Jetpacks, Cigarettes and Machine guns, oh my!
The minute you step into the world of Vanquish, you know you’re in for a treat. Likening itself to old Manga comic books. This game waste no time throwing you right into the action. Your character (Sam Giedon), is a no nonsense, wise cracking ,hard ass who has been sent to kick ass and smoke cigarettes. Lucky for you, he’s got plenty of ass to kick and plenty of cigarettes to smoke. The first thing I noticed about Vanquish is how clunky the controls we’re at first. Mind you, this game was originally released in ten years ago on the PS3 and Xbox360. So, while we’re finally getting it on the newer consoles, we can’t really expect it to be that much of an upgrade for the 10th Anniversary release.
Once you do get a handle on the controls, everything is smooth sailing. The story in a nutshell is basically the russians are evil (of course they are). They have russian robots, you’re in space and guns are the only way to survive. This is pretty much the only thing you truly need to know about the absolutely ridiculous and nonsensical story. I’m not saying it’s a bad story, it’s just not the reason you’re going to be playing this game, that’s all.
The gameplay of Vanquish is kind of hard to describe because you’ve never really played a game like this (That’s a good thing), it’s fast, brutal and relentless. I’m only playing the game on normal difficulty and I was getting my ass handed to me multiple times. There are many enemies that have “one-hit kills’ ‘, which unfortunately, you don’t realize until they hit you. So, that in itself can be a bit frustrating. You are always on the move, rarely ever staying in the same area for more than ten minutes or so. The enemies are big and the weapons are bigger. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of diversity they had with weapons and how you could upgrade your weapons on the fly. The only thing I found a bit
frustrating was the inability to just pick up ammo for the same type of weapon you are carrying when walking over it. It made intense battles a bit annoying when you had to make sure you weren’t swapping out your upgraded gun.
Vanquish is a game that knows exactly what it’s aiming for and knocks it out of the park (and into space!). It gives me memories of the Devil May Cry series, just over the top action with a stereotypical 1980’s cliche main character who is the toughest motherf***** in the world, but always has a soft spot for the woman he loves. The only thing I know might turn people off is the fact that this game is clearly “Dated”. As said before, the game was originally released in 2010 and I don’t know if you know this, but it’s currently 2020. I admire SEGA for releasing it on the newer (soon to be old) consoles to allow those who have never played it a chance to enjoy it’s awesome-ness.
To infinity and beyond!
My overall thoughts on Vanquish is that if you’re looking for a game to turn off your brain and just kick some serious communist ass. Then pick this up ASAP and step in to one of the wildest games you’ve played in a long time. Vanquish is fun, fast and meant to bring you back to the chaotic action days of contra and old school side scrolling shooters. It won’t bring you to tears any sadness anytime soon, but it will bring tears of joy while you beat the living hell out of some giant communist robot while riding a rocket right into its face.
*dfat was provided a review code for this game
