Your suit is equipped with high speed thrusters that allow you to slide across the battlefield at insane speeds. You can also athletically evade and if you hit the evade and target buttons at the same time you will manually trigger AR mode.
It is hugely satisfying to finally get to grips with the control scheme. Imagine taking cover, vaulting over the cover, engaging AR mode so you float Matrix-style, taking out the enemy bots and getting back into cover without them knowing what hit them. In the hands of an expert Vanquish truly hits the heights.
In my hands however, there were many deaths. While the checkpoint systems are pretty kind, each time you restart from a checkpoint takes 1000 points from you score. It's a bit bittersweet to finally beat a massive robot boss only to look at the leaderboards and see that you're 20000 points behind the leaders at that stage of the game. Assuming you care about things like that.
Having a score, and having it means so much in this Web 2.0 world helps add some replay value to a game that is pretty short if you're a hardcore gamer and focus on games (unlike me who tends to nibble here and there at my games). Not happy with your score, you can play it again and try to better it and hoist yourself higher on the worldwide leaderboards. If your friends have Vanquish, it also automatically creates a leaderboard for you guys too for local bragging rights.
There is no multiplayer but there is a tough Challenge Mode which throws increasingly harder enemies at you (with no checkpoints as far as I've seen) that adds a bit of length.
Vanquish is definitely a game you should give a chance. It is stylish. In quieter moments I dare you not to just stop and switch weapons repeatedly. It is the coolest thing I have seen in games this year. The visuals are amazing. Despite being set on a giant satellite they've managed to make the scenery astounding.
And it manages to allay the style with a fair bit of substance.
