Platinum games have a certain prestige to them. Almost universally renowned for their gameplay. Vanquish is often pointed out as one of their more underrated titles. But I have to be honest, I really don't get it and I wish I did.

Originally i gave this a 5/10 and shelved it, saying I had already seen everything the game had to offer in the first two acts and wanted to focus on other games at the time. Well now that Im trying to empty my backlog and raise my trophy completion I decided to come back to this. I do admit my initial score was a bit too harsh but for the most part my feelings remain the same.

The gameplay in Vanquish is good. Sliding and boosting is fun and there are a solid amount of unique weapons. I appreciate how it can be a cover shooter but you're rewarded for not doing that. It also has a pretty interesting upgrade system. If you pick up the same type of weapon with full ammo you'll get parts towards an upgrade. This is a pretty nice idea even if it did mean more often than not i tried not to use a weapon so i'd always have enough ammo to upgrade. But the shooting is just, fine? it doesnt really feel spectacular and a lot of the guns are pretty weightless. Boosting is fun but you don't really have much energy anyways. I don't know. Its an absolutely solid gameplay system but when I think about my favorite combat systems in games this one just didn't really blow me out of the water.

The story is also really bad. Not in the fun and cheesy way like Bayonetta, its just terribly dull. None of the characters or dialogue are all that likeable. Sam as a protag is pretty empty but he has one or two cool moments. I do appreciate that the story all takes place during the course of one mission, I think thats pretty cool honestly and would like to see more "military" games try that approach. But the level variety is very lacking. If im being honest the game looks really ugly. It has that annoying "everything should be greyed out because its a 7th gen shooter" thing going for it and it just is really unpleasant too look at. Some boss designs are cool but theyre reused multiple times as well so even they feel samey. The game also lacks a proper conclusion. Its not as bad as like Call of Duty Ghosts but it definitely feels like sequel bait and when the story is already so undercooked as it is, it left me with a very unsatisfying experience.

I think Vanquish isnt a bad game, its just a pretty okay one. Its short and the fast paced combat is nice so its definitely worth a play but I can't say this is a game i'll look back on fondly, or even really remember at all.

I wish I felt differently but hey, at least im digging the other platinum game im playing. Sorry so many of my reviews lately have been like 2.5s or 3/5s lol I dont like to be so negative but I like to think I give everything a fair shot at the least. Thanks for reading everyone <3

Trophy Completion - 54% (35/51)
Time Played: 7 hours 47 minutes (save file says 3 hours 25)
Nancymeter - 61/100
Game Completion #136 of 2022
November Completion #2