Vanquish (video game)

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 (AR) 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 (and their weak spots) easily.

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 (and cannot use the boosters or AR mode). 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.

In the near future, Earth's human population burgeons to the point where nations fight for scarce resources. The United States of America attempts to alleviate energy problems by launching SC-01 Providence, an O'Neil Cylinder space colony using a solar energy microwave transmitter to provide them with an alternative source. However, the government of the Russian Federation has been overthrown in a coup d'état by a section of the military, calling themselves the Order of the Russian Star. They capture Providence and use the microwave transmitter to devastate San Francisco. Victor Zaitsev (Marc Worden), a Russian Star agent, demands the American government to surrender or he will target New York City.[10]

Elizabeth Winters (Lee Meriwether), the President of the United States, sends Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burns (Steven Blum) to infiltrate the station, along with the Bravo Company, an army of space Marines. They recruit Sam Gideon (Gideon Emery), a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) soldier equipped with the prototype Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS), a cutting-edge battlesuit outfitted with a vast array of functions, including jet boosters attached to his thighs. He is armed with the experimental Battlefield Logic Adaptable Electronic Weapon System (BLADE), which scans existing weapons and transforms into them. It stores only three scans at a time and can shapeshift between each on command. He is assisted by Elena Ivanova (Kari Wahlgren) aboard the SBC2 command ship. The mission gives DARPA the perfect chance to test the suit. Winters gives classified orders for Sam to rescue scientist Dr. Francois Candide (Benito Martinez), who is kidnapped by Zaitsev. While Sam and Burns infiltrate Providence, Candide manages to disable the microwave, before it can target New York.[11]

As Sam reaches the microwave station, Candide tells Sam that Burns and Winters have betrayed the United States, before being killed by Burns. Burns tells Sam that he will change the microwave's target to Moscow under Winters' orders, explaining the city's destruction as an "economic stimulus package." Sam inadvertently defeats Burns, who orders him to escape. Burns uses a bomb in his bionic arm to kill himself and the remaining Bravo Company troops. Zaitsev tells Sam that Winters had secretly supported the Order of the Russian Star, but she betrayed them by using the coup as a pretext to declare war on Russia. He claims that she intends to use it to cement American hegemony worldwide and that the Order preemptively attacked the station as retribution. Sam defeats two slave units but finds out that Zaitsev controlled them. Zaitsev activates a tactical nuke inside the remaining suit to destroy Providence and prevent anyone from reclaiming it. Sam boards an escape pod and survives the explosion, reuniting with Elena on their ship. Zaitsev escapes as well and is congratulated by his superiors for accomplishing the mission and being told to move on to the next phase of the plan. Winters commits suicide after realizing that Gideon has enough evidence to make her being charged with high treason.

The game's director, Shinji Mikami, stated that Vanquish's graphics were partially inspired by Casshern, a 1970s anime series by Tatsunoko Production.[12] Mikami also stated that the game design itself was inspired by Casshern. Mikami originally wanted to create a game just like Casshern, but with the addition of guns, since Mikami had already previously created a brawler with God Hand. However, while making Vanquish a shooter, Mikami still wanted to maintain Casshern's "feeling of speed", which is the reason he introduced the sliding-boost mechanic.[13] Vanquish uses the Havok physics engine.[14]

The game's development began in 2007. In January 2010, a pre-rendered video trailer was released.[1][15] Atsushi Inaba produced the game. Mikami has stated that the game is being developed with the PlayStation 3 as its lead platform in an effort to "help avoid dodgy PS3 ports", commenting that it was a "great success."[16][17] It is Mikami's only game under the PlatinumGames brand.

If pre-ordered from GameStop in North America, the game came with the exclusive "Tri-Weapon" DLC pack[18] that later became available for sale on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network in November 2012. The three weapons in the pack are included in later ports.

Several European retailers offered free copies of Bayonetta with pre-orders of Vanquish. Zavvi in the UK offered a Limited Edition release which included a statuette of lead protagonist Sam Gideon as a pre-order bonus.[19]

To celebrate the game's tenth anniversary, Sega announced a Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle compilation for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The retail release includes a steelbook and Vanquish, alongside fellow PlatinumGames title Bayonetta, on a single disc, with support for 4K 60fps visuals for PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X users. Both games can also be purchased digitally either individually or collectively at a discount price. The 10th Anniversary Bundle was released on February 18, 2020.[20]

• Official website