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Vanquish Review PS3

Story



The game takes place in distant future. A Russian terrorist, by the name of Victor Zaitsev, demanded that the United States to surrender unconditionally, or else he and his forces will destroy New York by using a powerful weapon from the space station that his forces captured. Unwilling to surrender, the President of the United States assembled a large group of Marines, U.S. Army, and others with Colonel Burns assistance to eliminate the terrorist threat. One of DARPAs researcher, Sam Gideon, is also tasked to help with them, along with his own classified mission to save a doctor that develops his ARS.

The games story is kind of moderately good. Not too bad, not too good. The story is just there, without confusing anyone or catching peoples interest. There arent much characters development in the game, and a lot of unexplained mysteries in the game are not unexplained at the end of the game. I think there will be a sequel, but I doubt that Platinum Games wants to do it.

Gameplay



The game is a third person shooter. You have access to 3 types of weapons, along with two types of grenades. Sam has access to assault rifle, rocket launcher, heavy machine gun, and other weapons. His weapons will be carried out throughout the whole game, but you can always change them during battle or outside of battle. Make changes necessary as some weapons are best in certain situations, and works poorly in some situations. They have their own pros and cons, so it is up to you choose which weapon is the best. He also has two types of grenades, a normal grenade that explodes after a few seconds, and an EMP grenade that can stuns nearby enemies. If you are low in ammo, simply pick up a different weapon to change your current weaponry or pick up the same weapon to refill your ammo to max. You can switch your current weapon instantly by pressing the D-Pad.​

All of his weapons can be upgraded further, such as increasing firepower, increasing ammo capacity, etc. There are two ways to upgrade your weapons. First, find an Upgrade power-up, which allows you to upgrade your weapons level. Secondly, pick a same weapon lying on the ground when your current weapon has its ammo fulled. This is important as the more you progress in the game, the harder it gets, so keep that in mind.​



Taking covers are important to preserve your health. The enemies are relentless, as they will keep attacking you while fighting your backups. It is to be noted that not all covers in the game are indestructible, so always keep moving to avoid yourself getting killed. You can also do dodge roll to avoid enemy attacks.​

During battles, if you see any allies that are injured, you can heal them so that they can aid you during the battle. By doing so, you can get extra weapons, that can help you to refill ammo, upgrade your weapons, or switch to a new weapon.​



Sam have access to AR mode, where you can slow down time and shoot at enemies more accurately. AR mode will be activated at two ways. You can activate manually by dodge rolling and shoot, or it is activated automatically if your health is in danger. However, AR mode has its own gauge, which is be depleted when doing either one of the actions. If your AR mode is depleted, you will enter in a cooldown mode where you wont be able to use any actions that require AR Gauge for a short period of time. Keep in mind that Sams movements will be slightly slower if the AR Gauge enters cooldown mode.​

You can also do Boosting, where it allows you to slide on the ground at fast speed while evading enemies attacks as well as attacking them. You can also attack your enemies while Boosting as well as activating AR mode. Keep in mind that your AR Gauge will be depleted as well. Sam also can do powerful melee attacks, which are devastating to enemies. While equipping a different weapon, he will execute a different melee attack. Give it a try and test each weapons unique melee attack.​


Boss fights in the game are intense, difficult and challenging. Most of the time, you are required to shoot bosses weak points, but it is not that easy. Large bosses can attack multiple times and a lot of targets, which requires you to constantly on the cover and dodge while shooting. Also, they have one hit KO attacks that can kill you instantly if not dodged. Some of the attacks can be countered by pressing the correct button. There are few QTEs in the game, but most of it requires you to mash buttons to successfully counter their attacks or finish them off.​

The objectives in each levels in the game are varied, such as protecting the vehicles, getting through an area without being detected, etc. However, when it comes to battle, the battle can be incredibly deadly and intense as you can be killed by a stray shot if you are not careful.​

In some levels, you can take control enemys turrets and others for your usage. Take it to your advantage as they can be extremely devastating.

The gameplay is simply great. I expect nothing less from Platinum Games to make an incredible third person shooter game. However, the game can be finished within 6-8 hours if you are a skilled player. But, the game has high difficulty, where you can die easily even in Normal mode, so it adds the playing time if you are stuck in certain levels due to constant dying under bosses attacks.​

Graphics



The graphics of the game are awesome, greatly detailed looking characters and incredible looking environments. They looked really realistic, especially the character models.

Sound



The soundtrack is awesome, composed by Erina Niwa (Bayonetta) as well as Masafumi Takada (No More Heroes). Each themes fitted perfectly in every situations of the game.

The voice acting however, is rather mediocre. Not too great, but not too bad. I am not really impressed with the games voice acting, and the game seems to have rather weak dialogue, which may or may not compromises voice actors performances.

Replay Value



The game has rather moderate replay value. The game has low playing time, estimating around 6-8 hours of playing. It will be longer if you play harder difficulty modes, which is not recommended unless you love challenges and experienced third person shooter player. After beating the game, you can play Tactical Challenges. Tactical Challenges are challenges that requires you to beat enemy waves consecutively without dying. If you died, then you have to start over again. There are 6 challenges. Some of it are moderately easy to complete, but others can be extremely frustrating and difficult to complete, especially the last challenge. Like I said before, this game has high difficulty, and Tactical Challenges are best completed when you have master the games mechanics and using good strategies when beating them.​

When you are playing each levels, there will be a Score calculated on the screen. Your Score is calculated highly if you complete the game fast enough, no deaths, etc. The Score will be calculated lowly if you do the opposite things. You can submit your Scoreboards online and rank yourselves with other players throughout the world.​

Conclusion​


This game has great gameplay mechanics, great graphics, and great soundtrack. Unfortunately, this game suffers from moderately low playing time, mediocre story, moderate voice acting and weak dialogue. Despite the shortcomings, the game is awesome, and highly recommended to gamers who like intense and highly challenging third person shooter games. This is one of my favourite games in 2010.​

Score​

Story - 7/10​
Gameplay - 10/10​
Graphics - 10/10​
Sound - 7/10​

Final Score: 34/40 or 8.5/10​

Pros​

- Awesome gameplay.​
- Intense battles.​
- A lot of weapon variety for players preferences.​
- Boosting and AR Mode are great features in the game.​
- Varied mission objectives.​
- Awesome graphics.​
- Great boss fights.​
- Highly challenging.​
- Great electronic soundtrack.​
- No bugs, glitches, or whatsoever.​

Cons​

- Low to moderate playing time to finish the game, averaging around 6-8 hours.​
- Moderate replay value.​
- Mediocre storyline.​
- Moderate voice acting.​
- Lack of extra features, such as gallery.​
- Difficult for average players.​
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