Vanquish – Demo Impressions

Vanquish is a futuristic third person shooter from Shinji Mikami, the developer behind the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry franchises. The screens that have dropped to date have shown a technologically complex setting and the games only trailer so far shows fast-paced action that could elicit a seizure in even the most fortitudinous of gamers. The game’s demo hit Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network this week and, needless to say, we jumped right on in. Here’s what you need to know:

Like a video game Frankenstein - Vanquish seems to employ the best aspects from a number of highly acclaimed games and game franchises. You have the third person viewpoint and cover system of Gears of War, the regenerating health of Halo 2, the attitude and mechanized baddies of Metal Gear Solid, the bullet time mode of a lot of games these days, and the rapid-fire quicktime events of…well of even more games these days.

Like a BOSS - This demo includes a tutorial of the player’s basic functions as well as one mission from within the game. This mission includes a boss battle that is going to knock you off your ass, probably literally. You face off against a gigantic, transforming mech warrior that seems to equip every weapon ever shot out of a barrel – from lasers to rockets to guns and grenades. You must take his legs and arms out one at a time to get to its core reactor in order to take it down. The battle also has a sweet quicktime event that results in some jaw-dropping awesomeness.

Are you used to cliche characters in western games yet? - The characters in this game, from the little exposure this demo gives them, are incredibly cliche. The main character, Sam, who is described as an ex-college football star whose career was ended by injury only for him to be recruited by the government. This begs the question – is Mikami a fan of the movie Point Break? Continuing the cliches are a nerdy computer whiz girl with an IQ of 183 and short blonde hair as well as a fellow soldier who’s more a pile of muscles attached to a gruffy voice than anything else.

Am I on some kind of futuristic speed right now? - To say Vanquish is fast-paced would be the greatest understatement in the history of game demos. This game moves at freakin’ light speed. More bullets whiz by your character’s head and more missiles concuss around him in mere minutes than many real life soldiers see in a lifetime of combat. It’s chaos, but it’s controllable thanks to the physics-defying and awe-inducing capabilities of your character’s mech suit. It’s not just the speed with which stuff happens though, it’s also the sheer amount of stuff. Apparently the air of the future is full of more smoke, explosions, and spent munitions than modern factories can produce in a year.

Grace in mechanical motion - The game’s protagonist, Sam, lives within a futuristic combat suit called the ARS – Augmented Reaction Suit. It lets Sam pull of some crazy maneuvers, not least of which is the jetpack assisted boosting that you can do across the floor. He may be an ex-football player but in this suit he moves like the deadliest gymnast the world has ever known.

Isn’t it “Gun Week” somewhere… - Vanquish’s weapons are pretty slick, if only for the way they transform from one to another. Take some time in the tutorial to just watch the way they morph from one to another. In the one mission available you get hands on with an Assault Rifle, a Heavy Machine Gun, and a Shotgun. The tutorial also lets you squeeze off a couple rounds with the Blade Gun and Rocket Launcher. They all seem like weapons of destruction that, if I had them at my side today, would make it conquering the world pretty easy.

I need a smoke – This doesn’t have much of an effect on the gameplay or mechanics of the game, but I had to include it. When ducking behind cover, pressing the left bumper (on the 360 controller) will cue a “Smoke Break,” as the controls screen calls it. Sam takes his mask down, lights up a butt, takes a puff, spikes it, and gets back to work. I’m not sure if this refills his suits energy gauge or something, but at the very least it’s just cool.

If the screenshots and trailers you’ve seen made you think this game looks insane, then you were dead on. Vanquish is like stretching your lips over a fire hydrant spigot and telling a water company employee to turn the valve. It’s like using habanero pepper extract as Visine. It’s like putting high-powered drill bits into each of your ears and hammering the triggers. Well, it’s like all those things except it doesn’t hurt you physically and it will have you coming back for more. Oh, did I mention the demo is free? Ya, there really is no reason not to download this bad boy. And if things don’t change much between now and launch (slated for October 19th in the states) you will be hard pressed to resist the urge to drop $60 down for it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a seizure to suffer. Thanks, Mikami!

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