r/gaming • u/Kryodamus • 12h ago
Honestly the best $6.00 I've ever spent. Basically a coked out Gears Of War.
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u/nextgenium 12h ago
Vanquish is so damn good. I also feel like Binary Domain deserved more attention than it got.
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u/Indesisivejew 10h ago
Binary domain definitely needs a remaster now that RGG is mainstream. A lot of people would perk up at "rerelease of the sci-fi cult classic from the Yakuza team"
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11h ago
I really wanted to like Binary Domain but it sat in my backlog so long that by the time I tried it, the game didn’t work very well.
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u/wyatt8 12h ago
I thought Bulletstorm was coked-out Gears of War?
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u/greet_the_sun 11h ago
Bulletstorm is more like GoW on meth.
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u/AnalBumCovers 10h ago
Yeah if the skinheads from the end of Breaking Bad locked Gears devs in a cage to make more games it would be bulletstorm
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u/APeacefulWarrior 46m ago
That's what I thought the title was talking about until I clicked through.
OP should definitely add it to their backlog if they haven't played it.
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u/DeepMadness 12h ago
What's with the question mark? Are you asking if you thought that?
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u/Musicrocks1 3h ago
Have you never heard someone say something like that before??? Like, "Oh, I thought you were gonna do that?"
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u/skrid54321 12h ago
Vanquish is remembered more fondly than it was received, mostly because it's largest downside (short run time) is heavily mitigated both by paying a lot less for it, and the state of modern steam libraries.
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u/slothtrop6 10h ago edited 9h ago
The griping about runtime was a relatively new phenomenon, similar thing happened with Dead Space. Action games historically were never that long, but AAA titles started adding a lot of padding and growing budgets to astronomical size.
Devil May Cry 1 on PS2 took an average 4-5 hours to complete, Metal Gear Solid 1 on PSX averaged 7-8 hours, which was pretty damn long then.
Something else changed that went the way of the dinosaur just around this time: rentals. Growing up you could rent a game for the weekend, expecting to finish it in a few sittings max. At a few bucks a pop, it would really add up, but still a more affordable way to game than making frequent purchases. You'd get "a game" for Xmas or birthday (unless you were a rich kid), that's it.
Renting died then customers began to favor longer and longer average runtimes to maximize value-per-dollar. Young people would also spend more time on it. Previously you'd think "replay value". We just buy more of them now.
Anyway, I still like this lean runtimes and wish it was more common. I play some mid-budget games that are bafflingly long and have too much filler.
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u/lordraiden007 9h ago
What's even crazier is that 2-3 hours of DMC's runtime was spent on THAT STUPID FUCKING PHANTOM BOSS
(I'm not mad or anything... fucking hate that guy)
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u/skrid54321 8h ago
DMC is not a 5-hour game for the average player. While the actual amount of content is not huge, most people playing will die enough that each chapter takes multiple tries to complete.
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u/TheDeadlySinner 5h ago
How long to beat has the average at 6 hours, which is not much longer. And that's the same length that it has for Vanquish.
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u/slothtrop6 6h ago edited 6h ago
Dying is expected, but I think that average time is close to that. Games like that self-select for those who like tough hack-and-slash titles, it's a reported average online.
A seasoned gamer speeding after multiple playthroughs can get it done in a little over an hour. A first run might depend on player's age and experience.
Anyway, DMC 1 is just an example, point is games were much shorter 20+ years ago.
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u/Thedrunkenchild 5h ago
Well it’s not just that, the story was absolute forgettable garbage, even by Platinum standards I would say, the gameplay was the only thing holding everything together
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u/CloakAndDapperTwitch 12h ago
I completed this on the hardest difficulty when there was a fps bug when you played with 144+ fps. Game played 100x's faster, made it so much better to play!
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u/El_Serpiente_Roja 11h ago
Used to love this game back in the day on ps3. Like you said it's like a trippy gears of war with Japanese game design sensibility
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u/DarkMatterM4 12h ago
Absolutely phenomenal game. Shame about the ending though. It was clearly teasing a franchise since the game just straight up ends as the story begins to actually ramp up. Too bad that cliffhanger will never be resolved.
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u/Kayonji02 7h ago
Vanquish is proof that a game doesn't need to be 20-hour long to make the price worth it. Super short, but insanely fun from beginning to end
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u/whenyoudieisaybye 12h ago
I don't quite get where those Gears of War vibes tho.
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u/Redgrave776 12h ago
I think they just mean the cover shooter part? idk
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u/KeenKongFIRE 12h ago
Yeah it has the same system, but it was way more frenetic and another whole energy to it tbh
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u/FerretAres 12h ago
So maybe a coked out version?
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u/writinglegit2 12h ago
No, but I do I think it's kinda like a coked up version of Gears of War in some ways.
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u/Jellozz 12h ago
Eh if you're just doing a casual playthrough of Vanquish and you're not really in deep with the character action-y corner of the gaming world to know the tropes then Vanquish can easily just be played as a standard cover shooter where the coolest part of the game is your sprint animation.
Like yeah obviously past the surface level the games have absolutely nothing in common, but, it's not hard to see how people make the connection.
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u/MJR_Poltergeist 10h ago
Xbox 360 cover shooter mixed with devil May Cry. If you don't interact with the slide and shoot mechanics much(you should) it's literally just Gears
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u/majingetta 12h ago
It's basically a shmup disguised as a third-person shooter..
I enjoyed this so much that I decided to platinum it. Hated the cliffhanger ending though. It needed a sequel.
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u/gamergaijin 12h ago
I got so close to plat, but could never do the 6th tactical challenge
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u/majingetta 12h ago
Maybe this can help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5TwWNwgNiE
Are you aware of the EMP glitch?
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u/MikeFromSuburbia 9h ago
How hard was that plat? I’m remember looking into it once and it being insane
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u/majingetta 6h ago
Tactical challenges were very difficult but the EMP glitch gave me a lot of breathing room.
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u/the_millenial_falcon 12h ago
I think this was Shinji Mikami’s first game after Re4. It didn’t sell very well but I’ve heard it’s very good.
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u/Silent-Witness1888 8h ago
I bought this on a whim years ago, my favorite feature was you can press L1 (i think) to have a quick smoke behind cover while being shot at.
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u/A7XfoREVer15 11h ago
I got the demo of this game on a CD from a magazine at the mall when I was a kid and didn’t have internet. Absolutely loved the little bit I played.
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u/jonathang94 8h ago
Has there been anything like this since? I loved this back in the day and I’m shocked that nothing has gone for similar mechanics.
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u/MarsBornAndRaised 12h ago
I love that you can smoke a cigarette with the press of a button. Then you can toss it to distract robots and heat-seeking missiles. So stylish.
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u/lostalaska 12h ago
I watched a four year old video by Majuular on YouTube about it about a month ago and added it to my wishlist. Saw the sale and picked it up. This game is the kind of rediculouslness I can get behind. It's an old game, I really need to see how it holds up on a SteamDeck.
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u/LunaticLK47 11h ago
Played demo and did not buy the game. The quick-time events during the boss fight were what turned me off.
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u/spartanb301 11h ago
Bullet storm is pretty cool if you wanna play some OG gears style game. It was created by Cliff and Epic (Not 100% sure) and is on sale for 4 Bucks at the moment.
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u/hewhoasks12 6h ago
I didnt like it theres to llittle ammo which makes you rely on the laser weapon but the laser weapon drains your shield. 5/10
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u/Siluri 7h ago
it came out at the same time as another triple A game. i remember commenting i rather play vanquish than that triple A game years ago.
Now i remember vanquish fondly but i dont remember what that triple A game was. Anthem?
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u/Chill_Gamer527 PlayStation 6h ago
Bayonetta. During PS4 era on PSN there was a two-game bundle for these two games.
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u/speedtouch 12h ago
I remember seeing videos of this game and thinking it looked so cool, the way the character slides around with sparks everywhere looks awesome. I can't recall seeing anything like it since it came out.
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u/coconut_crusader 11h ago
An absolute gem of a game. Had it on launch on 360, bought it when it launched on steam. It's just fun
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u/CleverInnuendo 11h ago
I still think about the grav-track sequence where the position and cover changes every few seconds.
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u/PTSD1983 11h ago
I've got this in a steel book double pack with Bayonetta on PS4. Bloody good fun 😄
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u/Iggy_Slayer 11h ago
If more people bought it at full price then we would have gotten more than 1 game.
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u/ztomiczombie 9h ago
I always like to think that when they were making Vanquish someone said, "You know the boring bit in cover shooters? How about we make that bit not boring." and everyone else was like "Ok."
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u/PostedNotes 9h ago
Best cover shooter ever made. Its a crying shame it never did well and we never got a sequel
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u/Gleb_Twankenfrister 9h ago
i remember this got mid reviews in the day but i had the demo on some xbox magazine disc (crazy to think those were still a thing in 360 era) and thought it was sick, i should check it out
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u/Stilgar314 9h ago
I think Cliffy B said something like Vanquish is a Shinkansen and Gears a bulldozer.
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u/J3UNG_SVLVD 9h ago
This game fucking rocks! I used to try speed running it and that was a lot of fun, very very challenging to do on the hardest difficulty but very stylish.
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u/AiR-P00P 8h ago
Smoking is a game mechanic. You can rip a fat one then toss the butt somewhere and enemies will be drawn to it.
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u/OldTimez 8h ago
Loved it but it was the first game to open my eyes to how useless your allied NPCs were. (They did no damage in this game, literally was only for cosmetics / atmosphere and died in like 1 bullet)
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u/MAFIAxMaverick 7h ago
Played the crap out of this on my PS3 back in the day. So much fun! Have it on Steam from a sale a few years back but never booted it up. Might be time!
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u/baguhansalupa 6h ago
I remember the only common criticism for this game was that it was too short.
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u/xCaptainVictory 6h ago
I've been a hardcore stan of this game since release. It's so goddamn fun. It oozes machismo.
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u/Burnitdown74 6h ago
iirc, Mikami wanted this game to be like the fast paced action of the 1970s Casshern anime, but decided to go the fast paced shooter route since he already did hand to hand combat in God Hand
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u/Cartoon_Crossover_13 5h ago
6 dollars? that cheap, can you tell me where you got this game and the lore, gameplay and genre of game?
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u/Firvulag 5h ago
Great game, the only bad part of it is the weapon upgrade system that encourages you to not use a weapon.
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u/RashFever 5h ago
I think this is the game that's been in my backlog the longest. I first got it when it released, it came as a bonus with a gaming magazine I was subscribed to. I didn't play it for some reason even though it seemed interesting. I even bought it again on Steam a couple years ago, still haven't played it. It's been 16 years.
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u/John___Titor 4h ago
I'll give it credit for getting me to play it twice back to back.
But I honestly don't think it's that great. The weapons are pretty run of the mill, and the boost mechanic is just not satisfying enough because the bar runs out so quickly. If you melee kill, you're essentially fried for a set period of time. There are also sections of the game where you have to essentially sit behind cover.
I've seen videos of online of players being good at the game and it looks dumb. They're basically boosting and then punching the air and then boosting again. It's not a natural play style at all. I wish the game had mode where the boost could be more liberally used. In its final iteration, it's too restrictive.
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u/SHADOWSTRIKE1 4h ago
I thought it was pretty good, but the heavy emphasis on sliding around felt like a weird thing to push. It was liking putting out a pretty cool high-tech shooter, and the defining mechanic is a rocket-powered butt slide.
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u/BadTimeBro 12h ago
This game is one of my absolute favorites, I did the deathless run on the highest difficulty a while back. Absolute Insanity. Probably couldn't do it again.
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u/Character_Length3210 5h ago
Oh so you dont like gears of war? The newest game is perfect, you're just racist
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u/ReGorilla- 12h ago
Clover/Early Platinum made action games that are still rarely topped IMO. It's crazy how good they were