The man behind the Resident Evil series may be about to strike gaming gold once again. Under new development company Platinum Games, Shinji Mikami has a new futuristic story up his sleeve, and it's all looking rather spectacular.
 

The boss battles are seriously good fun

Vanquish takes place in the future, when the population of the Earth has hit astronomical levels and different continents have begun bickering over who gets what. The USA has attempted to solve the situation by launching a solar energy generator into space, but unfortunately a rebel group called The Order of the Red Star has overthrown the Russian government, and taken the American space station as its own, which it's using to destroy entire cities with powerful solar blasts.

Players take control of Sam Gideon, a researcher equipped with the most badass suit you've ever seen. Sam's Augmented Reaction Suit can scan any gun, and build an exact replica straight into the user's hands. Hence, rather than killing baddies and grabbing their weapons, Sam can simply scan a fallen weapon and an exact replica will be built on the spot.

To say that the effect looks immensely cool is an understatement - no word has been invented to exaggerate just how incredible the effect looks. The suit can store the data for three different weapons at any one time, and I found myself walking around scanning as many weapons as I could just to watch the sweet effects.

Not that the rest of the game doesn't look beautiful enough already. Everything from the huge locations to the beefy effects and animations is stunning. You know a game is going to look fantastic when you're oohing and ahhing as early as the title screen, which zooms around the gorgeous space station as you choose the different options.
 

Sliding along the floor has never been so exhilarating

Sam has plenty of other special tricks at his disposal too. Hold down the left trigger and he'll fall onto his knees, then boost along at breakneck speeds. It's perfect for escaping from a particularly difficult firefight, but also extremely useful during combat when mixed up with his other abilities. It can feel a little fiddly at times, especially when there are lots of obstacles around, but it's hard to deny that it looks and feels intense.

The controls in general are very intuitive. Sam can find cover behind pretty much anything, then aim and fire as you'd expect. Lob a couple of grenades and watch as the enemy launches off in all directions, or charge forward and use your huge, metal-suited fists to bash holes in their faces. Sam also has a slow-down effect which can be used every now and again, slowing everything to half the speed and allowing you to aim a little easier. These effects really put emphasis on how fast-moving the action is - gunning down speedy enemies can be very satisfying.

Sam will occasionally talk with his female correspondent back at base, and you get the feeling that it's going to be a very similar relationship to the usual type we've seen in the likes of Assassin's Creed 2. Sam has quite a cocky attitude, although you get the feeling that this is exactly what's keeping him alive - well, that and the gun-building suit he's wearing. His lady friend stands in front of a huge screen moving elements about with her fingers - it looks as though it was ripped straight from Tom Cruise film Minority Report.

The main shooting sections are great fun, but it's the boss battles which are most impressive, and hark back to arcading classics of old while still remaining very modern indeed. The particular boss battle we played was against a huge robotic monster which made it a habit of his to occasionally fire lasers and launch rockets our way. While the majority of his body is indestructible, obvious glowing areas scream at you to cover them in bullet hell.

After taking out these sections, his core is exposed and you can finally get around to nailing him. Of course, eventually the core will close and you'll have to take out another body part to expose it once again. The whole ordeal has a very retro feel to it, yet at the same time looks utterly stunning.

My only concern is that the game will sometimes cut you down quite rapidly and be a little unrelenting. At one point I'd cleared a room out and was advancing, when suddenly another horde approached out of nowhere. As I'd already ran forwards, I stood my ground and was soon completely annihilated for my valiant efforts. On my second attempt, I stayed a little back and managed to fight my way through unharmed. It just felt a little strange that I'm kitted out to do some serious damage, yet I can be so horribly destroyed in such a short space of time.
 

Words to describe Vanquish visuals: stunning, gorgeous, OMG

Vanquish is going to be the coolest video game you play this year, hands down. It's got that wow factor that so many games are lacking right now, and clearly Mr. Mikami's many years of experience are shining through in this latest venture. We'll have a review for the game later in the month, so make sure you check it out for our final verdict. Vanquish will be released for PS3 on October 19th.

Most Anticipated Feature: Definitely the boss battles - we can't wait to see what else is in store.