Gideon’s insertion into what turns out to be a relentless sprint to a fitting if suggestive conclusion is on the back of an international incident perpetuated by past-reliable foe Russia. In a future where the nation has regressed to their wily, city-cooking ways; quite literally boiling San Francisco from orbit, demands are made or the bunny (played in this case by New York) gets it. It’s here we witness Vanquish’s first comparison to a Michael Bay opus.
The story is patently ridiculous, radiating clichés and hackneyed one-liners with brazen aplomb. It’s not that every game must have a well-wrought narrative with subtle and nuanced character development, intelligent plot arcs or even a coherent start, middle and end to be enjoyable, but if you’re going to spend five minutes on a story, you might as well actually stop, take a step back and maybe invest the full hour. Platinum Games haven’t done that here. It’s lazy, irrelevant, and a disservice to the aesthetic world the game designers have wrought. Shooting through level after level of beautiful high-tech wonder, one can’t help but lament the fact that the underlying story is merely there as a skeletal husk to move things forward.
Gideon, joined by Burns, a stereotypical gruff, older, and boorish father-figure, and a host of other nameless fodder, land on Providence, the 51st US state and a rotating satellite where Russian typecast villain Victor Vaitsev has set up shop. It’s a wondrous environment with some truly eye-popping design, the over-arching ring reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke’s cylindrical space-tube in Rendezvous With Rama and Larry Niven’s torus-shaped Dyson sphere inspired Ringworld. Of course, you could also say Providence smacks of the Halo setting. Then again, Halo borrowed heavily from the aforementioned authors’ visions (and constructs physicist Gerard O’Neill theorised in real life), so it’s hardly a sacrosanct or even original premise in gaming. Of course, between the presence of the suit and then the ring, it’s hard not to make the natural connection with Bungie’s iconic series.
In terms of location and the game’s overall attention to detail, it’s impossible to fault Vanquish in this area, its design easily the game’s salient high-point. It’s also in this domain that Vanquish’s inherent Japanese facets are finally pushed to the foreground. Rather that mowing down hordes of despicable aliens or collateral human randomers, Vanquish’s Japanese designers have naturally tapped into their nation’s endemic robot fetish, the majority of the game’s adversaries mindless automatons who provide a guilt-free romp through wanton destruction. It might explain the often poor AI, in fact, as these enemies are practically clueless on the battlefield, players likely to encounter more sentient opposition from their own cantankerous lawnmower than these ostensibly more complex yet remarkably dim descendants. And be opposed you will. Relentlessly.
The game rarely pauses for breath, from your arrival on the satellite through the roughly proceeding ten hours of varied environs, the action is punctuated by only the most fleeting of respites. Luckily you can stop for a smoke-break whenever you fancy, however, Gideon’s cool, nonchalant exterior showcased as he sparks another cigarette and draws the smoke heavily into his lungs before flicking it toward the enemy as their individually animated munitions rain down around him. It’s another sign of the game’s slickness; an attitude we admire. We still don’t like Gideon, however.
It can get repetitive, sure, but, for the most part, engaging the red mechanical menace is a fun and challenging experience. Challenging on your eyeballs that is; Vanquish’s signature sensory overload kicking into maximum overdrive from the get-go and never letting up on your frayed and snapping optic nerves until the credits roll. Visually it’s a feast, the moments of hyper-reality when Gideon gets into trouble and the action grinds to a crawl allowing the player to bask in dazzling particle effects and comprehensively animated battlegrounds. And thus, the second Bayism comes to light.
It’s truly miraculous what Platinum have achieved in terms of Vanquish’s action and, more profoundly, its often jaw-dropping set-pieces. When that train swings up on a gravity-defying loop, requiring you to shoot up into a speeding, upside-down carriage at inverted machines now firing down upon you, such rousing sequences rival the imagination of the Nolans and Camerons of our world. Vanquish never skimps on the impossible.
DrNate86
Nice review, I was expecting it to get an even lower score as I was reading from what you were saying! The poor story and characters doesn’t really bother me, it strikes me as a Gears or DMC style game where the characters are ridiculous badasses put in random situations more for the sake of action and fun gameplay than a clever plot. The repetition of bosses is a real shame though, that is a pretty cardinal sin in my eyes, lazy and unnecessary (unless really, really integral to the plot, but even then the boss should have changed). I definitely will get this at some point as it sounds like a visual feast, but with so many big game atm it will have to wait a while.
Kovacs
Glad you liked the review.
Just on your “I thought it would score lower from the review’s content” point. Vanquish is a good game and got a good score accordingly. Don’t forget, we use the full scale, so a 7 is a solid experience. I think I emphasised the fun factor and its stellar design just as much as some poor gameplay nuances and lacklustre plot. I’d recommend Vanquish and it’s definitely a game worth playing. It does have flaws, though. Not enough to skip the title completely, but evident enough to prevent the game from getting an 8, a 9 or a 10.
artefx
Personally I thought the game was great deserving a 8 or 9 in my opinion. I looked at it like a Japanesse interpretation of a western 3rd person shooter and as such I really enjoyed it. Its pure action going from one relentless battle to another.
Kovacs
I didn’t check other reviews until I had finished the game and yes, there are a few 8s and 9s out there. (There are also other 7s and lower). If you would have scored the game diferently, that’s cool. As long as you could backup that score with justification in your review, which I have done here, that’s all that matters.
artefx
Of course. That is simply my opinion from playing the game. I totally respect the score you gave it.
retro_
I agree, an easy 8/10. This sort of all out shooter doesn’t need an oscar nominated story. My favorite shooter of 2010 by quite a margin, loved every moment of it.
project84music
For the most part I agree, though I have to say I found Burns a lot more annoying than Gideon, and think the game could benefit from a multiplayer (to be given the opportunity to return to that world again is something I would like very much – and whilst I’m not sure exactly how they would have implemented it, I think it would have been a good addition).
Also, I’m impressed you managed to write a review longer than the game itself =P
RadicalMave07
i picked this game up about a week ago,i fully agree with the points you stated,mostly on the lack of in depth character interaction,a score of 7 is suiting of this game but i think the non stop adrenaline pumped action in the game more then makes up for its faults,in my opinion it would be 8/10 but 7/10 is still awesome for a game this good.
tonycawley
Thought this was going to be a reasonably good game, but not excellent, and you’ve gone and proved my intuition correct. This is a definite love film rental for me. A game i’d like to play through, but doesn’t warrant having 40 quid thrown at it. Rent it, play through the story, pick up some trophies, send it back. As drnate said above, too many big games right now to warrant buying this. Black ops has me hooked!
ruinereraser
I’ve already 20 quid on Amazon right now, good value!
Voganlight
This has to be the best written, most detailed review I’ve ever read, brilliant.
Dan Lee
Your words make my words look like monkey vomit :oD fantastic review, and now you can pick the game up for under £20 which is a good price.
Sympozium
Yeah I knew that would happen, I played the challenge demo its quite addictive so I need to get Vanquish soon not sure if I would’ve payed over £30.
TheLig
While I respect your opinion on Vanquish, I absolutely disagree that it is “only” a 7. I would honestly have given it a 9. The lack of depth to the characters and story do not detract from what is essentially an arcade shooter, emphasized by the fact that youre scored by your speed and style running through the levels. The game is essentially a 3rd Person shooter style Space Invaders. Enemies appear, you shoot them and move on. I love the relentless nature of combat and that the developers didn’t feel like they had to tack on a stealth section, or some other unnecessary genre staple that have become so fashionable. They focussed on what the game did well, and that was fast, intense action.
But what I found most telling about the quality of the game was that everyone works perfectly. The shooting is ridiculously satisfying, the sliding mechanic adds something new and the cover system is perfect. Nothing feels like they missed something.
SuperHans
Wasn’t it people on this very website (among others) who slagged of FirstPlay for reviewing ‘old’ games? lol!
Kovacs
It’s late. There are reasons.
billsmugs
Better late than never, I buy a lot of games months after their release date, so it doesn’t always matter if a review doesn’t come out at release (obviously it’s better for the two to coincide, but I’d rather a later, better review than an early, rushed one.)
JaffaMan24
Like others, I mostly agree with that brilliantly written review. However, I think the review focuses a bit too much on the story, which lets face it is, and was only ever intended to be, superficial at best. It wouldn’t be so bad if we could read the operation dossiers which give a bit of background, but the loading times are so quick you don’t get chance (never thought I’d ever complain about loading times!).
Yes the characters are all rediculously stereotyped and we’ve seen them all before. Agreed that Burns ground my gears more than Gideon, but still. Let’s not forget that what it’s all about is shooting punching/robots in the face!!
I didn’t think the AI too bad. The animations are first rate and I love the way you can selectively disable enemies. I love shooting the Romanovs in the face and then watching them ragely blindfire. If you disable a robots legs, it’l come crawling after you. The insta kill lazer things, whilst grating, I generally like. It keeps you on your feet and there are enough audio clues with all insta kill lazer/rocket attacks for you to get your ass out the way!
The choice of red colour for the robots is excellent. Killzone 2 was all too grey for me, and I found it difficult to distinguish grey friend from grey foe, especially at distance. Here the robots can still be picked off in the fiercest and most chaotic fire fights. And boy can they be hectic!! There must be 1000s of individually animated projectiles on screen at times.
For me it’s a good 8 going on 9/10. The fact I’m playing through twice says a lot as I rarely devote time and effort to a second playthrough with the Uncharteds being the only exception so far.