Vanquish

[Kefka Jr.]

is too much of a good thing. And that good thing is the demo.

The enemies remain largely the same through out, as do the tactics, so you're pretty much doing the same thing over and over again. Dashing around, the biggest draw of the game, is largely vestigial and most areas aren't really designed for making it fun.

People had been complaining about the story, and I was like, "Oh, p'shaw," but they're right. It's not basic yet thrilling, like Resident Evil, stupid and funny like God Hand, or epic and ridiculous like Bayonetta. It's the most basic kind of space marine plot. The plot decides the scenarios, and they're not that fun.

Aside from two awesome boss enemies to fight (a shapeshifting robot with so many moving parts, and a flying version of yourself that actually gives you a run for your money), this is one of the biggest disappointments for me this year. It's Gears of War again with less grime.

[Biggie]

Re: Vanquish

I've played enough 3rd person cover shooters to last me a decade.

The demo didn't really captivate me like I expected it too. Kind of a shame since I'm a big fan of Mikami's games.

Only really great ones I've played are ME2 and RDR recently. But that's because the shooting segments don't make up those entire games.

[John Mora]

Re: Vanquish

GEARS OF WAR, NINJA GAIDEN OR GOD OF WAR?

THESE ARE THE ONLY TYPES OF GAMES YOU ARE BEING ALLOWED TO PLAY

[Biggie]

Re: Vanquish

WAT

[Toaster]

Re: Vanquish

I've heard a lot of conflicting reports of Vanquish being either amazing or a huge disappointment. I tend to believe that the latter is the case here, and considering Platinum Games pedigree it's quite the let-down. Especially coming off the heels of the sleek and sexy Bayonetta.

[John Mora]

Re: Vanquish

You mean off the heels of Infinite Space.

[Toaster]

Re: Vanquish

I meant personally. I'm currently in a Non-Stop Infinite Climax play-thru of Bayonetta and going into Vanquish's demo I would be expecting the same level of polish and self-awareness.

Speaking of Infinite Space, though. Did anyone here play that? It looked incredibly boring.

[Magus]

Re: Vanquish

I think Perv has it. So, no, nobody has played it.

[John Mora]

Re: Vanquish

The demo was like a 16 year old being given the keys to an F1 racer and being told to go nuts with it. It was so unwieldy, with tons of options and there were things buzzing around everywhere, I found it really overwhelming. I'd rather they'd focused on one or two play mechanics than, say, FIVE all at the same time.

[Denmo]

Re: Vanquish

That sounds like a typical non-tutorial demo.

I'm sure the game introduces these aspects one at a time.

[John Mora]

Re: Vanquish

The demo had a tutorial. It still felt fairly unwieldy.

[Perversion]

Re: Vanquish

John Mora sometimes feels unwieldy.


And yes, I DID pick up Infinite Space, and I played it for a bit. The ship customization capabilities were pretty substantial, but you need to progress fairly far from what I've read to open that up and/or even make a difference.

The gameplay is sort of a amalgamation of RTS and turn-based (sort of), but it was not all that exciting, and it was a bit hard to tell what I was doing or what was going on half the time.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: Vanquish

Yeah, it's weird how all the cool new ideas Vanquish has are the ones that don't really matter in the end.

The upgrade system is an interesting idea. Picking up a another copy of a weapon you have will reload it if it has less than maximum ammunition, but if it DOES HAVE maximum ammunition, picking up another copy of the same weapon will upgrade it instead. So you want a weapon to be more powerful, you have to NOT USE IT until the going gets tough.

It's an interesting idea of risk and reward... but I maxed out my first three weapons immediately, rendering all other weapons moot. Why would I waste a primary weapon slot on a Lock-On Laser now if I have to pick up, like, 50 more to make it worthwhile? Honestly, I would've preferred a straight-forward Metal Slug/Contra style power-up system. More variety with less obsessive-compulsive collecting.

And the story really is stupid. The game keeps track of how many friendlies are killed in each mission. As the number got higher and higher, I was like, "Where are these guys coming from?" So many guys show up and get killed, and none of them have names. Sam tries to act like he cares about his comrades, but I'm like, "No you don't, you don't know who that guys is." It's like, I don't give a ****, stop telling me they're dead.

The best thing I can say about Vanquish is that they set up a sequel. Maybe they can put their interesting ideas to better use then.

Also, the achievements have funny names.

[John Mora]

Re: Vanquish

And the story really is stupid. The game keeps track of how many friendlies are killed in each mission. As the number got higher and higher, I was like, "Where are these guys coming from?" So many guys show up and get killed, and none of them have names. Sam tries to act like he cares about his comrades, but I'm like, "No you don't, you don't know who that guys is." It's like, I don't give a ****, stop telling me they're dead.