Vanquish Video Review

For those who enjoyed my Vanquish review (http://thewildbore.blogspot.com/2010/11/vanquish.html), I've now made a short video review which is on YouTube under channel name thewildboretv . This will be the first of many, hopefully, so please comment and tell me what you think. I quote my brother 'That was ... surreal'

If there are problems, watch it on YouTube - it'll up my viewing figures as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzGvZx6HE68

Vanquish

SEGA has put Shinji Mikami from Resident Evil fame with Platinum Games who made Bayonetta and the result is something, that's not too bad.

Firstly, I'm still making my way through Bayonetta and I find it hard to engage with, but that got rave reviews and when this came out, it didn't do too badly either. But I don't understand why.

The problems with Vanquish are quite big ones. Firstly, the plot is confusing and the voice acting typically OTT as the Japanese are used to. One scene runs into another without really telling you what's going on, but then you don't really care because the entire game is completely mental.

It's relentless, you go from one shooting gallery to another with the odd gigantic boss turning up to ruin your day. However, I have to admit it works. The gameplay is smooth and boosting around the place is never boring. The shooting and different guns available are enough to keep you busy and it uses a unique upgrading system where picking up the same gun when you have full ammo allows it to upgrade somehow. I didn't quite understand it, I just played along. This really being the mantra of the whole game.

The story is that you are playing Sam Gideon, someone who has a nice new suit to play with, but San Francisco is blown up (which looks amazing) and you have to go to a space colony to take down the Russians. With a few twists and turns on the way, you are trying to defeat the Russians but find out there's more to it than it seems. But it's likely you won't care. There's the political angle of the economy, of foreign policy, 9/11, government cover-ups but essentially you just wanna shoot some stuff. And boy, do you.

The graphics look stunning and the colours, depth and sheer scale of the piece is impressive to say the least but after a while, it all looks very similar. There are some great moments from taking down a huge walking machine, to coming up against a garbage pile with some bite (and which can also kill you with one move - much to my annoyance) but the whole thing is way too short, completing it at about five and a half hours myself. Compared to similar titles such as Gears Of War, it doesn't quite cut it but the Japanese feel of it all shines through (no surprises then that the makers were inspired by Casshern). Once you've had your fill though I doubt very much you'll go on to do the challenges on offer - it's all style and no substance.

Don't get me wrong, for a bit of senseless shooting in a futuristic robot world, it's great, but there's not much that makes it stand out. I do love the enemies and the set pieces but already I'm starting to think about the next game to play. It might not have much of a soul but thank God then that it looks pretty.

Rating: 6/10

Gaming News

Metal Gear Solid: Rising

It's finally here! The new episode in MGS which will feature Raiden, and not shitty Raiden from MGS2 either, but the hardcore totally fucked up Ninja one from MGS4. As a little treat for my little Bores (that's you) here's the teaser trailer for the game. Aren't you spoilt?!





Gears Of War 3

Not much has been said about the new Gears Of War except that it might be the final one in the series. By the looks of the trailer, there's a new female character as well. There's also talk of 4 player co-op.The first two were incredible and I can't wait to get back into the fray! Here's the trailer for your eyes only.




Demon's Souls

This Namco Bandai game was a RPG PS3 exclusive last year and was regarded overseas as one of the top games of the year. The reason you might not have heard of it? It's because it's only just been talked about getting a release over here in Europe. Something to look forward to for anyone who has completed FFXIII.

Infinity Ward

Modern Warfare's kids have started to leave the sinking ship after Activision fired it's founding members. The two have now gone off to start up their own company (again) but this time with EA, 13 people have left since this was announced only a little while back. Uncertain future for CoD now perhaps.

F.3.A.R

F.E.A.R gets another chapter where Alma is set to have another freakish son but this time you have the option of going co-op! Though strangely, you can play as Point Man or Fettel who are enemies, so as much as you might be assisting each other, you can go off and do your own thing as well which is something quite unique. Can't upload the live-action trailer for some reason but it's on YouTube.

Transformers

For all you uber-geeks like me out there, you might cream your pants. Activision have announced Transformers: War On Cybertron, where it's an all out slug fest on their home planet. It takes after the actual anime series rather than the films thank God and after seeing the trailer, I think Michael Bay will have a lot to live up to when this is released in June. Check it out on YouTube, I can't upload the bastard.

New iPhone!

Hold on to your old handsets for the moment because what with the release of Apple's 4.0 iPhone OS, June 22nd has been booked to reveal the brand new spanking iPhone. Rumours suggest it will obviously be faster, but also have a forward-facing camera and 4G wireless support. With the 4.0 OS offering a multi-tasking ability so you can run several apps at once, it also has an Xbox Live-like gaming system with achievements and all that, so the gaming aspect of the iPhone has been already given a dramatic focus, oh and you will be able to read books on it and all that.

New Xbox

If you haven't heard already, it looks like Microsoft is going to reveal it's new slim Xbox 360 model which is likely to coincide with the release of Natal. It looks set to have wireless stuff, perhaps play Blu-Rays and all that. So basically it's going to be a PS3.

Call of Duty

For those PS3 owners still awaiting the new Call of Duty maps, it looks like you'll only have to wait til early May to get hold of them. Keep waiting!

Heavy Rain

...is a huge success! It's topped a million units and looks set to get 1.5 million by the end of the year. Seeing as people thought it would get between 200-300 thousand, it just goes to prove time and time again that gaming is more for adults these days than kids.

E3

Of course June is the gaming month of the year as E3 takes place in LA. There looks set to be a lot on show but for me, Konami's announcement of a new Silent Hill game might top it!