We don't know a whole lot about the game's plot but Sega have revealed a few tidbits on the title's hero, Sam Gideon and what his overall mission will entail. What we know about Sam is that he is a US government agent sent to take back an American space station from the hands of the Ruskies. But while this story has the hallmarks of a typical covert military operation, Sam has a few more toys to play with than your average government agent. Decked in a full-body cybernetic battle suit, Sam is able to carry an explosive load-out of weaponry including the action game standards: grenades, shotguns, assault rifles and sniper rifles, not to mention the kickass inclusion of a volley of missiles that is sure to get the party started.
Cover is your friend.
As Sam sets out on his adventure, he won't have access to the entire thrilling cohort of weaponry at his disposal. Interestingly, it will be up to the player to seek out new weapons and upgrades via a scanning system. In liue of the tried and true manual pick up of new weapons, Sam's suit will allow him to scan the weapons he comes across and then replicate these items directly in his hand. When Sam scans a weapon type that he is already in possession of, he will instead receive extra ammo for that particular weapon and in time will eventually receive a weapon upgrade.
To look at the game, it is plain to see that it borrows its stylings heavily from the creations of anime and manga - and it does so with gorgeous aplomb we might add. Intricate combat suits, sterile futuristic environments and deadly robotic enemies. To see it in action only further cements this title as a Japanese shooter as it is built with the nimble, instinctive twitch gamer in mind. It is fast and it is furious and Vanquish makes it a forgone conclusion that it hates it when you stand still. The game is designed for players to take quick cover and then get back out into the action. Between this fast-pace, limited availability of ammo and a punishing pattern for enemy AI, Vanquish looks like a game that is set to separate the weekend warriors from the hardcore gamers.
One thing the game is doing to combat the difficulty is a little something called the Augmented Reaction System (ARS). At times players will find themselves battling numerous amounts of enemies to the point that the screen becomes a blurry mess of incomprehensible craziness - it is during these moments that we are finally able to sample the full power of Sam's battle suit. In these moments, the battle suit will automatically turn on the ARS and temporarily employ a 'bullet time' effect where time will be slowed down to allow Sam to either destroy his opponents or make a hasty retreat to cover. Players will also be able to trigger the system voluntarily by vaulting over cover or performing a power-slide move.
Acrobatic moves will be plentiful in Vanquish.
Scheduled for an October 2010, Vanquish still has many months of development time to further tweak the game's gorgeous visuals, insane action and the quirky humour that we've come to know from PlatinumGames. It's a title that may polarise gamers views with its style of gameplay, but we must applaud the developer for being bold and taking risks. With the pedigree of PlatinumGames and Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami at the helm, this third-person shooter could prove to be one of the premiere titles of 2010.
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