– Posted on February 16, 2013Posted in: Video Games
Anonymous Gearbox Developer:
Somehow the schedules for Pecan and Borderlands 2 managed to line up and GBX realized that there was no fucking way they could cert and ship two titles at the same time. Additionally, campaign (which was being developed by TimeGate) was extremely far behind, even as Pecan’s Beta deadline got closer and closer. In April or May (can’t remember which), Pecan was supposed to hit beta, but GBX instead came to an agreement with SEGA that they would push the release date back one more time, buying GBX around 9 mos extension.
Think of all the possibilities with this thing! Firefighting, Super Mario Sunshine remakes, maybe even a version of Epic Mickey called “Epic Dickey!”
I totally would want one of these installed in my home bathroom.
Known as ‘Toirettsu’, this is more or less a play on ‘Toy’ and ‘Let’s’, where the technologically advanced urinals will boast a sensor target which is capable of detecting when it’s being peed on, not to mention the strength of the stream. Such data will be relevant in the mini games that are displayed over an eye-level LCD display, including battling fires or shooting milk out of your character’s nose.
Ever wonder what kind of game Gears of War would have turned out as if the Japanese developed it? Welp, Vanquish is pretty much that game. Instead of the bad guys sinking cities with giant worms, they sink them with giant mech robots that transform from crab-form to bi-pedal form.
I previewed the game from E3 earlier in the year, and it pretty much turned out how I expected. It’s a third-person cover-based shooter with a ridiculous action movie plot and awkwardly bad dialogue that’s made even more awkward by the Japanese to English translation process. It’s also pretty damn fun, albeit a bit short.
I initially started off on the “Hard” difficulty level because a) I’m an achievement whore and b) I figure it couldn’t be that difficult for a seasoned action game pro like myself.
It was the wrong move.
I was making progress and got through the first Act of the game, but it was quickly becoming a joyless slog. Having to retry sections 10-15 times in a row has the tendency to ruin game flow. If you get this game, do yourself a favor and play it on Normal or even Casual. Though Vanquish has a cover system, it’s at its most fun when you’re zipping along from place to place at superspeed using your suit’s sliding ability. You will feel like a total badass sliding around like a cybernetically enhanced Steven Seagal and gunning robotic Russians down in the face.
There’s a couple of weird game design quirks that I didn’t really understand. For example, you’re penalized for using a melee attack. Hit someone once with it and it immediately depletes your shields. Not only are you extremely vulnerable, you can’t melee again until it recharges. Why anyone would use the melee attack other than to get the achievement is beyond me.
The weapon upgrade system also makes for weird gameplay motivations. Picking up a gun from the ground first replenishes your ammo for that gun to full. Any further weapons of the same type that you pick up will count as an upgrade as long as that gun has full ammo. What this does is make you want to hoard certain guns or else you’ll never get to upgrade them. Fire one shot off and you can kiss that upgrade goodbye unless you somehow find two of the same gun. Believe me, it’s a pretty crappy feeling to have that happen to you.
Other than that, the pace of the game is very fast. You won’t find many stealth sequences or “downtime” at all. There’s always Russian robots to blow up and large fights going on. The story’s nothing to write home about, but let’s not kid ourselves here. If you’re playing this game for exceptional storytelling, you’re playing it for the wrong reasons. The right reasons are if you want to blow the shit out of some shit.
Vanquish is a video gamer player’s video game. By that, I mean it’s under no pretense to appeal to a broad audience or people who aren’t “gamers.” It’s got everything you would expect to see in the 40 Year Old Virgin’s room – robots, guns, lasers, cute CGI chicks – you name it. If you liked any of those things growing up and don’t care about being judged for it, you’ll have a fun time playing Vanquish.
– Posted on September 1, 2010Posted in: Video Games
One of my favorite games from E3 2010 was Vanquish. I won’t rehash my E3 preview, but offer you this reminder: Think Gears of War but with blazing fast Japanese robot suits, mechs, and explosions everywhere.
The demo is basically the same demo I played at E3 with an additional tutorial component. You’ll get the beginning of a mission plus an incredibly epic boss fight. Seriously, if your heart doesn’t pump while facing it, you’re not alive. My only complaint with the game so far is that it’s really hard to tell how close you are to death at any given time. I do like to play fairly recklessly, though, so if you’re the conservative type, maybe this wont be a problem for you.
You can grab the demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace or Playstation Network and I implore you to check it out if you are a fan of action games or shooters. It’s a fun, original title that’s definitely on my list of anticipated games this holiday season.
Shinji Mikami may not be the household name in video game circles that Hideo Kojima or Shigeru Miyamoto is over here in the States, but he deserves to be. Mikami-san designed a little game called Resident Evil, have you heard of it? (For retro game players out there, he also designed the Aladdin game on the Sega Genesis – remember how awesome that game was?)
His latest game is Vanquish and the best way to describe it is if Gears of War and Virtual On had a love child in a Matrix program set in a futuristic Cold War. It’s a third-person action title using elements of cover with fast moving mech-suits and a little bit of “bullet time” thrown in for good measure.
I was excited about the title before the show and my hands-on time at E3 did not disappoint. Gameplay centers on the ARS (Augmented Reactor Suit) your character wears. Similar to Crysis‘ nanosuit, it bequeaths upon you some extraordinary powers. For example, you can use it perform some very slick sliding manuevers to quickly move from cover to cover. The ARS also allows you to slow down time when you’re sliding around or vaulting over obstacles. As “played out” as time-slow abilities have been in recent games, trust me, you’ll be glad to have them in Vanquish because there will almost always be a crapload of things happening around you. It can get pretty challenging to aim and fire from the hip while zipping around a level willy nilly at 100 mph.
Which brings us to a defining feature of Vanquish – its sense of speed. The game runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second. This game is fast. Within moments of picking up the controller you can easily tell the game is no mere Gears of War clone. Rocket propelled sliding will bring back memories of adrenaline rushing while jetting across a map during a dizzying Virtual On match. It’s almost become a signature feature of Japanese action titles to incorporate 60FPS as we’ve seen with Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. (Interesting note: Mikami has had his hands in both of those titles as well) It makes me wonder how awesome a 60fps Halo title would be, but I digress.
In addition to providing you with fun powers, the ARS also acts as your defacto “life bar.” There’s a shared meter between your time slows, slides, and shields. This introduces an interesting strategic dynamic into the game. Do you slide out, John Woo style, attempting to take out all the enemies at once, but leaving yourself to being killed if you’re less than perfect? Or do you take it more conservatively, but risk getting overwhelmed while under cover? It’s an interesting trade off, allowing the more gung-ho to make gutsy moves while not making strategy trivial.
If all of this sounds like a lot to take in, well, it sorta is. I admit to being a bit overwhelmed once the friendly Sega rep handed the controller over to me. Like Tony Stark taking his Mark-1 Iron Man suit out for the first time, I stumbled my way across the battlefield initially. I slid when I meant to take cover. I jumped when I meant to slide. There’s definitely a learning curve to this game. It’s no Ninja Gaiden, but it’ll definitely take some practice before you’re sliding and shooting with the grace of a gun-toting ballerina. I can’t say i figured it out completely in the fifteen or so minutes I played the game, but I most assuredly envisioned a short-term future in which I was Optimus Prime starring in Hard Boiled.
Vanquish practically begs for a cooperative and/or an adversarial multiplayer component. Unfortunately, the game is single-player only. Still, it won’t prevent me from including the game from my most anticipated list of 2010. I’m all for developers concentrating on making polished games and if that means omitting potentially half-assed components, then more power to them.
Japanese game designers may have been slow over the years in “getting” how a proper first/third person action shooter works, but you’d be hard pressed to remember those days after some time with Mikami’s Vanquish. Definitely look for this original title when it comes out this fall on 360 and PS3.
Sonic the Hedgehog’s gone through a rough time since the glory days of the Sega Genesis. We’ve been given so many unfulfilled promises of “This is the return to the Sonic you know and love!” each year that the announcement of a new Sonic game is akin to an announcement that there’ll be a new Madden game out in the fall.
Well, after having checked out Sonic 4: Ep 1 at E3 this year, I’m gonna go ahead and say this is the return of the Sonic you know and love!
All joking aside, if there were a game for that cliche to actually hold, it would be Sonic 4. The developer I sat down with reiterated that they tried to keep the feel of the old Genesis-era Sonic titles and that if you were to put this game in the timeline, it would fit in right after Sonic and Knuckles. (yes, the one with the crazy add-on cartridge) Since that’s the last time I remember having actual fun with a Sonic title, I’m gonna go ahead and say that’s a good start.
The game certainly plays as such and is a fairly delightful (if not entirely familiar) romp down memory line. I can say the game looks sharp on the iPhone and will probably look better on the iPhone 4. It’d probably be my platform of choice as it’s a great game to play on the go in bursts. The tilt controls were pretty awkward and difficult, though. You can check out the video walkthrough further down for a better idea on how the game looks.
An interesting thing you may notice about the game is the ominous “Episode 1” subtitle attached. Sega promises 16 levels in EP1 with more episodes to follow after. Now, I’m not so sure why a platform game that’s light on story needs the episodic title treatment. One reason might be to release new level packs soon after, but my efforts to narrow down the timeframe for new episodes were unsuccessful. The best I got was tentative agreement that they would come out faster than Half-Life 2 Episodes. I think we can all agree that’s not saying much.
Regardless, if you’re in the mood for a nostalgic 2D platformer, this game should excite you. Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will be released on the iPhone, XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare “later this year and priced competitively.”
From Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) and Platinum Games/Sega comes this epic game of US robots vs Russian robots over the demise of San Francisco.
Yeah.
It does look pretty fun though. I’m reminded of the fast paced movement of Virtual On with the wackiness of Bayonetta and the big budget effects of Gears of War. If all of those hunches play out, we could have a new standard for awesome.
I’ll definitely be checking this out at E3 next week.
