Slave Zero X is, with no hyperbole, one of the sickest games I've played in years.
Gorgeous spritework, on top of badass 3d environments, with a kickass soundtrack, and some of the most visually stunning character portraits I have ever seen.
And the game is fun to play too, which is nice.
Shou feels great to control, large combo strings are relatively easy to pull off, and the sheer amount of stuff you can do is crazy
Grounded combo, into launcher, into an air combo, into a mid air grab that causes splash damage when you land it
There's a taunt that can be used as a launcher, a taunt that can be used for pushing enemies away from you, a divekick, three different grenade types, a shuriken, a super meter, and a burst that can refill your super meter. And that's only scratching the surface really.
Even after you beat the game there's more to do, because after you finish, you unlock a (seemingly) endless mode, where round by round more and more enemies spawn in, leading to boss rematches.
I say seemingly, because I didn't make it that far! Only to the round after the first boss rematch. Also the announcer in this mode makes little fighting game references by saying stuff like "Live and let die!" And "Can't escape from crossing fate!" So that's kinda cute.
But with the good, there has to be some bad, and unfortunately there is a a bit of bad.
Too many sprites on the screen at once cause the game to lag
A lot
In the later stages you could see anywhere from 10 to maybe even 20 enemies on the screen at once, some of which have projectiles and other flashy effects like flaming swords and it can get to be a bit excessive.
While the game overall feels fairly balanced in terms of challenge, it also at times feels a bit unfair in its difficulty. This is less a criticism with the game, and more just me complaining about how I'm bad at it.
Enemies can easily combo you into the attacks of other enemies. For example, an enemy can stun lock you with an assault rifle, which gives another guy the opportunity to smash your skull in with a hammer, which gives another guy the chance to charge tackle you into the wall. It's just a bit much sometimes. But again, I'm bad! This might not be a problem for you, especially if you're good at nailing down the parry mechanic.
The game is, incredibly unfortunately, riddled with bugs. Bugs which, a lot of the time, cause the game to crash. It crashes so much, to the point where I took a two month long break from the game while I waited for a patch. And after the patch I experienced more crashes than I originally had back in February. At the time of writing this (April 15, 2024) there is not a second patch out, but one is rapidly being worked on by the dev team, and will be out the door as soon as possible. And I'm really happy about that, it shows that the team cares a lot. They're very clearly passionate about this project.
I experienced the crashes while playing on PS4
Maybe the other versions of this game aren't as bad, I have no idea.
I cannot, in good faith, give Slave Zero X a full recommendation. Not in it's current state. Give ithe team some time to patch out the bugs, and yes, I think SZX will be fully worth buying and playing all the way through. As it stands right now though, I say wait. It's a fantastic game, truly a masterclass in its genre, and a Game of the Year contender for me. It's something that will stick with me for a long time, and something I want other people to experience, but not in it's current state.
I give Slave Zero X an 8/10
Game is actually a 10/10 though, it's so fucking cool dude, my God.
Gorgeous spritework, on top of badass 3d environments, with a kickass soundtrack, and some of the most visually stunning character portraits I have ever seen.
And the game is fun to play too, which is nice.
Shou feels great to control, large combo strings are relatively easy to pull off, and the sheer amount of stuff you can do is crazy
Grounded combo, into launcher, into an air combo, into a mid air grab that causes splash damage when you land it
There's a taunt that can be used as a launcher, a taunt that can be used for pushing enemies away from you, a divekick, three different grenade types, a shuriken, a super meter, and a burst that can refill your super meter. And that's only scratching the surface really.
Even after you beat the game there's more to do, because after you finish, you unlock a (seemingly) endless mode, where round by round more and more enemies spawn in, leading to boss rematches.
I say seemingly, because I didn't make it that far! Only to the round after the first boss rematch. Also the announcer in this mode makes little fighting game references by saying stuff like "Live and let die!" And "Can't escape from crossing fate!" So that's kinda cute.
But with the good, there has to be some bad, and unfortunately there is a a bit of bad.
Too many sprites on the screen at once cause the game to lag
A lot
In the later stages you could see anywhere from 10 to maybe even 20 enemies on the screen at once, some of which have projectiles and other flashy effects like flaming swords and it can get to be a bit excessive.
While the game overall feels fairly balanced in terms of challenge, it also at times feels a bit unfair in its difficulty. This is less a criticism with the game, and more just me complaining about how I'm bad at it.
Enemies can easily combo you into the attacks of other enemies. For example, an enemy can stun lock you with an assault rifle, which gives another guy the opportunity to smash your skull in with a hammer, which gives another guy the chance to charge tackle you into the wall. It's just a bit much sometimes. But again, I'm bad! This might not be a problem for you, especially if you're good at nailing down the parry mechanic.
The game is, incredibly unfortunately, riddled with bugs. Bugs which, a lot of the time, cause the game to crash. It crashes so much, to the point where I took a two month long break from the game while I waited for a patch. And after the patch I experienced more crashes than I originally had back in February. At the time of writing this (April 15, 2024) there is not a second patch out, but one is rapidly being worked on by the dev team, and will be out the door as soon as possible. And I'm really happy about that, it shows that the team cares a lot. They're very clearly passionate about this project.
I experienced the crashes while playing on PS4
Maybe the other versions of this game aren't as bad, I have no idea.
I cannot, in good faith, give Slave Zero X a full recommendation. Not in it's current state. Give ithe team some time to patch out the bugs, and yes, I think SZX will be fully worth buying and playing all the way through. As it stands right now though, I say wait. It's a fantastic game, truly a masterclass in its genre, and a Game of the Year contender for me. It's something that will stick with me for a long time, and something I want other people to experience, but not in it's current state.
I give Slave Zero X an 8/10
Game is actually a 10/10 though, it's so fucking cool dude, my God.