Vanquish is a third-person shooter game developed by PlatinumGames and published by SEGA. It was released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles in 2010. Ten years later the game was remastered for the Xbox One and Playstation 4. Vanquish is a high-octane, memorable third-person shooter that delivers.
Vanquish is not another clunky, run-of-the-mill action game. It plays fast. Ridiculously fast. Enemies are everywhere. Constantly moving is a necessity as bullets come at you from every direction. The only thing that will slow things down is the Augmented Reaction Suit. This Max Payne inspired mechanic allows you to temporarily bring things to a screeching halt, making it easier to strategically pick off enemies. But the slow down only lasts for a short time. Then it is right back to the action. Thankfully wide open level designs make controlling all this speed manageable. Moving around (at what feels like 300 mph) is incredibly satisfying.
One of the first things you will notice when playing Vanquish is the slide mechanic. This ability allows the player to traverse large chunks of the game world with blistering speed. Moving to cover and around large enemies is no problem. Using the boosted slide does require resources, so the player must be smart or their suit will overheat (similar to using the AR mechanic mentioned above). Some might think the slide feels like a gimmick. Don’t be fooled. Ridiculous as it might look, it is a cornerstone of the core gameplay. The slide feels as intuitive as walking in the game. Not to mention sliding around like a madman is important if you want to stay alive.
You will spend a lot of time behind cover in Vanquish. It provides some refuge from the relentless gunfire. It also helps the game’s pacing by slowing things down a bit (even if only for a small amount of time). What is unique about the cover in Vanquish is the bullets will come at you from all angles. So even though the game can feel campy at times, you never feel totally safe. This encourages the player to keep moving and shooting. Some have compared Vanquish to a bullet hell 3D game. We would say that is a fair assessment. And the exposed cover only adds to that feeling of urgency.
Vanquish is a fun game. The frantic speed, slide mechanic and exposed cover are only a few things that make it great. The controls are tight and the boss fights are a blast too. It is a shame that this game slid under the radar at release. It is easily one of the best third-person shooters we have ever played (and we have played a lot). It is that good.
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