If Vanquish were a movie instead of a video game, the most appropriate comparison would be Crank. Like that Jason Statham vehicle, Vanquish moves along at a breakneck pace, briefly stopping on occasion to offer blink-and-you’ll-miss them scenes that push along the barest possible skeleton of a plot. While some of the action is exhilarating, the game’s generic characters and one-note gameplay keep it from reaching the high standards set by Shinji Mikami’s other works.
After a brief tutorial, you’re immediately thrust into a futuristic U.S. vs. Soviet Union conflict. Long story short: You have crazy battle armor, the Russians have an army of robots that want to kill you, and a crazy dude wants to blow up New York City. Cutscenes are brief and don’t do a fantastic job of pushing the narrative forward, but something tells me that the story wasn’t the first order of business for Platinum.
You play as Sam Gideon, a tough-as-nails chain-smoker whose voice resembles a Muppet impersonating Solid Snake. Outside of that, you don’t learn much about your protagonist. What he lacks in personality he makes up for with his Augmented Reaction Suit, which is a fancy way of saying “awesome body armor that lets you rocket-slide into robots.”
Most of the fun Vanquish offers is related to this suit’s abilities, whether you’re rocketing from cover to cover or performing a missile dropkick on a robotic commie. If a dozen enemies are coming down a staircase towards you, it’s hard to not feel like a badass when you rocket-slide away from them in slow motion while throwing a grenade over your shoulder. The game is at its best when you’re using these abilities during one of the many giant set piece moments.
However impressive the action is, the game is a one-trick pony. Boss fights start recycling early on, the weapons aren’t particularly impressive, and you won’t care about the story for a second. Outside of a “snipe the spotlights” section and a ridiculously brief zero-gravity area, most battles are of the “stand here and survive until the elevator is ready” variety. The game is also very short. Don’t be surprised if you finish your first playthrough in four hours or less.
If Vanquish had been fleshed out with better characters, more variety, and a more substantial campaign, it could have been great. As is, the awesome suit amounts to little more than a fun toy in a forgettable world.