Vanquish Demo PS3/X360

[DANGEROUS-3]

Gold subscriptions only?!!
I hope this is not a shape of things to come
f**k you microsoft!

[Adam Stone]

I'm another who is in the 'OMG' category. Think this is going to be bloody awesome, and i don't usually like games like this (not a fan of Gears of War style gameplay for instance). Loved the madness here though... Really very impressive stuff.

[mr_sockochris]

Gold subscriptions only?!!
I hope this is not a shape of things to come
f**k you microsoft!

Huh? Gold subscribers get demos 7 days before Silver, it's been this way for the best part of 2 years now....

[kernow]

I?ve put some time into this demo now and its been a bit of a puzzler due to the lack of information regarding how it should be played. The cover system is tight, you can use the boost to quickly engage the enemy and hurdle it into slow motion giving you time to headshot them for bonus points. On the surface this seems to be the game. Get in and out of situations quick and kill with slow paced precision. Due to the suit losing power once a Melee attack has landed it seems pretty clear that the game wants you to use the guns as your primary weapons. So why give you all these tasty punch and kick attacks then? Well, the Shotgun equipped Pimp Slap when powered up by holding down B looks pretty cool for sure, as does the Sniper Rifles round house kick, but being instantly crippled after bussin it on someone, leaving you rolling around in a panic with that warning sound clanging away, is not. Maybe the full game has lots of breakable obstacles that call for Melee (as suggested in the Tutorial)? The Heavy Machine Gun?s Over Head Flip Kick at least affords you some extra height if Slow is triggered at the peak of the leap, in a game where tactical height advantage is only offered through cover jumping I guess that?s something. The real Melee star is of course the Assault Rifle?s Godhand attack - unleashing it on the ROMANDV-N mini-boss is very satisfying and almost worth losing power for. The only point I can see where you are allowed to go at Vanquish as a brawler is when you are near death and the game forces you into slow motion, in this state you can Melee away as much as you like, albeit for a short period of time. Pretty straight forward then?shoot things from cover for points and avoid too much punching and kicking. Why is this demo a puzzler then? Well, because the game allows you to speed up and slow down the action I?m reminded of two other games (coincidentally hailing from the same stable) - Viewtiful Joe and Bayonetta. These games have programmed my mind to believe there is a reason that you can read the audio and visual cues of the Boss? main cannon attack to the point that you can actually slow down time and have the enemies missile held in front of you ripe for some sort of return attack that would send it back for massive damage. So much so that I have tried everything, for more time than I care to admit, to get this to work with no success. Even the long alley behind you upstairs during this battle has floor markings suggesting it to be the perfect place for this to be attempted and the Boss sounds like he is saying PULL in some sort of clay pigeon shooting fashion - well it does after a few hours believe me! Yet, it would seem that sort of ?depth? is not to be found here which leaves the Slow device being essentially a way of letting you shoot things easier?which to my mind is a bit of a missed opportunity for some serious Heroness!1 The end stats screen reveals that there is a points bonus for speed runners and gives you a percentage for how long you spent in cover, which for a cover based shooter that lets you slow down time seemed very odd, almost totally at odds with the games premise. Is the cover just there then as a safety net and we should be aspiring to playing completely out in the open boosting constantly to get fast times while using Slow to ensure we also achieve lots of headshot bonuses? If I?m honest that doesn?t sound that appealing to me and at the risk of sounding ungrateful I was expecting more from Platinum Games than this. Why give you a boss that you can dissect, taking off its limbs one by one, when jumping on a turret gun and attacking its core seems to yield better results? I remain hopeful for the full release, whats there looks fantastic and plays beautifully, but please just give me that little bit more to stave off the potential boredom of repetition.

[spagmasterswift]

Good to see lively debate still exists on this forum...

XD

[Charlie]

Interesting impressions there, Spag, but, my God, paragraphs, man. Use them!! It makes reading much easier, much quicker.

I was impressed with the game, it ticks all the right boxes and has a nice, tight feel to it. It reminded me how brilliantly visionary the Japanese can be - something I frequently tend to forget this-gen, as the setting and design are wonderful.

[figflair]

Good to see lively debate still exists on this forum...

XD

LOL.

Anyway dude, I read what you said and I agree with your sentiments. especially the reference to the slow-motion and the potential to punch a missile back in the bosses face a la Viewtiful Joe. That would be sweet! It's possibly something that might be in the full version.

I guess my only answer to your observations is that the games seems to have an emphasis on speed. It certainly feels to me that everything is happening at 100 miles an hour and unlike say Gears of War (although I think the comparison is a spurious one) you can't just stay behind cover picking people off to your hearts content.

If you go up the first ramp after the drop ship to get the sniper rifle and start using it to pick people off, then soldiers appear behind you and start shooting you. And I would imagine this thinking applies to the cover percentage score. The way I've been playing it is to boost between cover points at a rapid pace, pausing only momentarily as I do, before moving to the next. It just seems to me that this is the way it should be played. For the record my cover percentage score was 7%.

Even when fighting the boss there are no real safe points. You have to keep on the move otherwise you get killed pretty quickly. When I first started playing it I couldn't get the cover button to work (see a few posts back for my dopiness!) and I kept getting killed. So clearly use of cover is necessary. However I believe it's main function is to recharge your suit.

The more I play it the more I like it, which is another thing that reminds me of PN03. Sorry!

One question though: which control stick are you supposed to use in the QTE? I keep using both to be on the safe side.

[spagmasterswift]

Left stick for QTE, right stick on the title screen

[rmoxon]

I think either stick works for the QTE's I actualy used the right one for some odd reason.

I really like this but one problem seems to be that its virtualy impossible to die in the demo, I guess once the game is even more hetic (as I expect it does get even crazier as it goes on) the slow down time/life saving thing wont be as useful, well maybe, but considering everytime its avctivated you have an good 10 second to find somewhere to hide seems very generous all the same.

It is just Gears of War with a scoring system and crazy robotic suits that let you slide around on your knees in slow motion while you shoot things....

.... but then thats pretty awesome if I'm honest.

[TheShend]

I get the impression the demo is holding a lot of stuff back that you'll be able to achieve in the same scetion of the full game. There's an official trailer where Sam uppercuts the same boss' head clean off QTE style, fires a rocket launcher at the troop ships and an uppercut melee.

It's been discovered that finishing quickly gives a points bonus: <10min = 1000pts and <8min = 5000pts (None for <6min) to the final score.

However, I think the cover used &#37; levies a penalty. Just compare these scores I managed on the 3rd & 4th run.

Run: 3rd | 4th
Score: 12450 | 12050
Time: 12:44 | 09:35
Cover: 4.7% | 14.93%

Despite a sub 10min time in the 4th run; thus an extra 1000pts, I still did worse than the 10min+ 3rd run for points. Despite all other the stats being very similar, the cover used % differed by 10%, so I assume spending that extra 10% in cover on the 4th run neutered the final score.

My last & best run before bed was:

Score: 12600
Time: 08:16
Cover: 0.82%

Again, similar stats in other areas but a very small cover % this time and a corresponding increase in score. I did finish the boss on that last run by hitting cover and lighting a fag for style as it went boom, but I hope it didn't penalise my score

I love this demo by the way.

[spagmasterswift]

I love this demo by the way.

Its great fun isn't it?! Romanov is such a monkey once you've taken out his arm cannon. Getting him raged and then holding down the Shotgun Melee for an instant counter to his grab never gets old.

[TheShend]

Its great fun isn't it?! Romanov is such a monkey once you've taken out his arm cannon. Getting him raged and then holding down the Shotgun Melee for an instant counter to his grab never gets old.

Do you know, I've not fought him in a proper head-on scrap yet. He's normally dead before he reaches the top of the stairs because I focused on getting through asap for that sub 8 min bonus ^_^

Looks like I shall have to have some fun with him based on what you've said

[spagmasterswift]

Using the walker to take that attack wave out is robbing you of all the fun Remember to take a smoke break too while he charges around the place.

[Malc]

I really enjoyed this demo. Brilliant fun, with a very solid and smooth combat system. Vanquish's particle effects are brilliant too, especially after the

->Open Spoiler<-

robot thingy blows up at the end after launching 1 billion missles from its back

.

I haven't even began pushing for the time trial stuff, nor have I attempted any kind of melee attack on an enemy, and I also have no idea how you get the protaganist to smoke (if you even can)?

[TheShend]

You smoke by pressing LB when in cover ^_^