VANQUISH
Lets see what the Churchy Excite-O-Meter has to say:
Losing my shit is the reading I see on this one. Now without further ado:
DOWNLOAD THIS FUCKING DEMO NOW!!
Okay after that rabid statement all I can ask you to do is just that.
Okay...calming down now...
*takes calming pills and a very deep breath, several in fact*
Okay. Okay. I'm alright now. Right now on the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network is a demo for a game which is probably the most insane thing I've ever played. Of course in this sense insane is the best compliment I can give. It is one of the most awesome demos I've played in a long time. As you know I've been saying that the last two years of gaming have been a bit lacking compared to other times. I will go more into this in my next post but Vanquish is one of those titles that's reigniting my excitement from just playing the demo. But enough of me needing a new pair of trousers. What the hell is Vanquish and why have I had such a violent reaction to it?
Vanquish is a 3rd person shooter made by Platinum Games (proving themsleves to be an awesome developer with such games as Infinite Space and Bayonetta). The director is Shinji Mikami (known for creating the Resident Evil series on working on such games as Viewtiful Joe and Devil May Cry) and the game is a sci-fi action game but that's something of an undertstatement as it is far more than that.
Essentially you are a soldier in an ultra high powered suit with it's own energy supply. The suit has all sorts of powers, the first of which is a rocket boosters using to slide and dash along the floor at fast speeds. But it gets better, you can dash and shoot at the same time. But it's not as linear as that. You can steer as you dash, dash towards the screen and away from enemies whilst shooting them over you shoulder, while finding cover. That's just the beginning of what you can do.
The game engine has it's roots in the Gears of War system but if anything it's taken a sapling and grown a fucking forest on top of it. There is a one button system for cover. Also you can dive around forwards, backwards and side to side. But unlike gears where the actions are mostly separate, you can link moves together. For example, you could be dashing towards an enemy, then suddenly a giant mechanic walker shoots a rocket at you. You can instant just dodge out of the way, get cover and link moves together. All of the movement controls seamlessly go from one function to another. There are also Melee attacks which are ridiculously powerful (you smash your way through steel doors in the tutorial!). But that's still not everything to do with movement! When you get low on health you will automatically enter a critical state where a bullet time mechanic comes into play. But there is only a certain amount of time you have to use it off your enemies. In this bullet time mode you also get reticules making it clearer where you targets are and where best to hit them. But this mode isn't just limited to when you're in a spot of bother, you can also trigger this with full health. But don't all these powers make the game sound a bit easy? It would be but there is limit on it. As the suit is run on energy you have a bar at the bottom. All of the boosting, time-slowing and monster melee attacks use up energy on the bar. The bar refills whenever you're not using up energy but should you run it all the way down, you have a period of time where you cannot use any of your special attacks (just your guns which we will get too next) for awhile while the suit starts emitting electric static and takes time to recharger back to full.
Okay, deep breath.
Now after all that we only just get to the weapons. The weapons take no energy to use. Like Gears of War, you select which weapon to use with the D-Pad and can only have 3 weapons held at one time, with an extra slot for grenades. But of course this is sci-fi and the guns are futuristic versions of what we know and love: assualt rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers. But there are also some new weapons available such as a Disc Launcher which fires a disc to chop up the nasties! But again evolutions have been put in place to a system which many people know. The gun change is far quicker and also you don't have to switch between guns and grenades. You have a dedicated button for Grenades so you can fire your gun and through grenades without much interruption to your burst of fire. The D-Pad is used to switch between the types of grenades. The Grenades available are the usual frag grenades, a slightly longer timed frag grenade but also an EMP emitter which will disable enemies for a short period of time. But again we're still not finished. You also find power-ups and upgrades to guns (for example on I picked up increased my ammo capacity by 25%!) which introduces slight RPG elements to the proceedings. Will you be able to level up your suit in the full game? I'm not sure.
Now that alone was the mechanics and it might sound ridiculously complicated but weirdly enough, it isn't. Just make sure you play through the tutorial first and you'll have no problems. Everything brilliant connects and you can go from action to action without to much effort or hardwork. The mechanics are programmed brilliantly. It feels really fluid, fast, impressive and is suprisingly easy to pick up. Also it is far faster than the Gears Of War gameplay with much more going on.
Now we get to the actual gameplay. I'm not going to ruin it but you are with a team of other soldiers in sci-fi settings which feel original but also familiar with what we know. There are so many different types of enemies shooting you with all sorts of different weapons. To put it bluntly, it is insane, the amount of stuff going on is absolutely incredible with so many different enemies and projectiles all looking to destroy you. It rivals and betters some of Treasure's games (a developer known for throwing everything at you at once) and I think Platinum Games may actually take the prize for how much is taking place on screen. Treasure have to watch out. Not only that but the graphics look utterly fantastic and although there is the usual sci-fi metal sheen to the proceedings, there is plently of colour mixed in with it. Mostly coming from explosions of an electric nature. When you defeat the first boss it really is a wonder to behold.
Vanquish is only a single player game but to be honest it's best that way. Platinum Games said they wanted to make it that way so they could get the best experience possible and I believe they've done what they set out to do and more. It's obvious they've taken influence from other game engines but they've evolved it to a level that is superior and has it's own style and identity.
If you want to compare it to another game think of it like this. Take Max Payne, any Treasure shooter, WET, Gears Of War, Mecha Anime, add some LSD and you're somewhere close. This is really a game you have to see to believe and then playing it is an experience in itself. Before the demo starts up there is health warning about how the game might give you seizures. Download the demo on PS3 and Xbox 360 now and await the release in the UK on October 22nd. This is one hell of game that we're going to see. I don't get excited about many games these days but this is one of them and if the demo is anything to go by, dare I say it, this could be a game of the year on our hands!
PLAY IT NOW! Go on and lose your eye sight. It'll be worth it!
