Vanquish (PC) Review

First things first: like Bayonetta, Vanquish is a fantastic port. It runs pretty smoothly, it looks better due to the HD visual upgrade, and, finally, the addition of mouse and keyboard support turns the original into the inferior version. The frame rate still needs some work, however, although that definitely has to do with the fact that this is far more GPU intensive than the adventures of our cute and sexy Umbra Witch. There's one thing that must be addressed before anything else, however, and that is that there's literally nothing that this can call its own, and that's certainly one of the reasons why it never really became as famous as other shooters.

The Halo-like city-on-a-loop world and the cute female intel provider/sidekick; the Gears of War-esque military atmosphere, as well as its cover mechanics; the Max Payne-inspired bullet time slow-motion; the hunky, Solid Snake wannabe protagonist, with his gruff voice, cigarette addiction, and all - it's no wonder that the gaming community passed this by as a lame copycat. While it's a shame that this didn't try to look original, though, the gameplay portion is actually worth a try.

Yes, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, as it's just another third-person shooter that doesn't really stand out from the rest when it comes to most of its mechanics, but that doesn't mean that it's identical to the rest of its ilk. Like Halo (and many others), It has a limit on how many weapons can be carried, forcing the player to think before grabbing one from the ground, as each and every one has its pros and cons, and while the protagonist can duck and cover like in most modern shooters, Vanquish follows a more in-your-face approach to battles.

The hi-tech Iron Man suit of our hero enables rocket-sliding, which makes him extremely fast, both when it comes to going from A to B, as well as when evading death. Moreover, this cool piece of hardware has a super slow-motion function. Of course, these are not unlimited powers, meaning that one must always be aware of the overheat gauge, which, when filled, puts the character into a temporary cool-off state, disabling these two techniques, forcing a more tactical way of playing, instead of just aiming, shooting, and rocket-sliding.

Now, the magic of Vanquish lies not just in these generally typical mechanics, but in the way the game puts them to use, as most gunfights rely on the protagonist going straight into enemy fire instead of just sitting in the back and taking cover. Enemies are highly accurate, lethal, and most importantly, they tend to appear from all directions, flank you, and fill you with lead, so very often the best strategy is to go straight into the mouth of this robotic wolf, and use your sci-fi super powers to reign victorious despite the odds.

In conclusion, this is a very fast, and very entertaining shooter that has nothing to be jealous of its more popular siblings. Was its generic look the only reason why this was overshadowed? Not really. Yes, the ride towards the end will be quite a pleasurable one, but it's far from flawless. For starters, the quite abundant and, honestly, quite boring cut-scenes provide little incentive for the player to move on, and while they can be skipped, it would be nice if they helped a bit with the whole immersion thing.

The main issue with this game, however, lies elsewhere. Some have said that it's a pretty short adventure, and, indeed, it won't take more than six hours to reach the final boss fight - and let's not forget the many cut-scenes at hand. The real problem is that it can get pretty repetitive after a while, as the battle scenarios provided here don't have any major differences between them. In other words, Vanquish is great while it lasts, but it suffers quite a bit on the replay value front.