While I totally love this game, I can easily see why other people would have reservations about the overall package it offers. It is short. It is hard. The story is nothing but a premise to shoot russian robots and poke some fun at macho stereotypes. There is no incentive for repeated playthroughs apart from mastering the mechanics, score chasing and beating the game on harder difficulty levels.
Vanquish shows its cards early. You see all available weapons in the first chapter, you have access to all the abilities from the start. There is no gradual learning curve. 20 minutes in, you’ll be fighting hordes of enemies on foot, on gun platforms, snipers, axe-wielding brutes and a boss ten times as big as you are who can kill you with one solid hit if you’re not careful. It really throws you in at the deep end. But, persevere and experiment for 20 more minutes and chances are you emerge at the other end of the pool, somersaulting in slow-motion while unloading a shotgun into the face of some poor robot grunt before boosting into cover under a hail of Matrix bullet trails. And then casually light a cigarette before entering the fray again.
Vanquish adds boost and slow motion to the traditional third person shooter and, while neither of these mechanics are truly spectacular on their own, the way they interlock and combine opens up a way to play a third person shooter that’s never been done before, very much like a fighting game, complete with weapon/melee combos and frame cancelling. The system it provides is complex and nuanced, and opens the way for some really kinetic fights and action sequences. And you’ll look good while doing it. Over and over again. So, if you ever dreamt of being a gun-wielding ninja badass, Vanquish offers that. It doesn’t really offer anything else though. For me, that’s not a problem at all. Your mileage may, indeed, vary.
The repetitive nature of the game is not so bad because the core gameplay is very fun and the levels provide an ok variation. As do the enemy types.
The weapons are fine/dandy but I dislike the upgrade system which encourages you to not use the weapon(s) you want to upgrade. Not that big of a deal but it’s definitely a nuisance.
I so wish that on a 2nd playthrough they’d let you keep your upgrades so you can tackle a harder difficulty with some amount of confidence. As it as, on Normal, I died over 40 times. Now this is not so bad in itself but the real shity thing about dying is that they take away 2 of your weapon upgrades. Screw you, Mikami!
I have not found any reason at all for a 2nd playthrough.
And this game has that classic super cheesy/awful/camp/really stupid Japanese-style dialogue that makes me cringe very often and want to put my head in a vice. Death Knell
I finally had a chance to sit down with it late last night (after both Super Meat Boy and Costume Quest distracted me for hours) and I was amazed at both the quality and duration of the opening cinematic. Very Star Blazers. But then I didn’t have much time to play. Tonight, tonight!
I think I’ll do the same thing with Vanquish that I did with bayonetta, I’ll wait or it to hit 20-30 bucks. I’m pretty swamped at the moment in any case. Though it’s nice to hear that the game is fun, if a bit short and hard at times.
My most upgraded weapons are always the ones I use the most. Upgrading actually encourages you to stick to certain weapons since the more you’re carrying them around the more opportunities you have to level them up. I found it pretty easy to max out my favourites by the fourth chapter or so.
I miss the scoring system from Bayonetta in this. Getting graded for each level means there’s another goal to shoot for, but leaderboards always gives me the feeling of competing against people I have no chance of beating anyway. Higher grades to aim for and a handful of gimmick unlocks would be nice as an excuse to keep playing.
Not that I need the excuse in the end, I like the game enough to give the harder difficulties a serious shot. You don’t need a reason to mess around with a wonderful combat system and interesting enemies. There must be a dozen different ways to take apart a Romanov, and I haven’t even tried the Disk Launcher on them yet.
My first playthrough clocked in at around six and a half hours. There’s no way your first run will be under four hours total. It’s possible the stats will show that number on completion, but the clock only seems to count time spent in combat. I’m guessing that’s where GameInformer got that number from which I’d say is rather misleading of them.
What an idiot. Not only does he not understand how melee works, he also gets facts downright wrong and didn’t even bother to explore his options in combat. You can dismantle nearly all of the bosses in under a minute if you take the right approach in this game.
I understand that Vanquish has very little to offer if you’re not taken with the combat, but reviewers should at least try to get their facts right.
I finished this last night on normal, and just like Horrible Oscar, I clocked in at about six-and-a-half hours to finish the game. I like the game quite a bit, to the point where I’m planning on replaying the campaign on a higher difficulty.
I actually like the upgrade system that they’ve implemented. Initially, I also thought it punished you for using a favorite gun. However, generic upgrade kits come up pretty often, if you look for them, and enemy resistances prevent you from sticking to one weapon throughout the game. In fact, part of the reason I want to do another playthrough is that I realized I wasn’t using the shotgun against the right enemies at one point. I want to try specializing in the disc gun and the LFE gun, too, to see how it changes things.
So I’m not really disappointed by the lack of a deeper, persistent upgrade layer as in Bayonetta. Vanquish is really an arcade game, first and foremost, and the upgrade system’s simplicity allows the actual decision-making to take place in-game, often while you’re being shot at. Particularly with the challenges, Vanquish somehow manages to remind me of the old arcade side-scrolling shooters like Gradius and Raiden, and I really like that.
Yes, you hit it on the head! It reminded me of that as well, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
I had this impression (even after playing the demo) that it would be “gears of war but crazy”. It’s not really, there’s cover-based shooting but throws away the plodding “stop and pop” style of GoW. Instead it’s goes for the frantic action of an arcade shooter. It’s also brilliant fun!
Nice! So it has that Bayonetta “combat is beautiful, must play more” feeling. Sigh, now I just have to decide whether I want to support the developers enough to pay $60. I think I got Bayonetta on sale for like $50 at a GoGamer madness sale not long after launch… I’ll do likewise with this, I think. Because these developers must live and waiting until $30 is not an option.
I read an interview with them in the latest Edge, and they said Bayonetta wound up selling around a million copies, e.g. a decent success. FUCKING YAY!!! I was worried it had tanked, which would be a crime against God.
Just finished it and wow. As far as pure gameplay, this is IMO the best cover shooter to date. The sheer number of options available to you turns the game into one huge freeform combo. The visuals are quite good too.
Just finished this, too. I think it’s my console game of the year. It’s not really a cover shooter, cuz I mean, the bots blow away your cover all the time, and that’s what’s awesome. I loved power sliding and maxing out all the weapons. I’m a fan and can’t wait for the sequel so Sam can take on Moscow. Yes, the dialogue is cheesy, but it’s supposed to be. I laughed quite a bit. This game makes me want to double back and play Bayonetta and maybe even God Hand, even though I hate God of War and think DMC is pretty boring. I’d say the game merits a second playthrough more than other action games because of the change in tactics the harder difficulties require, the numerous achievements, and the options you have in maxing other weapons in later attempts.
Sega has done two teasers recently about the game, and it fits their current strategy.
I don’t think they will add more content, but playing this again on PC at high res will be amazing. It’s the Bayonetta of shooters, imho (although the setting is less inspired).
