Yes I forgive you for coming across a near-unknown title (by todays gaming standards) and finding that there is a dedicated fan base who absolutely love this game. You might think they are overselling the game, but I can assure you it is not so.
Vanquish is a game from the minds of the guy who created Resident Evil, yet it is the polar opposite of what RE is. It is a shooter that oozes both style and substance (style on the forefront) which is played at break-neck speeds over huge areas beaming with detail with so much happening at the same time that you can barely keep up with it. Sounds anything like RE? I thought so.
Although the storyline is very much based on America, and its fight against evil Soviet forces who have taken over a space station (or something like that, its not really important) it has the distinct flavour of a Japanese game. The protagonist, his relation to the girl in the game, his devil-may-care attitude, and how others play their parts around him - all have that distinguishable touch of Japanese manga that you simply cannot overlook. It is this touch that injects all the style into the game.
The setting of this adventure is very far into the future, a sort of hyper-technological advancement which has been accepted as commonplace to the people living in the times. DARPA, the company in the spotlight, makes huge technological marvels for America in their quest to maintain peace in the most showy way possible, has sent Sam Gideon to take back the ship which has been hijacked by the Russians. What follows is the most bareback simplest of stories, the minimum of which is required to keep a game as enjoyable as this afloat. The highlight of the game, apart from the setting, is the aesthetics and the experience. Sams' suit is something out of the dreams of a techno-geek, completely mechanized yet impossibly accessible and cool at the same time. You have the ability to slow down time and shoot away as you see the bullets firing out of the nozzle of your gun in slow motion, and immediately dash forward at impossible speeds at the risk of overheating your armor. This makes up for the strategies you will have to make up on the fly as you face tons of cybernetic Russian goons in huge environments with fantastic set pieces.
You score as you shoot down the enemies, and you will max out the more variety you inject in your playstyle. At the same time you get to upgrade your guns and armour, which makes for some neat progression in the gameplay.
The lack of story and character development can be very much overlooked in favor of the fast, exciting shooting that will take all your time anyway in a game you will very much have the left-over impression of long after it is over, even if you dont remember the details.
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