Vanquish – Post Mortem Review - PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 – Part 1
Smooth, fluid, elegant, fast paced and intense, Vanquish surprised everyone as just how good a game it was. In fact, it is so absolutely brilliant, that two months shy of its first birthday, the game has been nominated in the Best Shooter category of the
prestigious Golden Joystick Awards.
Yet, there are certain games that wow everyone in the beginning but fizzle out like an embarrassing fad over time. That is why when a game is reviewed following its release, the views, opinions and, more importantly, ratings are influenced by all those factors.
Much like a hangover on a Sunday morning after a late night of partying the previous night, one suddenly realises whether or not the previous night was worth the headache and sensitivity to light or whether it was just a waste of time and money.
Hence, Bettor.com’s Post Mortem reviews. Where we re-review the games to do justice to those ratings and scores the game received following its release and to see if they still hold true.
Presentation
The first thing players notice when they run Vanquish on their consoles is the fact that the game has a very ‘arcade-y’ feel to it. The menu screen looks like something one would find in one of the million arcade games around the world.
When the player starts the game he hears ‘VANQUISH’ just like he would in Street Fighter.
The entire game’s presentation follows the same theme. Levels are split up into Acts and stages within those levels are split up into Missions. The end of each mission brings up a score card where players can see how they did and are awarded points accordingly.
The in-game cut-scenes are short and provide the only breaks between the non-stop hail of bullets that makes up Vanquish’s adrenaline pumping gameplay.
Gameplay
It is here that Vanquish truly shines and stands out from every other shooter in the market and that too in the best way possible.
The game rewards players for being trigger-happy junkies. The action is fast paced and frenetic with bullets, grenades, rockets and the occasional giant lasers flying left right and centre. The enemies are varied and their AI is quick to pounce if the player
stays in the same place too long.
Giant robots, mini boss and main boss battles are a regular occurrence in the game with certain robots having to be killed twice in different forms before they finally go down to stay down.
There are plenty of weapons for the player to choose from, ranging from Rocket Launchers and Assault Rifles, to Laser guns and the LFE Gun (which can only be described as the gun that shoots a huge ball of hurt which obliterates anything it touches).
The spine of the gameplay however, is how players move about the battlefield: the AR (Augmented Reality) Suit. The suit allows players to slide across the warzone at blistering speeds, avoiding the thousands of munitions which the enemy will be firing from
all sides.
Not only is this a very cool way to move around, but performing kills while in this mode is a satisfying experience that cannot be found in any other game.
To find out why moving and shooting in this game is different to all the other games, read on in the next part of this review:
Vanquish – Post Mortem Review – Part 2 -PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
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