Maclintok

BioWare already stripped Mass Effect 2 to the barest essence of what's typically expected of a computer RPG.  Some people hated the simplicity.  That said, the main draw for ME2 is the story and the character relationships although I thought the updated combat system was pretty sweet.   
  
It's almost November but ME2 is still the overall GOTY front-runner in my book.  Vanquish should get serious consideration for Action or Shooter GOTY.

Bayonetta had great gameplay & bad packaging... poor narrative (not the standard 3-act structure & awful characters) but I respected it for being so wildly, Japanese-crazy.  Vanquish also has great gameplay but they went and pandered to stereotypical western tastes with the story & visuals. Big men, big guns, space marines, etc..  I think gamers can appreciate Japanese games for their own merits.. and the devs shouldn't have to compromise their vision for the sake of pandering to western tastes.  It's a tough place to be, i suppose. 

Yeah, preach it.  Tell your friends,  Vanquish is an awesome game but it probably should have been released during the summer or delayed until January 2011.  I can't see how this game is 4 hours long. I have logged 4-5 hours already and I'm still halfway through the second-to-last Act.

" To be fair, I haven't played it.. but the story sounded extremely generic and I'm very tired of third person cover based shooters. Also the fact it's apparently barley 4 hours long is a huge turn off.  Should I still try it? "

Not sure how "under the radar" Vanquish will be this quarter.  The game was hard enough to find for the first couple of days after release, so much so I had to suck it up and buy it from Gamestop.  I think the core gamers will pick it up although a large number of them will wait based on the lack of replayability. (I passed up Enslaved for that same reason) Money is tight, it's totally understandable.   
 
This is a good time to use your trade-in credits and gift cards that you have kicking around.  Vanquish is an excellent game... really gets me excited about cover-based shooters again.

I almost never use the LFE, Disc Launcher and Lock-On Laser although I'm beginning to like the Disc Launcher.  The Shotgun? It's been handy in a pinch on a couple of occassions but it's my least-used gun.  Lock-On Laser is pretty weak but is a cute thing to pull out if there are some rank & file robots mixed in with a boss fight.

Probably buy, but not right away.  The other October games like Enslaved and Vanquish are competing for my attention so I can wait for some Vanquish reviews to roll in first.  Tempting to get them all but limited time budget & all that.

GB name:  Maclintok 
Gamertag:  Maclintok 
Location:  Vancouver, Canada 
 
I would call myself someone who wants to be an avid Halo player.  Not terribly good but you can always count on me to not camp and just jump into the fray guns a'blazin'.

Thanks peeps, it's been a while since I played thru the game so totally forgot about Illium.  Looks like I have some gaming to do.

I know what you mean.  I have been picking away at Sins for the past month, playing on Easy and just trying to get a rudimentary grasp of how to research tech and learning about what units are good for what, etc..  It's cool so far but it's got an extremely dry sense of style and it's sort of stuck in between 2 established play styles. 
 
I'd prefer it to be turn-based so that they could add more depth and thoughtfulness to the whole act of exploring the galaxy and managing an empire.  OR... make it play out faster...maybe not StarCraft fast... but more on the order of a traditional RTS so I can get in, get my fix, then get out and feel satisfied.  Sorry, i have no answer for your question.. perhaps the "X" games such as X2 The Threat??  The Space Rangers series?  All of those should be available on Steam.