14 DAY TRIAL // Vanquish is the newest project of Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, coming from the team at Platinum Games and published by Sega.
In a futuristic world, a special U.S. soldier is sent together with regular troopers to take down a large Russian threat in Earth's orbit, by using a suit that allows him upgraded speed and reflexes, as well as with a weapon that can transform from an assault riffle to a shotgun or heavy machine gun.
With all that in mind, did Mikami and Platinum succeed in delivering a high paced third person experience or did it all just go to waste? Let's have a quick look.
Vanquish starts off, surprisingly, straight with a tutorial sequence, which gets players familiar with the advanced suit that main protagonist Sam Gideon will use during all of the missions.
While experienced shooter players may scoff at this tutorial, it's pretty useful, especially as the suit allows Sam to do quite a lot of tricks, including power slides or slow motion sequences, in order to defeat his enemies.
When all that is said and done, a pretty lengthy cut scene shows a Russian satellite being controlled a by a revolutionary force, and used to attack San Francisco, which prompts the USA to send Sam, alongside a special force of soldiers onto the satellite to take it down.
Those that played the demo will be met with that same fight and level, as Sam and his colleagues must break through the Russian defenses.
This is basically an introductory fight, but if you're not careful, you might be killed, or at least forced into the slow motion by the attacks of the robots employed by the Russian forces.
Luckily, your wide array of weapons, grenades and, of course, the augmented suit, make you a real force to be reckoned with.
The whole encounter ends with a big boss fight, in multiple stages, which rewards players, if they complete a series of quick time events, with an extremely stylish execution.
The first fight is won, but Vanquish still has lots of other ones ahead for those that want the complete experience.
Judging by the first look, Vanquish's fast action and good shooter mechanics make it extremely interesting.