Edward 1Press Reaction: Vanquish
October 20th 2010 07:34
Reviews for Vanquish, developed by Platinum games (of Bayonetta fame) and directed by the creator of the Resident Evil series, Shinji Mikami, scores high on the right end side of most review scales all over the gaming spectrum.
It’s a 3rd person cover-based shooter with so much going on, it is hard to tell how many missiles are set to explode all over the screen. The amount of chaos on the screen demands a responsive control scheme and gameplay mechanics, which seems to have been pulled off. All reviews expressed their feelings of bad-assness when playing the game.
Eurogamer’s Simon Parken best describes the Protagonist’s suit as a “mod the f***ed out” version of Halo’s Master Chief’s suit, as only a Japanese mind can. It’s called an Augmented Reaction Suit, ARS, with the ability for Simon Gideon to, what 1up’s Thierry Nguyen best describes, using the arm and leg thrusters to slide on your knees like “Tom Cruise from Risky Business”.
Common praise goes to gameplay, one of the most important pillars to a good game, however the story is criticised for being cliche and paper thin. As Gamepro's Neilie Johnson points out, most gamers have already seen Russian villians, space stations, the tough squad boss and cannon-fodder team mates. However in a game heavily focused on gameplay more than story, the plot wouldn't be the deal breaker.
Gametrailers point out the game may take between 6 to 8 hours. Is there enough extra content to bring the player back after the credits role? 1up seems to think not. Other than a scoring mechanic at the end of an Act and the “Tactical Challenges”, which is simply more robot bashing, the lack of extra’s might not justify its price tag.
What you will be spending your money on is an action and adrenaline-fueled game with smooth gameplay mechanics and feeling of bad-assness that can be rarely felt from any other game in the market – especially if you’re looking for an absurd-but-cool kind of game since Bayonetta.
Do you really play with the extra features of a game after you finish the main campaign? The lack of extras wouldn’t subtract from the sublime gameplay experience the game promises, but albeit it would have added a few more points to review scores.
And for people who are interested in which to choose between the PS3 and 360 version; a programmer at Platinum games has explained the new “deferred rendering” component in the game engine allows near identical performances between both versions. This is in response to how Bayonetta, which used the same game engine, had heavy criticism for its two versions.
All in all, the creator of Resident Evil seem to have made another quality title he can add to his resume. How the gaming community will respond to this new IP is yet to be seen, albeit the positive reviews pouring out of the gaming spectrum will peak curious gamers interests from “cautious” to their “must buy” category. This could very well miss everyone’s radar as it is heading against Fallout: New Vegas and Rock Band 3. And it’s way too close to the release of the most FPS of the year: Call of Duty Black Ops in the beginning of November.
Vanquish’s release is tomorrow.
Gaming Spectrum reviews:
Gamespot: 9.0
IGN: 8.5
1up: B
Gametrailers: 9.0
Eurogamer: 9/10
Gamepro: 3.5/5
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