Vanquish is a ridiculously over-the-top crazy 3rd person shooter that blends the best gameplay elements from other games in the genre into an experience that does not give the player a moment to catch a breath. Explosions, rocket sliding, crazy armor suits, legions of enemies, powerful weapons, huge bosses, a science fiction setting, insane gun battles – this game is one for the senses.
The biggest gimmick to Vanquish is the ability to rocket slide – a fast form of movement in which the player glides on the ground as if skating on ice. Used in conjunction with bullet time, it then becomes possible to make easier work of enemies and for faster speed runs which will yield higher ranks on the leaderboards – think the Matrix meets Stranglehold. There is a cover mechanic similar to Gears of War, but Vanquish stands out by implementing a leveling up system for weapons. Although not too deep, this RPG-style system incorporates more strategy than in a typical 3rd person shooter.
Clocking in under 10 hours, Vanquish is a shorter game and could act as the perfect weekend rental. Although there is no multiplayer mode whatsoever, a new challenge-like mode, which is like Halo’s FightFire or Gears of War’s Horde mode, offers up fast pace fun as it basically just removes all the story elements that slows down the gameplay. Speaking of the game’s story, this is probably the weakest element of this game but when you have such high octane gameplay, following the story naturally takes a backseat anyway. Basically, the plotline is there to host the game in a unique and entertaining environment with level design that encourages intense battles. Dialog between characters is also painfully bad and the mouths don’t even sync up with spoken voices.
Vanquish is an adrenaline infused rocket ride of a game. The explosive thrills should have no problem holding the attention span of any gamer that picks up a controller. The higher difficulty provides a decent challenge without feeling too cheap (one hit boss kills are a little unfair) but it just sucks that there is no multiplayer mode when a game like this begs to have online co-op. In a crowded market of 3rd person shooters, Vanquish has differentiated itself from other games in the genre and will surely spew a few sequels in the coming years.
Not As Good As: God Of War
Also Try: Ikaruga
Wait For It: Vanquish 2 with online co-op
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