If Alpha Protocol is a game that shows the frustrated ambitions of the PS3 generation, Vanquish is a game that shows that generation's frustrating lazinesses. It's a game with one idea that does nothing to make that one idea work in a context beyond simply describing the mechanic. There's more fun to be had in the second after you're told "you can do a rocket slide and go into slow motion" and imagine that happening than there is in the game. Part of that is because it puts all its cool features, the rocket slide, the super punch, the slow motion, and the sometimes available laser gun, on the same cooldown so you can't juggle between a bunch of cool ways of playing, you can do one at a time and in between you have to play Gears Of Halo in the normal Gears Of Halo way. The other part is that there's no style or charm to the actual world and story, just reheated Metal Wolf Chaos without any of the chaos, just you doing Battle: Los Angeles with a guy who sounds like every drill sergeant and shooting Russian Covenant robots or whatever these enemies are supposed to be. It's Metal Gear Rising but without all the interesting parts.

I love the basic gameplay here but
a: the campaign is kind of busted and kind of just seems like a way to remind you of all the features you already have access to in Freestyle, which is the real game
b: the selection just kind of bottoms out at a certain point and I ended up with no incentive to level up because nothing I can buy is interesting
C: there's a funny little glitch on PS4 where you can only export like a minute of video before the audio stops happening and in a game explicitly about music that kind of blows.

Still, it's a game I can sit with and be enthralled for like an hour straight just putting different stuff together, I love it.