Being blinded by explosions is par for the course.
Vanquish co-opts iconography and concepts with gleeful abandon, resulting in first impressions which suggest that Mikami has cross-bred the Master Chief from Halo with Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid and dropped their offspring into Gears of War for a holiday. The game’s hero, Sam Gideon, is an all-American former football star whose career is cut short by an injury which leads him to becoming a researcher at DARPA and developing an advanced combat exoskeleton titled the ARS; which, as it turns out is just as well given that a militaristic outfit named the Order of the Russian Star has taken over an orbital space colony, reconfigured it into a giant microwave emitter, and used it to broil San Francisco. Together with a group of forgettable marines, Sam is tasked with rescuing a missing scientist, retaking possession of the colony and preventing the destruction of its next target: New York City. Now if we have made any of the above sound interesting to you, apologies are necessary: Vanquish barely pays lip service to anything resembling a narrative and is largely content to employ its cheesy, maudlin and overwrought cinematics as an excuse to string together its numerous action sequences. It is somewhat disappointing, however, that the confused fusion of American science fiction and military tropes with Japanese excess does not result in something more interesting than the sub-Kojima nonsense offered by Vanquish. Even though all of the characters look great and animate well, none of them boasts anything resembling a personality worth caring about (let alone breaching the third dimension), and the game telegraphs its meagre ‘twists’ with the subtlety of Lady Gaga. Where games like Uncharted and its sequel achieve greatness by deftly mixing their stellar gameplay with endearing characters and snappy writing, Vanquish fails to provide any memorable context for its mayhem; it is fortunate, then, that the game is so very enjoyable to play.
Vanquish, clearly, is all about its mechanics, and little else, yet even in this regard it is a striking and peculiar beast. The game resembles Gears of War in only the most superficial ways; there is a snappy, responsive cover system, to be sure, but the efficiency of Sam’s movement makes Marcus Fenix feel like a shopping trolley with a dodgy wheel. Aided by a rocket booster strapped to the back of his combat suit, Sam is able to flank and jet from cover-to-cover by sliding on his knees at the speed of sound. This ability, coupled with a well-implemented variant on the now-mandatory bullet time mechanic, make Vanquish an utterly unique third person shooter and differentiate it from its many sources of inspiration. Mikami and Platinum have cribbed from many, but the unique way in which they have combined a number of disparate stylistic and mechanical elements help Vanquish to transcend its inspirations and become something quite ingenious in its own right.
Sam Gideon strikes a stunning pose.
Aided by a responsive and considered control scheme, Vanquish is a supremely tactile and immersive shooter. Its many combat scenarios are fraught with tension, but one never feels at a loss due to clunky or unmanageable button placement. The game excels and thrives in its effortless delivery of chaotic set pieces, filling the screen with enemies and projectiles and challenging the player to negotiate the fray with as much skill and flair as possible. Boosting, rolling and switching weapons on the fly via Sam’s morphing BLADE weapons system (Vanquish apparently never met an acronym it did not take to) provides ample opportunity for expert players to show off their skills, and the game even employs an old-fashioned score counter which tracks player’s chains of kills, offers up a screen at the end of each mission which evaluates the player’s performance. All of which is to suggest that Vanquish is a modern game which spares more than a passing glance to gaming history; in some ways, however, it is this reverence for classic conventions and nostalgia for days gone by that is both the blessing and minor curse of Vanquish.
Like games of old, Vanquish is utterly single-minded and relentless. The adrenaline-fuelled combat is exhilarating, captivating, but only ever strikes a single note for the game’s entire duration, notwithstanding a very brief and unconvincing attempt at stealth-based play. Players will shoot, dive, roll, melee and boost almost constantly until the (admittedly wonderful) end credits begin to roll, with nary a puzzle to interrupt the action or a moment of peace to stop and enjoy any of the game’s often-gorgeous vistas and lovely lighting effects. While this is not a problem for the first couple of hours, the tempo begins to drag by the mid-point and it becomes clear that Vanquish is uninterested in building to any sort of crescendo and would rather just assault players constantly with waves of enemies and explosions until they fall into a trance-like state. Without a few quiet moments to break up the action, the game’s attempts at ‘big moments’, such as when a highway begins to crumble beneath Sam’s feet, or an assault on a massive, robotic fortress, feel somewhat mundane and get lost in the sound and fury. While moment-to-moment play is never anything less than terrific fun and the game consistently looks amazing, it is unfortunate that very little of Vanquish ever really has a chance to stick. The numbing effect of the game’s non-stop climaxes, pulsing electronic soundtrack and sun-soaked visuals is offset somewhat by the brevity of the experience; again like games of old, Vanquish can be beaten in a couple of sittings and, taking cinematics into account, should not last the average player more than six or seven hours on the default (and rather brutal) difficulty setting. The downside is that outside of an unlockable higher difficulty and some survival-based challenges, there is nothing in the way of post-game content to compel another play-through. Those who derive enjoyment from competing for top spots in online leaderboards may derive an additional few hours of enjoyment, but for most, Vanquish will likely assume the position of a one-time romp.
In motion, Vanquish is often gorgeous to look at.
Make no mistake, though: Vanquish is a very good game, and everything which it does well is done better than almost any of its contemporaries. It offers unique, unparalleled play mechanics, gorgeous graphics and a host of pulse-pounding action sequences of which many other games would be envious. It lifts liberally from Western action gaming conventions and, almost in ridicule of its competitors, takes familiar ideas and ratchets them so high as to be unrecognizable. In many ways, what Mikami and Platinum have done with Vanquish is to offer players a glimpse of the future of third person shooters. Crafted with love, care and passion, Vanquish will be fondly regarded by many for years to come notwithstanding its imperfections. A boring story, flat pacing and a dearth of meaningful content render Vanquish a game ripe for expansion and refinement in what will hopefully become a fruitful franchise, but for action aficionados and devotees of all things Mikami and Platinum, their journey undoubtedly begins here.
Loading...
