Vanquish review

 Taken in small portions, this is an absolutely amazing game experience - it really is as fast as advertised, runs as smooth as butter, and feels absolutely great to play from the off. The sound is excellent, the gunplay is BAD ASS, and the whole thing seems like an instant classic. It is hardcore. It is a tough game and not for casual gamers, and I fell very quickly in love with it!

I think the early levels in the game were best -- there's lots of close-quarters combat, and this somehow suits the game's mechanics. Gradually though it opens out into an 'epic' and the battlefields become huge expanses with either giant bosses or little enemies who can be swatted like flies. Same problem as in Gear of War 2 -- the scale reduced the feeling of actually being in the middle of a fight. I never had less than fun, but it did start to feel like a chore at times - and the run of boss battles at the end? Surely all game designers by now know that this is just stale.

I was hoping that it would be in the same mold as Bayonetta - a game that demanded and rewarded mastery, where the first play through is really a warm up for the main course - but although Vanquish has some challenge rooms, it doesn't really have incentives for sinking a lot of time into it. You don't unlock anything, and there's a slightly annoying punitive weapons upgrade system, whereby upgrades are deducted when you die. Also, upgrades don't seem to carry over when you replay missions and you start with your default set. Huh?

Despite these minor disappointments, I thought the game was brilliant and I absolutely had a blast for the most of it. And I didn't find it too short as some are saying - I actually thought it was too long. Either that or not quite varied enough. Anyway, if you like to shoot stuff, this is one of the best out there!