Sega and Platinum Games are set to show the world Vanquish, a third person shooter that gives you that Gears of War cover system but put their own style on it.
The main character is a US agent named Sam, who has to fight off many Russian robot troops that are trying to gain a energy source to rule the world. Our hands on at E3 starts you at the beginning of this big battle.
Sam is equipped in a full body combat suit that gives him a crazy fast powerslide, acrobatic maneuvers, and a slow motion aim system to give the player the chance to for better shots. The powerslide helps you tremendously as Sam moves from cover to cover. There is a bar that depletes after constant use of the powerslide, but it takes quite some time for it to deplete. Sam also has a slick little move that stands out from the rest. Holding LB while Sam is in cover makes him slide off his mask and light a cigarette. After a moment, he will flip the cigarette into the air, gaining the enemy’s attention so he can get away.
The squad that helps you with the assault also assists you by engaging the enemy. Surprisingly not one of them even has a suit that looks as good as Sam’s. You must be careful with your group because they can go down from enemy fire and your own weapons can hurt them, thankfully there is a signal to let Sam know that he can revive them. The D-pad is used to switch between three different guns and grenades types. Ammo is replenished by finding storage boxes scattered throughout the level. At the end of the stages you are graded for your performance like Platinum Games previous game, Bayonetta.
It takes a few seconds to get use to the controls, A-button is a rolling evade, B-button is for melee attacks, X-button goes for cover, Y-button throws grenades, RB reloads, LB is for the powerslide, RT fires the weapon, LT aims the gun but, if you are powersliding while aiming the slow-motion starts up. After you make the adjustment, you are good to go.
Vanquish looks great, sounds great, plays great, and is releasing this fall. There is hardly any difference between the PS3 and 360. The gameplay has a flashy, frantic, and fast feel to it and that is what makes it stand out. Like Platinum Games previous title this one is only single player as well because their main goal is the core story and mechanic. There is one question that is raised with us and that is if players really want to use cover against the enemies or run many circles around them while shooting them down since both strategies are possible.