Vanquish Notes

I choose normal difficulty. There is a casual auto mode, wonder what that is?

We see our character called Sam being put into the suit.
Elena and Prof Candide are talking through video call into the suit helmet hud.
We have to calibrate our movement, some tutorial stuff.

Controls
Normal left and right analogue sticks for movement and camera. Third Person view.
We Can go into cover by pressing X, X also jumps over cover when in it and pushing towards the object.
Left trigger is aim
Right trigger is shoot
Y is grenade
B is melee.
hold right bumper to pick weapons.
dpad changes between the four weapons you can carry.

The suit can slide on it's knees and go into a bullet time like mode.

Cut scene shows the world, a city, peaceful  and sunny, looks Like San Francisco.
A machine appears to be powerful up in space.
Looks like an attack is coming.
Looks like some kind of microwave gun, which blows up the city and fries the people.

A video sent to the president shows a Russian leader telling us that there is to be surrender, he is in control of this weapon and will use it on New York next.
The President won't surrender and it's war.
We see spaceships heading for the enemy
A Commander gives a pep talk.
We see Sam and a woman Called Ivanova discussing the professor who built the microwave weapon. Seems he is unhappy about it's current use.
The commander talks to Sam and tests his reflexes.

Act 1 Mission 1
We get control.
We move along a corridor, the ship is being hit and there are breaches in the hull.
A cut scene shows the ships approaching the Russian ships, there is a lot of damage and the ship only just makes it.
There is heavy resistance inside the ship, we are seen getting into a ship and flying down to land inside the enemy ship.
We find our way blocked by gun emplacements. I am to flank them and kill the robots using the guns. There are two large walker type robots.
I can take control of these if I shoot the operators.
I can heal downed team mates.
The commander's name is Burns.

Act 1 Mission 2
We now fight into a large open area with a balcony. There are lots of enemies in the square with us and lots up on the balcony.
I clear them, and some more a teleported in. We then get some more waves coming in through a gate and a larger humanoid enemy is with them.

Act 1 Mission 3
Some transports come in and let lots of robots loose now that we are up on the balcony. I use their emplaced guns against them.
A huge robot boss arrive. I have to shoot it's legs, which exposes it's core.
Then it transforms and I have to shoot arms and legs and it's core after each limb.
The boss has many attacks, all devastating.
One hit kills are not uncommon.
This is old school masochism at it's worst.

Act 1 Mission 4
We go through a door, there is some chat about a teleporter that isn't fit for human use.
Guess we will be using that later then?
We are going to be meeting up with friendlies.
I fight through an open area with lots of enemies.
There is a bigger robot but not a boss, just a tank type.
I come to an area where three men are being held captive.
I go to rescue them against advice from Burns.
This is basically going to three points and pressing a button.
Then a  door opens and more enemies arrive.
A dropship gives me trouble.
Now we go through the door.

Act mission 5
We proceed through some fairly squared off areas fighting, it's fun and all.
Then we have to get up on a bridge and protect some soldiers who are being overrun. We have emplaced guns to help.
A man is trapped and again Burns wants to close the gate on him and we intervene.
A mini boss and lots of enemies to kill then we see a cut scene of us saving the man.
Burns gives a grudging nod of approval.
Weird to see characters smoking
Burns takes high ground here and we have to take another route.
I progress through a trench and burns is above taking out those shooting us from above.
We come to a large open area and a tank boss appears.
A big tank with blades on the front and a gun. It has many red bits to shoot and eventually dies.
Not half as much of a pain in the ass as the last boss though.

Act 1 Mission 6
We have to blow up a barrier.
We meet up with a friendly vehicle, which we now have to escort.
Some robot spiders and large octopus type enemies advance on it and  we have to stop them.
We come to a gate which we have to plant two charges on.
Then more spiders and squids before a cut scene shows us bursting out of the tunnel onto the surface again.
some crude jokes about ass insertion here?!?!

Act 1 mission 7
We drive up a hill to a large open area with the vehicle following.
A lot of enemies are dug in here at some large doors.
I start shooting, then a large drill type thing appears out of the ground and takes out the vehicle. Lots of enemies and a large humanoid boss appears. It's got all the big attacks and is very mobile. Sliding around on the ground like you can do.
Shooting it in the two red spots on it's back and chest seem to be the way to go.

Act 1 Mission 8
We go up in a lift and reach another large open area with lots of boxy cover littering the area. In cut scene a professor can be seen, we are to capture him.
I fight a mini boss here again and then a cut scene kicks in.
The professor sees Sam and is herded away by robot guards.
The leader of the enemy forces appears. He is wearing a similar suit to Sam, only his one has a flying jetpack. His name  is Victor
He attacks for some stylish cut scene fighting then we are into a boss battle with him.
He flies around like a hyperactive flea, though as usual with fights with the same boss that will recur over and over in a game we aren't seeing his full power here. I take him down first time, though when his energy gets low he comes in for some button stabbing quicktime.
Then he decides that this round is over and leaves with the professor.

Act 2 Mission 1
we are heading for a freight transport. More standard fight box fighting.
We are now fighting on a freight conveyor system.
Two moving large belts, there are doors that have laser fields that kill you instantly.
Lots of robots in the middle to shoot and your cover needs to adapt to the moving rails which exposes you all the time.
We then go up a set of stairs and have two mini bosses at once.
We then get on the train.

Act 2 mission 2
This is an on rails vehicle section, we have a fairly long train deck to stand on. Enemies fly in from above and try and land troops onto the deck of the train.
There are also flying robots to take out.
Another train comes on a nearby track. This track twists and turns around us and we have to take out all the robots on it in a time limit. They have rigged it to crash into our train. Ivanova can hack it if there are no robots left on it.
This was quite a fun section, the view around you of the inside of the orbital is mind bending as your train runs inside the cylindrical inner walls.
The train eventually is derailed and we are ambushed by chasing forces.
I have to take out the incoming forces. After a few waves a cut scene starts.
Sam jumps onto an enemy flyer and uses it to take out some of the incoming ones.
The train crashes through the structure it crashed into and Burns and some of the other soldiers go down with it. Sam tries to go after them but it looks like they die in a big explosion.
Sam is being chased by flyers and loses them in a tunnel.
We are now using the flyer, all we have to do is aim and the flyers guns shoot where we aim.
Linked into the suit systems.
I shoot at a train filled with robots and then one of the big argus bosses shoots the flyer down.

Act 2 Mission 3
Sam survives the crash of course and we are now to heading to the airport??
Maybe we are chasing the professor?
Maybe after the Victor guy, not sure if the game knows why we are going there either.
Some rolling ball robots appear, they rush up as spheres then sprout legs and guns. melee attacking them kicks them into orbit.
I proceed down narrow corridors, the argus boss can be seen outside in the distance.
Ok, now there are two of the giant bosses.
In cut scene Burns arrives back, you know when you want to make an impact when a character you think is dead turns back up, maybe at least five minutes should be given without them.
It isn't as bad as I was fearing. While before you had to kill the first form then the second, this time you just have both forms at once. So it's the same length of battle.
It's just that there is more fire going on. They don't both concentrate on you though unless you fire upon them. So they can be taken one at a time.
Oh and miracle of miracles there is a checkpoint once you kill one of them.
It still has that one shot kill weapons though.
I kill it then we pick up signals from another team. the gang decide to go and see if they need help and to find out what intelligence they have.

Act 2 mission 4
We are now trying to take a hill, on which a jamming system is making life hard for the rest of the soldiers. If we can take out the jammer the navigation systems will work. This will make co-ordination of attacks possible.
We storm a large tank type troop vehicle, and then out over the top of it to a container yard.
Then up the hill, into another container.
Our way is blocked by a gate which we have to blow up.
I fight to the gate and in cut scene we see it getting blown up and the men running through.

Act 2 Mission 5
We run along a small bridge getting attacked by enemies from above.
Then we come to the hill bit again. There is another argus at the top.
And there is some kind of bombardment going on as large chunks of the building behind are falling down the hill.
I go up the hill slowly, cover to cover and it's great fun.
We have to go through a door at the side and in cut scene Sam rides a flyer into getting chased by a load of missiles then flies it down right on top of the argus destroying it.
Of course he survives.

Act 2 Mission 6
Now we come to a heavily fortified defensive position.
Lots of robots then three of the mini-boss romanov's.
A new boss appears, like a tiger with long lashing tail.
We then progress to the final bit here, the jammer and cannons themselves.
We have to shoot two  cannons at either side.
There is heavy mini-boss activity stopping us.
Basically we have to take out a large eye that shoots at us while avoiding or killing waves of mini-bosses.
The jammer is broken and we can now use troop transports to get around.

Act 3 Mission 1
The bad guy victor Zaitsev taunts the president in  a private video call.
We are flying in a transport and land in a new area. Why? No idea. We are linking up with someone else, hey ho.
We fight our way down a long set of plaza like steps. This looks like an entertainment area of the orbital.
Some new blue fast moving tougher robots. Then some drill armed romanov's.

Act 3 Mission 2
We come to an area where a draw bridge is blocking the way. We ask a flying transport to land on the other side and manually bring the bridge down for us.
Enemies attack from the other side of the bridge where the controls are. Once they are gone the ship lands and puts down the bridge.
We are then attacked by two drill transports full of enemies and the tank with cogs from before.
we then proceed through a door to some elevators. A huge laser is seen outside taking out skyscrapers.
We come to a road, a short fight and then a cut scene.
The enemy have actually brought a ship. inside the orbital!
It shoots nearby and blows up half the road ahead.

Act 3 mission 3
we are now moving down the devastated road.
Which  promptly starts to collapse. we have to run headlong through enemy positions. Everything is exploding and the ground is pitching and yawing like mad.
It's quite fun, if short.

Act 3 Mission 4
Burns wants to use air travel to get to wherever the hell it is we are going.
Ivanova thinks it's too risky and the battleship will take them out. Sam agrees and he wants to use a monorail nearby.
This is a weird little mission, we have to ride the monorail car, in a darkened area.
Searchlights have to be taken out with the sniper rifle.
A flyer comes over and has to be shot down, this triggers a rocket attack and we have to take out the lights quickly or be killed in the monorail explosion.
We enter a station and there is a barricade. Sam has to get out and place two bombs on the barricade and get back into the monorail.
Then outside in the light again we see the large cruiser overhead.
We are attacked by a small flying enemy ship.

Act 3 Mission 5
The destroyer which we find out is named the Creon comes in for a landing.
It's funny when people use names in stories that are also real world things. Creon to me is a brand name for a food supplement for people who have had their pancreas taken out.
We are now advancing along a large road. The Creon has landed and transformed into a huge gun.
We have to protect our railgun tanks so they can get close.
There are loads of the saw tanks, thankfully there are some emplaced guns which make quick work of them.
Now we have to shoot up into the leg of the Kreon tank to stop it marching forward.
In cut scene a railgun tank shoots a hole in the side of the Kreon.
Now we have to run across some bridges to the place under the hole in the Kreon.
Heavy resistance on the bridge and the Kreon opens places in it's side which reveal balconies filled with robots.

Act 3 Mission 6
Inside the kreon we go using grappling hooks in cut scene.
A little ride on a cargo transporter introduces us to a new boss.
This thing is like a mangle of metal parts. It changes shape constantly and has a few attacks.
It has lasers, can instant kill you by grabbing and smearing you, or fire machine guns at you.
It needs to be hit enough to expose it's red ball core that is usually hidden amongst the parts.
The core has a health bar, when worn down it's dead.
In the next area the blue faster robots that can fly teleport in.
Now we come to a core area, giant rings fill with energy in timed intervals and we have to make our way through without being blasted to bits.
Robots run interference. we also get back onto a cargo container on rails.

Act 3 Mission 7
We now have reached the critical systems of the Kreon that can be destroyed by one man. A conduit must be blown that will cause a chain reaction.
This is a climb up the side of the Kreon, using platforms, elevators and pulley type switch system.
Lots of robots to kill and another unknown boss.
I reach the summit and the conduit we have to blow up. Only it looks like we will be killed with it when it blows.
Burns will come and pick us up, hopefully.
I break the conduit with some button mashing and Burns saves us in suitably heroic and action movie style.

Act 4 mission 1
Now we are going somewhere else, lost the ability to care about the nonsensical plot.
It's a wooded area now.
We are heading for a dam.
Lots of enemies and two romanovs to fight.
Then a heavily defended gate.
Inside we have to wait for an elevator and are ambushed.
New flying transforming enemies arrive.
A cut scene shows the top of a bridge we need to get across.

Act 4 Mission 2
A new boss named a buzzard appears. crab like bird like transformer. Usual attack types.
Shoot the red bits as usual.
I go across the bridge and into a room, where a gate is opened, then down some stairs on the outside of a building.
Then another argus attacks with some small robots in tow.
We move on through similar stairs and then meet two of the whiptail bosses. Both together are quite hard. Their whip attack is a one hit kill.
Then two Romanovs and a tank.

Act 4 Mission 4
There is some trouble ahead, the enemy have hit a factory and it's melting itself.
looks like we are going to be passing through anyway.
We come through the factory and meet a new enemy, a crystal man shaped robot with a sword, he is a bit like the silver surfer.
He isn't that hard to kill.
Though his death causes a problem, he explodes and a nearby large structure goes up with him. This causes a chain reaction that breaches the outer hull of the colony.
The air starts escaping, pulling large ships down out of the air.
The gang use some escape pod devices to go into the under structure of the colony.

Act 4 Mission 5
We are now in a cylinder, gravity is not present here, though our boots stick us to the floor.
We navigate the circumference of the cylinder shooting up enemies.
Then another unknown, mangle beast.

Act 5 Mission 1
There is debate about letting the soldiers outside have time to get to shelter or closing the doors that will prevent the colony depressurizing and being entirely destroyed.
Burns closes the doors and Sam argues as they watch the men die.
Sam goes back up and Burns stays in the control room.
He speaks with the President and it appears that the attack on san Francisco was not orchestrated by the Russians after all, or at least Zaitsev and the President planned it for a reason.
We are heading to the colony core now, for as yet unexplained reason.
I have a buzzard and a romanov with some normal robots.
Then we have some large laser cannons to destroy.
Once the charges are places a mass of enemies come from the rear and we have to fight them of and then proceed.
Elena is being jammed it seems, she can't provide any support for much longer.
I enter a room and there is a silver surfer to deal with.

Act 5 Mission 2
Elena is cut off. Burns calls and asks where we are. He tells Sam that he is in trouble. Sam sends the remaining marines back to help him and goes on alone.
In the control room Sam finds Professor Candide, he seems to think Sam is a bad guy. He obviously knows the president is up to no good.
Burns appears and shoots Candide, he tells Sam that they are going to use the Microwave weapon to hit Moscow. It appears that The president also ordered the attack on  San Francisco.
Burns attacks, Sam kills the remaining marines in cut scene and then we into a boss battle with Burns.
Burns isn't interested in fighting Sam, he wants to get to the manual controls for the targeting of the weapon. He gets on a train and Sam gives chase.
We chase him to the control room and while he has a lot of  health he isn't that hard to take down.
In another bemusing turn of events Burns appears to have a change of heart after being beaten and tells Sam to leave. He appears to be going to blow up the microwave weapon and himself. Sam Runs and the marines coming behind who seem loyal to the President shoot at Sam and level their guns at Burns. Burns is blown up. Sam moves on.

Act 5 Mission 3
Moving towards the core of the colony Sam is attacked by Zeitsev, and another wearing a similar suit to him.
They claim that President Winters wants to create a stable world government and war is her way of doing it.
There is more chat, but the smoking and the nonsense story are really to badly done to make any sense.
We fight the two bosses, simple as that.
They turn out to be slave units. Zaitsev also has them rigged to blow.
We escape in an escape pod.

The colony is blown up and Elena thinks Sam is gone with it.
Only two seconds later he appears.
He gives Elena a hug as the shockwave of the explosion hits their ship.
Zaitsev does not seem bothered that things seem to have gone Wrong.
Winters shoots herself.

Credits roll, and it's a  mini space harrier style game.
God hard difficulty is unlocked.

340 Achievement points.
Total time played around 11hrs