Sega and Platinum Games released the demo for their upcoming 3rd person shooter yesterday on Xbox Live and I played the hell out of the damn thing. Players take the role of Sam Gideon, a former college football star who after being injured gets recruited into an organization called DARPA. Sam wears an ARS or “augmented reaction suit” which allows him short burst of bullet time, and the ability to propel himself at high speeds.

Playing the demo, I got the distinct feeling that the super stylized “thrust attacks” are somewhat tacked on for styles sake. I spent a good twenty minutes attempting to take advantage of all the very cool abilities that the ARS affords the player, only to find that 9 times out of 10 doing so only served to get me riddled with bullets. After many attempts, I decided to approach the game like I would any other 3rd person shooter and actually made some headway through the demo. The cover system works well, and I particularly enjoyed how Sam’s position in cover changes depending on the height of the cover he is behind. Shooting mechanics seem up to par and while nothing really grabbed me and made me scream “that was bad ass”, I didn’t see any major flaws either. The weapons found in the demo provide a nice variety, and it seems like picking the right weapon for the job is going to be an important piece to the Vanquish puzzle. While the assault rifle has a high rate of fire and good accuracy for taking down foot soldiers, you’ll want to switch over to the heavy machine gun when taking on larger mechs, and bosses.

While some of Vanquish’s more stylized attacks felt half baked to me, the environment you use them in is nothing short of amazing. From head to toe, Vanquish is a visual treat that I never got tired of consuming. If I were to break down Vanquish’s visual style into ingredients it would be, 2 parts Metal Gear Solid, 2 parts Macross Plus, and 1 part Halo. The only reason I spent so much time attempting “thrust attacks” that would get me killed, is because they looked so god damn amazing.

The boss battle felt very grand in scale, and trouncing the quadruped mech only to have it transform into a giant robo was awesome. Some of the bosses attacks did feel a bit cheap to me, and caused a few bullshit deaths, but nothing that drove me into a nerd rage. I will suggest that players do not stay zoomed in for to long as the boss is big, and while zoomed in you can’t see attacks coming in.

All in all, the Vanquish demo seems to portray the game as a very competent third person shooter. While I found the “thrust attacks” a bit disappointing, hopefully as I progress through the game practice will make perfect and I’ll be using the system flawlessly. Bottom line, I really enjoyed the demo. Saying that, I think it’s important to note that Vanquish is a single player only game, and I didn’t walk away from the demo so blown away that I see multiple play through in my future. Vanquish will absolutely be a rent before I buy game.

Nate’s Note: Do not read this as a review of the game, it is not. It is simply my experience with the DEMO! Do not use this article to decide whether or not you are going to buy Vanquish. Try the demo or rent the game at release and make up your own mind.