E310 Hands-On Preview: Vanquish, You Will Stop “That” From Happening

SEGA and Platinum Games’ futuristic third person shooter “Vanquish” is a title I was definitely looking forward to playing at E3 2010, so I made sure to get some hands-on time with it after our behind-closed-doors walk-through with Mitsuru Toda, Localization Producer, Sega of Japan.

In Vanquish, gamers will assume the role of protagonist Sam Gideon. And while Sam is capable of kicking some major ass in the game, he is far from a soldier by trade. In fact, he’s one of the researchers responsible for creating the suit you wear throughout the game.

Here’s a little more back-story. Essentially, the Russians hover a giant satellite mounted laser beam over San Fransisco, and decide to fire it just as a little girl loses grip on her balloon. She briefly mourns the loss of her helium filled friend before being smacked in the face with a giant explosion that evaporates her, the balloon, and the rest of the City by the Bay.

Angered by the obvious disrespect the Russians have for Americas’ inflated rubber product, you shed your lab coat and put on a badass high tech suit that makes you more powerful than the highly trained “yes sir” soldiers that accompany you. Your mission? To extract revenge against Yakov Smirnoff and his band of Soviet misfits before revenge extracts you.

Yakov jokes aside, watch the pre-E3 Vanquish trailer below.

Commander: We've got approximately eight hours to stop "that" from happening. We will stop "that" from happening.

Yes, Vanquish is a fluid third person shooter with responsive controls, a one button cover system, and an ability (boosting) that lets you get from one spot to another at an accelerated rate — but that is where any and all Gears of War comparisons must end. The pace of Vanquish is very quick, with non-stop bullets whizzing by your head, and fast-twitch gameplay mechanics that made me feel like Robocop on crack.

Luckily, your suit gives you the ability to temporarily slow things down via its Assisted Reaction (AR) system. This is used two ways in the game. The first is kicked in automatically as a warning when you take too much damage (that would be me), and the second is manually activated by Gideon when you want to give yourself some added time to pull off a few well placed headshots, grab another beverage, pick your nose, etc. Melee combat does exist in Vanquish, but it’s meant to be used more as a change-up or last resort primarily due to the fact that it drains your suit’s resources much like the boosting ability.

This is an example of the knee-sliding boost mechanic that zips you across surfaces in Vanquish.

The HUD in Vanquish is detailed enough without getting in the way of the action.

There’s a simple but effective mini-map updating your objective distance on the upper right hand corner of the screen, and a HUD on the bottom right that displays your currently equipped weapon, special move energy bar, as well as other weapon selection options. And while we’re on the topic, the battlefield adaptable weapon you use in Vanquish delivers on the classic late night infomercial promise, making it the last piece of firepower you’ll ever need to own. Simply scan another weapon, and watch it transform itself into that which you desire.

In terms of aesthetics, Vanquish has got a very futuristic visual style that SEGA tells us was somewhat influenced by the Japanese film “Catcher”, though I could find no reference of it on the web. Textures are rich with detail yet subdued enough, through careful color use, that your eyes won’t get overloaded.

In addition to the level playable on the show floor, we were also treated to two additional levels during our behind-closed-doors session. The first (shown in the screen below) resembled a roller coaster in terms of its movement, as you appear to be traveling with feverish speed on a winding arc-shaped track suspended high above the city. And the second was an extremely vertical climb up a steep industrial dam that had a very futuristic D-Day feel to it.

Alright. Everyone throw your hands up when we hit the next loop and scream "wheeeeeee!"

Will this futuristic third person shooter support 3D gaming any time soon?

When asked about the possibility of seeing a 3D version of Vanquish, Mitsuru Toda made the following statement via his translator:

“Not just talking about Vanquish, but there are some other titles, such as Killzone and GT5 that are using 3D. However, from what I see now, I don’t think it’s very exciting. For now. However, we are willing to look into 3D in the future.”

It was at this point that I gave him the thumbs up signal and said “I agree.” The brief bit of laughter that ensued further convinced me that 3D gaming is still being viewed by many in the industry as a “nice to have,” as opposed to a “must have.”

Vanquish is definitely a game you are going to want to keep an eye on as it approaches its Winter, 2010 launch date on both the 360 and the PS3 consoles. Be sure to check with us regularly between now and then as we intend to follow the upcoming Platinum Games release very closely. In the mean time, we’ll leave you with some gameplay footage captured on the floor at E3 2010.