Vanquish
Genre
Vanquish is another shooter, but this one is in the third person which makes it a third-person shooter (great isn't it?). But the great thing about this game is that it is very innovative in the genre. It brings some 'beat 'em up' elements to the game, is very fast paced and has a 'sliding-boost' mechanic which, I think, is an excellent addition to the game.
Narrative + Gameplay
Vanquish is set in the far future where you play as Sam Gideon. He is an agent of DARPA, who is given a mechanical suit called the Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS). DARPA decide to send Sam on a classified mission to save Dr. Candide. This is when DARPA decide is the perfect time to test the ARS is suit which is fitted with jet boosters and various other equipment, but most interestingly it makes time slow down when the player takes a lot of damage. This not only makes it more difficult to become more damaged, but it's a cool element which fits strangely well in to the gameplay. This isn't only done when sustaining damage however, the sliding boost enables the player to slide to cover in bullet time.
Another cool element to the gameplay is the 'BLADE' which is a weapon that can replicate any existing weapon.This is another really cool addition because the weapons in Vanquish are quite unique, I particularly liked the disc launcher because it is essentially like shooting a saw blade at people and you can use it in melee attacks also. This meant that I found myself spending a lot of time, perhaps too much time, in the tutorial mode just using the sliding-boost just to shoot discs at blank walls, which demonstrates how cool these two elements combined really are as well as hinting at the fact that I need a better social life.
Characters
As mentioned before, you play as Sam Gideon, we don't actually learn much about his character besides that he is a researcher for DARPA. But, one of the first things you will notice when playing the game is the ARS (which also features on the front cover). Because it is incredibly detailed for a relatively small game.
Other characters include Dr. Candide, a scientist who is working on the O'Neill Cyllinder space station when it is attacked; Colonel Burns, a war veteran who is put in charge of a specialized task force of marine veterans called the bravo company; and Elena Ivanova, Elena is essentially Sam's guide and support throughout the game.
Target Audience
Vanquish has a BBFC rating of 15, and I think the game is actually supposed to be aimed at older teenagers. The game is action packed and though I do think that it's sometimes complex gameplay would appeal to a slightly older audiences. The comical approach a lot of the characters take seems to appeal to a slightly younger teen audience.
Platforms
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