The scene opens on Neo-earth. It is far, far in the future, and the
world has turned into a megalopolis of immense proportion.
Mega-city, a massive urban jungle, is overrun with crime and
oppression. You are Slave Zero, a towering hunk of machine, bent
on righting the world and destroying anything that gets in your
way. A huge arsenal of rockets, lasers, and thermonuclear devices
will help you along the way. Sweet.
Right from the get-go, Slave Zero flexes its graphical muscle in a
big way. Heavy on variety, Slave Zero’s textures are a mix of
urban and oriental designs. All the models in Slave Zero have a
distinct imposing character that conveys a sense of power and
size. The city levels themselves are immense, sprawling out in a
maze of web-like streets and underground passages. Cars and
helicopters buzz by your hull as you stomp down avenues and
over low buildings. Thirteen weapons, ranging from sniper rifles to
all out doomsday guns, each have their own energy discharges
and accompanying effects.
The background music and ambient sound effects are all done
well. Minimal but noticeable, these sounds add to the hyper-tech
futuristic atmosphere of the game. However, the weapon
discharges, massive explosions and other ‘booms’ and ‘kerplows’
could have been improved with regards to selling the size and
power of the sound effects. Wrecking a 60-foot sentential into a
skyscraper with a charged ion cannon is going to cause quite a
ruckus. Let us see some windows break, some cars get thrown
around, and other mayhem. These guys are huge, and they should
cause some serious damage to the objects in hearing distance of
them.
Potential. That’s what my sixth grade English teacher said I had.
That’s what Slave Zero has. Plenty of potential, little follow
through. And as with my third place finish in the sixth-grade
spelling bee, Slave Zero ends up with little to show for any efforts
it’s made. Impressive graphics, an ambitious storyline and a
pulsing urban setting are all makings of what could be a superb
third-person action shooter. However, once you get past these
initial aspects of the game there are few other astonishing
goodies.
I usually refrain from going into detail describing the plot, and this
time will be no exception. However, I assure you that the story is
interesting. So interesting, in fact, I wish developers had done
more to integrate it into the story. Not surprisingly, the gameplay
only marginally develops its neo-futuristic plot. Much like its
shoot-em-up predecessors, Slave Zero fails to provide any form of
character development or interaction. Unless of course, you count
blowing shit up. An all too short, all too unimaginative series of
fifteen levels are over before you warm up your trigger finger.
So what now, you ask. You have passed the game in under an
hour with just the default gun, shot down every building and
thrown around every car. What to do now? Well, there’s always
multiplayer. Call some friends, get a server and go at it,
deathmatch style. Oh wait, silly rabbit, multiplayer has yet too be
implemented. They promise an upgrade soon. If I am paying full
price for a game, I want the full game. End of story. If publishers
are going to continue to buttfuck consumers with incomplete,
buggy, half-assed products maybe we should rethink the way that
games are purchased
Slave Zero has some of the features that are needed to be
recognized in this heavily saturated genre of PC gaming. Distinct
graphics, variety of weapons and enemies and a futuristic urban
anime-stylized setting provide the core of where Slave Zero goes
right. Lack of plot development, no multiplay features and poor
replay really hurt an otherwise worthy competitor.