Vanquish

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Vanquish is an action third-person shooter video game developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. It began development in 2007 and was released worldwide in October 2010.A Windows port was released on May 25, 2017.

The game is notable for introducing several innovations to the 3D shooter genre, including a fast-paced style of gameplay reminiscent of 2D bullet hell shooters,beat 'em up elements,and an original sliding-boost mechanic.

The game received a positive critical reaction upon release, with critics praising the game's fast-paced action, innovations to the shooter genre, boss battles and visual style, while criticizing the game's writing, voice acting and overall short length of the campaign.

Players control Sam Gideon, a DARPA agent armed with the Augmented Reaction Suit. If the player takes too much damage, the suit will automatically enter Augmented Reaction mode. AR mode increases Sam's reflexes tenfold, essentially slowing down time for Sam to evade attacks. The player can also manually enter AR mode by holding down the aim button while evading, sliding, or vaulting over cover, allowing the player to target enemies.

At any time, the player can use boosters on the suit to quickly slide across an area. If the player uses AR mode or the boosters too much in a short time, the suit will overheat and will require a short period to cool down, during which Sam is less mobile . The suit will also overheat instantly if a melee attack from the player connects with an enemy, and certain areas of the game will also overheat the suit.

Weaponry

Sam's arsenal consists of the BLADE weapons system and two types of grenades. The BLADE system can store up to three weapons at a time . The player is able to swap weapons if they come across a type of weapon not already in their possession by simply holding down the reload button. This will replace the weapon in the active weapon slot.

These weapons, and the grenades, can be upgraded by collecting upgrade chips. Collecting a type of weapon already in the player's inventory will replenish its ammunition, while doing so with maximum ammunition constitutes one third of an upgrade. Upgrading a weapon improves its statistics, such as their maximum ammunition capacity, firepower, and blast radius. Players can aid injured allies on the field to earn weapons, or find them in crates or weapon lockers.

On Normal and Hard difficulty levels, the active weapon is downgraded by one level upon death, while the God Hard difficulty level prohibits upgrades altogether.

Others

Other gameplay mechanics include the use of explosives during certain areas, the ability to commandeer enemy walkers or turrets, the ability to use cigarettes to distract enemies, and quick-time events during certain battles against larger or stronger enemies.

It has also significantly improved upon the cover system, which it has been credited for taking "to the next level." In contrast to previous cover-based shooters, the game has bullets and missiles coming from all directions in a manner reminiscent of bullet hell shooters.

Some cover is easily destructible, forcing Sam to be on the move, while the game also penalizes the player's score for the amount of time spent in cover.Its most important innovation, however, is the aforementioned sliding-boost mechanic that allows the player to slide into and out of cover at high speeds, acting as a defensive escape and an offensive set up, opening up new gameplay possibilities for cover-based shooters and increasing the pace significantly.

The game features a unique end credits rail shooting sequence, depicting faces of staff members on asteroids.