Really ambitious game, I love how much detail was put in the environments. The final boss was the wettest fart that ever farted though. Maybe they had to rush that part out the door without testing it. Cool aesthetic, fitting music and fast action make it quite memorable.
Getting the game to run decently is the real challenge. You can't just go for the DC version that one's worse.
Once you get past that, it's a straightforward but fun game. There's nice weapon variety but the game's insistence on labeling things as "upgrade" and "downgrade" muddies it somewhat. The developers' original intended aesthetic was watered down from a more explicit biomechanical theme, but now in 2024 a somewhat generic 90s sci-fi is in itself an aesthetic. Same goes for the game's big huge pickups that were normal then but a nice appeal now. Compared to other old PC shooters the levels are divided into shorter segments so there's less of a desire to constantly save the game so that's a point for it. Got stuck in level geometry a fair bit but it generally ended with me eventually jumping and flailing my way out. It does have a bit of a feeling of being a big monster that lots of games don't capture, like being able to just pick people up and throw them even if it's impractical. There's a stomp button too
I didn't understand half the dialogue cause it was drowned out by the gameplay. But that too was something that got knocked down by executives into something more generic. Charles Martinet voiced someone but honestly I couldn't tell who was talking half the time.
Once you get past that, it's a straightforward but fun game. There's nice weapon variety but the game's insistence on labeling things as "upgrade" and "downgrade" muddies it somewhat. The developers' original intended aesthetic was watered down from a more explicit biomechanical theme, but now in 2024 a somewhat generic 90s sci-fi is in itself an aesthetic. Same goes for the game's big huge pickups that were normal then but a nice appeal now. Compared to other old PC shooters the levels are divided into shorter segments so there's less of a desire to constantly save the game so that's a point for it. Got stuck in level geometry a fair bit but it generally ended with me eventually jumping and flailing my way out. It does have a bit of a feeling of being a big monster that lots of games don't capture, like being able to just pick people up and throw them even if it's impractical. There's a stomp button too
I didn't understand half the dialogue cause it was drowned out by the gameplay. But that too was something that got knocked down by executives into something more generic. Charles Martinet voiced someone but honestly I couldn't tell who was talking half the time.
I wanted to finish the game so badly, I REALLY DID!! It would've made an easy top 25 of my favorite games! But the part at the 2nd to last level kept crashing so much, I'm forced to YT to rest!! Y'know in my life starting gaming, I wished something like what happened with Horace didn't happen here...but unfortunately it did...and that makes fucking sad...well at least I'm all prepped for Slave Zero X at the very least. I just hope that Slave Zero X will make up for the disappoint of me being forced to stop playing this really cool game.
Though some of the game's technical qualities are rough around the edges (particularly in the subpar Dreamcast port), Slave Zero's gritty setting and lore and strong level design and art direction give a great sense of scale to the chaotic mech shooting action.
Stylish and uncomplicated, wrong in key ways, and so assured in success that its failure is comical. In many ways a perfect Dreamcast game, though not in the sense of being a Perfect Game on the Dreamcast. Rather, if you were to point to a game that was most like The Dreamcast In Game Form, it would be Slave Zero. I like this game. I liked my Dreamcast.
i probably spent a decent chunk of this game's duration just trying to figure out how the fuck to make it run. was totally worth it tho! short but sick as hell action romp - we need more mech shooters inspired by 80s anime
played as a kid and loved it, replayed it and wow the controls suck but ignoring that the game is still really good honestly
i had to buy this game twice, both on steam and GOG it simply does not work.
not only did i need to get this game twice but the time spent on making this run was much more than the time i've spent playing it, i had to download several patches, all of which did not work (i am no stranger to pcgamingwiki and gaming forums to tweak old games), my last bet was forcing it to work with a voodoo card emulator, which still didn't work, its insulting they sell this game on official stores without even giving it the proper care to make it playable.
i did managed to make it run however, after retrying all my steps above (go figure) eventually the steam version worked, but not the GOG version, but what i got was not a old gem forgotten by time, it was just an average shooter in a time where people had a ton of mech games to choose from, it was not a dying genre as people make it up to be.
the game itself was constantly crashing to add to the mediocricy of it, had to watch the last chapter on youtube
not worth the hassle, screw this broken old game and screw all those youtubers who keep calling this a ''underrated masterpiece'' or ''forgotten gem''
not only did i need to get this game twice but the time spent on making this run was much more than the time i've spent playing it, i had to download several patches, all of which did not work (i am no stranger to pcgamingwiki and gaming forums to tweak old games), my last bet was forcing it to work with a voodoo card emulator, which still didn't work, its insulting they sell this game on official stores without even giving it the proper care to make it playable.
i did managed to make it run however, after retrying all my steps above (go figure) eventually the steam version worked, but not the GOG version, but what i got was not a old gem forgotten by time, it was just an average shooter in a time where people had a ton of mech games to choose from, it was not a dying genre as people make it up to be.
the game itself was constantly crashing to add to the mediocricy of it, had to watch the last chapter on youtube
not worth the hassle, screw this broken old game and screw all those youtubers who keep calling this a ''underrated masterpiece'' or ''forgotten gem''
You're symbiotically bound to a 60 foot tall bio-robot, and you're the only hope a resistance group has against a very sexy "Sovereign Khan" and his "Dark Matter" projects... yeah.
Robot designs are great, awesome acid techno soundtrack.
Super fast third person shooter gameplay, lots of strafe and jump goodness, unforgivingly hard at times.
Do you like bottomless pits?
Does not like running well on modern systems, even with patches, and the ledge grab will regularly pull you through geometry, forcing you to reload.
Robot designs are great, awesome acid techno soundtrack.
Super fast third person shooter gameplay, lots of strafe and jump goodness, unforgivingly hard at times.
Do you like bottomless pits?
Does not like running well on modern systems, even with patches, and the ledge grab will regularly pull you through geometry, forcing you to reload.
Mecha action game which got buried back in the day thanks to a terrible Dreamcast port. The game is starting to receive more attention now and even a new game is announced. People keep calling this a hidden gem.
While I must agree that the style and world of Slave Zero is amazing. Very much feels like a cool 80/90s anime. I really want to love this game. However, the gameplay really is just average. The combat quickly becomes repetitive. New enemies get introduced, you upgrade your guns and sometimes you have to do escort missions. All of these should be able to alleviate the repetition but they don't. You don't really have to use different strategies againts different enemies.
Wanted to beat Slave Zero regardless of the repetition. I liked the world of the game that much. However, later on the game throws so little amount of health but a bunch of tanky enemies with lasers that melt you. At that point it became not just boring but frustrating. I would start over on a lower difficulty but I really don't feel like experiencing the tedioum of this game again.
While I must agree that the style and world of Slave Zero is amazing. Very much feels like a cool 80/90s anime. I really want to love this game. However, the gameplay really is just average. The combat quickly becomes repetitive. New enemies get introduced, you upgrade your guns and sometimes you have to do escort missions. All of these should be able to alleviate the repetition but they don't. You don't really have to use different strategies againts different enemies.
Wanted to beat Slave Zero regardless of the repetition. I liked the world of the game that much. However, later on the game throws so little amount of health but a bunch of tanky enemies with lasers that melt you. At that point it became not just boring but frustrating. I would start over on a lower difficulty but I really don't feel like experiencing the tedioum of this game again.
This game has badass art design and music as well as generally solid-if-simple gameplay, but it has some really weird collision issues throughout and a very questionably designed endgame. That endgame itself is very rough to experience because the game keeps crashing during the last level; the only real way to beat it is to just rush past all the enemies and hope it doesn't die on the way, and even then it still does it during the final boss. Not really sure if I'd recommend it based on that alone, because the frustration it caused me nearly drove me to just look up the ending on the internet.
Interesting ideas in this game. Was dark and gritty, felt like something I shouldn't have had as a kid lol. I remember liking it up until the last boss at which point the game decides it hates you.