Vanquish: Best Shooter of the Year?

Call of Duty: Black Ops is overrated.

In October, a little title by the name of Vanquish was released. Created by Shinji Mikami and Platinum Games (also known for Bayonetta on PS3 and 360, and Madworld on the Wii). Vanquish may not have been on everyone's radar this fall, especially with Call of Duty: Black Ops right around the corner, but it damn well should be.

Mixing anime inspired story and gameplay mechanics with the typical third person shooter formula has turned into a fast-paced, over the top action game that any gamer can enjoy. From start to finish, the action is intense, frantic, and full of insane firefights. You're equipped with an armored battle suit, which lets you propel yourself quickly from one place to another, along with giving you a slowdown ability ala "The Matrix". This gives you a chance to safely take down enemies, and get out of the way of any dangerous fire coming your way. You'll also find many unique weapons along the way, like the standard Assault Rifle, Lock-on Laser and the Disk Launcher to name a few. All of them have their uses in given situations, and greatly add to the sci-fi feel of the game.



The controls in Vanquish are also VERY responsive. You never feel like you don't have total control of what's going on on the battlefield. That being said, this game also offers a considerable challenge. Playing on the harder difficulties is, well... pretty hard. There are also challenge maps to unlock as you progress through the story, which will keep you busy for a while, especially if you're a completionist. One of the trophies/achievements requires you clear them all. All of this on top of the sheer fun factor of the game greatly add to the replay value.

Now some of you may be wondering "Why should I care?" and to those of you that are: You should probably go back to playing the same shooter you've been playing every day for the past year and forget everything you've read here. This game probably isn't for everyone. With all the demand for multiplayer in every game to come down the line, you'll be disappointed with this game. There is none. Zero multiplayer here. Cry more. But what this game does offer is an amazing gameplay experience that you'll want to play over and over again. There are leaderboards and rankings for each individual mission, you'll find yourself trying to beat your best time quite often. It's also pretty satisfying to beat out your friends scores.


A lot of critics have griped about the length of this game in reviews. It is a short game, there's no arguing it. My first play through was about 6 hours. Speeding through the game, I'm sure it's beatable in 3 hours or so. But how is that a bad thing? Many action titles lose their steam after the first couple hours and just drag things out too long. *Cough* God of War 3 *Cough* But that's not a problem with Vanquish. It never, ever drops its pace. There's not a single moment in the game that I look back on and think "Jesus Christ I never wanna do that again." How many recent games can you say that about? Yeah, not many.

So with all said and done, a large portion of the gaming community are desperately awaiting their chance to get the new Call of Duty, (which looks a lot like last years model. Just sayin') without ever thinking about branching out and trying something new. A sad thing, indeed. But some of you, who want something a little different, will be playing Vanquish. You guys are pro.