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Soldiers shuffle about the deck of a massive spacecraft and hurry into numerous transport vehicles. Gunfire and explosions rock the landscape. A man with an iron fist proclaims, "Come on, you apes! Do you want to live forever!"
No, this isn't Starship Troopers, but director Paul Verhoeven's satirical twist on the Robert Heinlein sci-fi novel of the same title isn't that far from the truth: Platinum Games's Vanquish similarly strikes a balance between feel-good action and an ironic spin on video-game narrative tropes.
Just as the Mobile Infantry's battle against the Arachnid menace serve as "safe" violent entertainment, the robotic "Reds" (the chief catalyst for the narrative is The Russia Federation on Earth, who seize control of their government and assault the city of San Francisco in a preemptive strike) similarly sanitize violence. After all, machine enemies are just as easily dehumanized as the bugs in Starship Troopers.
Nationalism and jingoism further cement the striking parallels between the two works. Whereas fascist-laden propaganda compels high-school graduate Johnnie Rico to enlist for full citizenship rights, Vanquish's fictional U.S. president, Elizabeth Winters, echoes George W. Bush when she says, "we will not negotiate with those who wish to destroy us" and "our strength is unmatched — our will, resolute. We will be victorious!"
But just as Starship Troopers doesn't quite take the action motif seriously (as evidenced in the Federal Network propaganda's blatantly silly overtones: "Would you like to know more?"), Vanquish also knows how to poke fun at genre tropes.
This is never more obvious than when Elena Ivanova, who provides mission support remotely, describes how the Crystal Viper, who bears a striking resemblance to Street Fighter 4's Seth and Frank Fontaine's final form in Bioshock, is nearly impervious to standard ballistics. Protagonist Sam Gideon replies, "Hmph. This is starting to sound like a bad video game."
But a bad video game Vanquish is not. Because like Verhoeven's satirical spin on the action film, Platinum Games's latest is a solid shooter that gets right to the point: Vanquish ditches drawn out and convoluted narrative a la Gears of War for a deep combat system with meaningful risk-and-reward gameplay.
The explosive tromp through a Russian-controlled superweapon is light-hearted and exciting — not unlike watching a band of fascists mow down gigantic bugs on an alien world. While I think we need forward-looking titles like Heavy Rain or Demon's Souls, Vanquish serves a role, too. I'd sorely miss Starship Troopers if every film was Citizen Kane.
