Customer Reviews

Vanquish

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let me get right down to it, there is a lot more to Vanquish if gamers actually take the time and give it a fair chance and see it for what it truly is...A huge, daring leap in this genre of gaming; which has succeeded beyond my expectations.

In this Call Of Duty and Halo obsessed multiplayer age of gaming, a lot of stuff is starting to get really dull when it comes to the shooter genre. All the multiplayer obsessed gamers have forgotten where games originated from. Games used to be about a great SINGLE PLAYER experience where you could sit back and enjoy everything without being cursed at and being called a "noob" when you mess up.

Some people are hating on this game because it has no multiplayer. Just because a game is a shooter does not mean it needs multiplayer to be successful at providing a stellar gaming experience. I look at this game and praise the creators for going outside the "standard" for modern day shooters. I also compare this game to titles such as Devil May Cry, Ikaruga, or any type of score keeping game. It encourages the (determined) gamers out there to replay the campaign over and over again to challenge themselves and see how great they can be and achieve the highest scores. If you have ever played Ikaruga (a top down space shooter) you will understand what I'm talking about. There are bullets flying everywhere, intricate level design, sharp graphics, a level of strategy involved, big badass bosses to kill, and knowing that you are going to die a few times (or a ton of times) to finally become proficient at winning.

Vanquish is not a toy that you play with once and toss aside. It is meant to be played again and again to fully appreciate its beauty. If you consider yourself a hardcore gamer looking for a great challenge and looking to return to the roots of gaming, you will agree with alot of the views I have on this excellent game. That being said, I will get to the main points on why Vanquish is a must play title.

STORY

If Vanquish has a flaw, it is the story. It is your typical good vs evil with some mediocre characters that you do not really connect to, but some of the stuff they say is quite funny or rather cliche depending on your view. The game knows it is over the top and doesn't take anything too seriously so it sort of makes sense. I could care less about a solid Triple A story so this flaw does not bother me at all. If you are going into Vanquish looking for a deep story; just go play Heavy Rain...Vanquish is an action junkie's game.

GRAPHICS/SOUND

WOW...this has got to be the prettiest game I have seen in 2010, everything is so crisp. Your character's suit has so much detail and moving parts I literally spent about 2 minutes just moving the camera around looking at every little detail. Environments look amazing too, there would be a lot to look at, but take your eyes off the action too long and you're dead. Your robot enemies all look superb. They move how you would expect robots to move, just picture one of the latest Transformer movies and that will tell you exactly how detailed they are; ranging from the smallest to the biggest of the robots they are all great. Your enemies look even better when they are being blown up, explosions are fantastic and the larger enemies' explosions are like the 4th of July; all kinds of colors and sparks fly in the air and slowly dim to nothingness, leaving only a tattered broken shell of what they were. If you love big explosions and bursting gunfire you will love Vanquish, every sound is crisp and never sounds out of place.

GAMEPLAY- Most important part of a game to me.

This game is not about hiding behind cover and taking pot shots at your foes. Cover is best used for seconds at a time to either recover your health or plan your next attack. Stay behind cover too long and it will eventually be destroyed by a bigass robot. Slow motion or "bullet time" has always seemed cliche in games that just tack it on as an after thought, but it actually works in Vanquish. When everything is going so fast all the time, it is excellent to slow down time and line up those headshots with the sniper rifle or vault over some cover, slow down time in mid-air and blast a robot in the face with a shotgun, that is the definition of badass right there. When you are near death, time will slow automatically and this gives you a chance to retreat and let your health regenerate as well as give you time to think about your next move. Vanquish is all about speed and elegant flow of combat. The speed comes in the form of your suit's boosting ability. You can boost all over the battlefield for a limited amount of time before your suit overheats. This ability really gives a whole new dimension of gameplay and allows you to retreat quickly or go in guns a blazin'.

This game is actually not just a mindless shooter, but requires some strategy, if your going to boost up to that big robot and melee his ass across the battlefield, you better hope there are no other bots around because once you melee, your suit is overheated and you cannot boost away from danger. Some may say this is cheap, I say it just makes things more interesting and doesn't make you so powerful that every battle is easy. Weapons range from standard assault rifles, a shotgun, sniper rifle, missile launcher, grenades. There are a few unique weapons too, buy the game if you want to see them. You technically have one weapon, but here is the best part...It literally transforms into whatever weapon you select. Right before your eyes you see your shotgun morph into a sniper rifle or your assault rifle morph into a rocket launcher. The animations for these transformations are the coolest thing I have ever seen in a game and is great to see because I have grown tired of watching my character constantly swap guns off of his hip or back or see them appear from nowhere *cough* Grand Theft Auto...excuse me... Overall the gameplay is superb. And those looking for REPLAY VALUE: there are challenge missions that you unlock which are basically like Gears of War's Horde mode where waves of enemies come after you, the challenge is to kill them all as fast as you can with only one life...and they literally are a challenge because they get really hard on the later waves. Hardcore gamers rejoice!

CONTROLS

You can't have great gameplay without great controls and for the speed that Vanquish moves, you surprisingly never feel out of control. It may take a good half hour until you grasp the control scheme, but once you do, you will be killing robots left and right and feeling like a badass while you do it.

Vanquish is a title not to be missed, I really hope people do not overlook this game. This is a hardcore shooter/action fan's dream come true. Give Vanquish a thorough play-through and I dare you not to crack a smile when you feel like a god killing all those robots in such a stylish destructive force.

NEW: I bought the triple weapons pack for vanquish. The three new guns are awesome! They just add that much more to an already near-perfect third person shooter experience. The download is pretty cheap too.

Formerly known as Clover Studios, this group was responsible for the start of Devil May Cry, Okami, and GOD HAND, among other titles. Now as Platinum Games, the team has so far shown us this year that it's still going strong, with an instant hit Bayonetta, and now...Vanquish. Going by it's track record, I instantly took note of this title, because this is one development team that I trust (other being Valve), for the sole reason that I've never been disappointed with their games.

Vanquish takes a leap into the future, with a weapon of mass destruction in outer space destroying San Francisco. Naturally, America is pissed and retaliates. Our player Sam of DARPA corporation accompanies a group of marines under orders from his captain. He wears a special suit designed by DARPA, codenamed ARS. With it, he's able to go beyond the average human abilities, from rocket dashing to swapping weapons on the get-go, to enhancing his reaction time (slowing down to take better shots, etc.). The story progresses into much more than simple revenge, with a few twists and turns, and a satisfying amount of set pieces.

As far as the graphics go...holy crap are the graphics beautiful. Just from the decorative title screen and badass music you can tell you're in for a treat. The character models are detailed, grungy style, and the robotic enemies, guns, environments, all fit in properly. But if you think the graphics are cool, wait until you start playing...the gameplay beats it out tenfold. Fast-paced shooting, each of the ten weapons feels different, and the ARS drives to go into slow-mo make the game even more enjoyable.

Even though there are only ten weapons and...the game isn't too long (beat hard, first playthrough, in a little over seven hours), I still believe this is well worth the purchase. Think of those adventure games, where the gameplay and story motivate you to continue. This isn't your average shooter, this is: Vanquish.

First of if you're a fan of third person sci-fi action games then you should for sure pick Vanquish up you won't be disappointed, if you're new to the genre than this would be an excellent start too. The story is your typical good versus evil, mine's bigger than yours scenario so nothing major there. However the action is fast paced, the graphics are top notch and the controls are very intuitive and easy to pick up right from the start. As I said prior you don't play this game for the story you play it for the guns blazing, butt kicking nonstop action, which this game is packed with. However be warned, if you're looking for a deep plot or even a hide and snipe good time this may not be for you. Personally I have not been disappointed by the last few games Platinum Games released (MadWorld, Bayonetta), I do believe they are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the gaming world.

I was psyched for Vanquish. I love director Mikami's games, I love Platinum's games (like Bayonetta), and the trailer was INSANE. Sure, the story elements seemed to lift from Metal Gear Solid, but in a wink-wink kind of way.

My disposable income has become low, but still I pick this sucker up ASAP. I play it, and it's okay. I keep trying to like it. It's cool to upgrade weapons, though a little weird that you need a full clip in them. I try not to over-use cover, though the slow-mo power is both cliche and runs out quickly. I try to shut off my brain on cutscenes to admire the wow factor instead of the nonsensical "plot."

About 6 hours of play later, I've beaten Vanquish. And I realize something: It's not a very good game.

Those gushing about it seem to love the gameplay. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm not in love with cover-based shooters like Gears of War, but I definitely utilized it here. But I'm not supposed to, many say? As for the suit's powers? Sliding around is goofy, and doing a melee will usually overheat your suit -- causing it to malfunction. Getting hit too much will trigger the suit powers automatically. So you're basically getting into all this forced slow-mo, or having the suit's alarm blare at you while you're powerless.

Enemies are boring robots, and level design just takes you from linear setpiece to linear setpiece. The world itself isn't very exciting -- a space station with a few rotating-environment gimmicks. I never felt like I was doing more than just moseying along and shooting stuff.

I also never felt a real connection to the player-character like you do in top-tier games like God of War or Devil May Cry. Maybe I'm just not into third-person shooters, I don't know. Maybe I'd like it more if I replayed, as some reviewers here suggest. But honestly, I liked it LESS the more I played it the first time. Would that really change? I doubt it.

I honestly don't care that it's a single-player game that takes 6 hours to beat. So was Bayonetta and I LOVED that game. I just want to enjoy those 6 hours -- make them worth the $10/hour I'm paying.

Vanquish is not a terrible game, though elements are terrible (especially the story). It's serviceable most of the time, looks pretty, and will keep you on your toes. But all these 5-star people and 9.0-scoring critics must be playing a different game than I did. And I've had literally hundreds of video-game reviews published in my day, so I'm no ignoramus. I suggest that you be a little careful before diving into Vanquish yourself.

I am an older gamer: 52 to be specific. I don't have time or energy to play most immersive RPG/ FPS. So Vanquish is the perfect game. You can play it in little increments (due to an excellent save system) and be satisfied with .5 to an hour of fun shoot-em-up game play. There is no on line play. It is essentially a "wash-rinse-repeat" sort of FPS, but never seems to lose its fun factor. Fun dialogue, easy controls. It is the equivalent of an enjoyable sci-fi TV show.

Many people give too much credit to Cliffy B. and Gears of War for the current state of the over-the-shoulder third-person shooter genre today. They forget about the foundation that Shinji Mikami laid whilst working on the critically acclaimed modern classic: Resident Evil 4. Cliffy B. explicitly stated that RE4 was a huge inspiration for GoW and that "if you're gonna copy something, why not copy from the best?". While GoW made some advancements in the genre, Mikami takes it to the next level in Vanquish.

Pros:

+ Graphics and art direction combine stylized art direction with a futuristic realism to arrive at a slick medium

+ Anime-like storyline. Play this with Japanese voices and English subtitles, imagine that it's hand-drawn or cel-shaded 3D, and you can easily see how this could be an anime that you would watch

+ Option to use the superior Japanese voice-overs

+ Refined, polished, and streamlined gameplay that is free of needless exploration or puzzle-solving

+ The innovations: Boosting and ARS mode (slow-mo)

+ Light RPG elements: upgrade your weapons by picking up the same weapon in the field while your ammo is maxed

Cons:

+ Life-bars over enemies take away the immersiveness of the battle and instead makes you aware that you are playing a video game. You hence look for your aiming reticule to turn red (so that you know you will damage the enemy) instead of aiming at your enemy. Some people like bars and meters all over the screen; I do not.

+ Uniform upward recoil. When you shoot your weapon, the recoil causes your aim to go up. However, it simply does that. It doesn't shake left, right or down. It continues going straight up. This is not realistic, and it annoyed me at first; however, as I continued through the game, I anticipated this and would sometimes aim below a target and then shoot, for I knew the crosshairs would soon reach my target.

+ Dying incurs a penalty that automatically downgrades your weapons in "Normal" difficulty and above. Why have this penalty? Or better yet, why would I play a difficult section over with my weapons downgraded? After realizing that my weapons were being downgraded upon death, I simply exited the game and loaded a previous check-point. This is an unnecessary penalty that simply makes the user waste time.

+ One-hit deaths. This is arguably necessary because of the rebounding health meter. If you could simply hide all the time, then you could never die. However, it is frustrating to die in the heat of battle because you missed dodging the one-hit-death move from a boss while you were focused on killing one of its minions.

Parting Thoughts:

Yes. This is better than Gears of War. I got bored of GoW and was unimpressed by its graphics. Vanquish is a thrill-ride that must be played. It is sad that games without multiplayer are immediately deemed inferior by the mainstream "'Call of Duty' gamer". I hope that games like this continue to be made. As long as intelligent gamers like us exist, it will be a reality. Thank you for reading this review, and have a great day.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Vanquish. Perhaps very foolishly, I started my first go through of the game on hard difficulty, and it really kicked my @$$ more than once over the very short campaign. Still, as I reflect on the experience days after beating it, I have to say that Vanquish was a very positive experience for me.

Vanquish has a lot of striking strengths that will immediately win you over. This is not your run-of-the-mill third person shooter. In fact, it is one of the most unique shooters I've played. Made by the talented Platinum games (Bayonetta), and directed by Shinji Mikami (contributed heavily to Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry series, Ace Attorney series, Shadows of the Damned, and created the Resident Evil series. Yeah, he's had an amazing career) This is a massive, kinetic assault on the senses. You are Sam Gideon, a former college football star turned suit-tester adrenaline junkie for DARPA, equipped with the totally awesome ARS suit. The story is nearly non-existent, most of the characters are bare bones skeleton caricatures, the villains are predictable, and it's all so very cheesy. The main characters have a very cheesy charm. It's a very testosterone driven game, with your fellow npcs screaming profanities and commenting on the nature between peace & war (I'm kidding about the last part). Seriously, you don't play Vanquish for the story. You play it for the totally rad style, the feeling of being a bad@$$ in an awesome suit, and for the gameplay. The story elements in this game would be a lot worse if it weren't for the clearly purposeful cheesiness of the whole thing. It doesn't take itself so seriously, and that's a great thing. Fans of cheesy, epic sci-fi rejoice!

The music can range from pretty good to decent techno. It's nothing special, but it drives the action along and that's all that really matters. The art direction in Vanquish is very cool. It's full of sterile whites and futuristic space station motifs. I was amazed how much detail was packed into the environments and character models, all of which combine to remind me very strongly of Halo, Gears Of War, and Mass Effect (all of which are clearly and purposefully saluted or nodded to in one form or another in this game). Again, everything about this game screams action, and that includes the graphics. Bosses explode in a massive shower of sparks and cinders, an astounding number of tracer fire fills the screen, and the set pieces are spectacular. I don't want to give anything away, but more than one set piece had me picking my jaw up off the floor. It's all very cool. The motion and model animations are all exceptionally smooth too, from the far off environments to the close up vents and power structures on Sam's suit. The ARS suit should win an award for coolest suit ever.

The gameplay itself, in all aspects is so razor sharp, it's hard to find any problems. The controls are insanely close to perfection. They're tight, responsive, and absolutely refined. Any death in this game, even the numerous "cheap" kamayamaya FU instaskills, really can't be blamed on the game because the controls are so refined, each death could have been avoided. The game features a bar for your suit's coolness levels and severely limits you and your abilities if you overheat it. This bar is used for a bullet time effect, which is very well done, melee attacks (the only thing not very well done in the game), and a very responsive, maneuverable sliding boost power. The cover mechanics are amazingly well done and even more so when combining the bullet time or sliding abilities with it. It's all extremely well done. It's hard to really go that much into detail about Vanquish's gameplay. All I can say is that it is a totally unique take on 3rd person shooting and is so chaotic, you'll love it. It really is exceptional. Oh, and Sam has a button where he takes a drag from a cig and flicks it to distract enemy attention. It's awesome. Sam smokes a lot, and has an extremely gravely voice. He's a bad@$$. He gives himself cancer so you don't have to.

So what are the problems with Vanquish? For one thing, it is extremely short: a paltry five hours on normal or less difficulty. It's a single-player only game, which is fine, but it really should be longer since single player is the only focus of the game. You can play on hard and maybe it will last you 10-15, but only because the many deaths artificially extend the gameplay. There's also six tactical challenges that are like firefight in Halo. They're ridiculously difficult. Another "problem" people might have with Vanquish is that it has a very steep learning curve. I died many instadeaths, and at times became so frustrated I needed to take a break. Again, I played on hard, but still, frustration will pop up. I was able to look past that, but many probably would not.

So there you have it. Vanquish is a super fun game that boasts fantastic art direction/execution, exceptional gameplay that nails its intended purpose, and will leave you an adrenaline-depleted husk by the time its over. Normally, I play games for story first and gameplay second. This one is so good, I don't mind the barely there story because the gameplay is so fresh and awesome. If you are in any way a fan of chaos, transforming, robot anime, sci-fi epicness, Japanese-centric , exploding things, give Vanquish a try. Again, this is not typically my cup-o-tea, and while Vanquish is not a perfect game by any means, it is awesome. Buy it, slide n'slode thru it, smoke a cig after it.

vanquish is a very, very good game. it takes a while to get used to the gameplay but it is different and that is the best part of the game. can you tell me the last time you've played a 3rd person shooter and the character has boosters that he slides on and can slow doen time..................if you came up with a answer please tell me because i can think of any. although it seems platinum games has a thing with slowing down time *cough* (bayonetta-witch time) they re purpose it and make it a fresh new experience. you have a decent weapon arsenal and does not get repetitive. at times you will be overwhelmed by the enemies and will die a lot. at points you might want to throw your controller but this game has some value and is def worth playing

Vanquish feels like a thrill ride that never stops. The story is decent enough to keep you interested and it ends with a pretty decent plot twist, but what really holds my interest is the gameplay. Vanquish keeps the pace high from the very beginning and never lets up. Your DARPA-developed suit comes with boosters and a reflex enhancer that slows time down. The enemies are quick and smart but you are just as fast. The game moves like lightning and hopes you can hang on for the ride. If you like action games, they don't get any better than Vanquish. Definitely give this game a look. The only problem is that it's a short ride, I cleared it in just over 5 hours on the normal difficulty. Just when you're starting to get really skilled, the game is over and there is no New Game+. Some of the lines are corny (as is usually the case when non-Americans try to make a game starring Americans), but to be honest the main character Sam Gideon was pretty likable. Apart from those few shortcomings, Vanquish is definitely a game well worth the money.

Before I get this one, many online gamers rated this one about 7~9 because it cannot go online playing.

I personally not so interested into online playing as people just killing and cursing a lot. Not what online gaming was designed for.

This Vanquish has most advanced idea of how a Sci-Fi shooting game can be. I do love this game

Finished very easy mode and also hard mode. ......man.......normal is already some what difficult...and hard...yeah....each mission....I am counting DEATH COUNT arount 25~35.....crap...hard as it can be..... and there is God Hard mode in advanced....not sure how many people have that strength and patient to play that mode.

Anyway. I do love this game and want to tell all shooting game lovers, this game is worthy to play and save as a collection. The price from this seller is also very reasonable.