Slave Zero

by Sega

Product Features

• Variety of interactive features; huge mission-based levels; powerful and unique bosses; detailed robot designs and clear graphics

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001ZT53
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 16, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,636 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

In Slave Zero, players control a gigantic mechanized man who trounces through hyperurban landscapes, destroying everything in sight. Notches on Mr. Zero's belt include motorists, helicopters, tanks, pedestrians, and an assortment of robots his own size.

Slave Zero does a great job of communicating the difference in scale between the main character and the comparatively tiny people, vehicles, and buildings that populate the city. However, the controls are very complicated, utilizing every button on the Dreamcast controller (including the stick and D-pad separately), as well as combinations of buttons for additional control, such as picking up and hurling cars. Screams and exclamations from innocent bystanders seem unusually loud, and the complete absence of in-game music exacerbates the already slow pace of the game. Still, some scenes are stellar, and worth wading through the mediocre spots in between. --Jeff Young

Pros:

• Sci-fi noir-style graphics
• Highly interactive environments
• Exciting main character

Cons:

• Slow pace
• Choppy animation
• Difficult control scheme

GameSpot Review

In Infogrames' Slave Zero for the Dreamcast, you're a young rebel who has fused himself with the prototype unit of a giant bio-mechanical robot army that the evil dictator SovKhan plans to use to enslave the world. In typical giant robot fashion, you're soon stomping through a huge city, destroying buildings, smashing cars, and - when you finally stop playing with the environment and remember what you're there for - take on the forces of SovKhan. In many ways, Slave Zero is a 3D version of classic 2D shooters like the first few Contra titles, though it starts off much easier than those games and never quite peaks as highly as they did. Timing is everything, between avoiding shots, firing back, and navigating the terrain all while moving your machine robot around using a third-person perspective. Your Slave unit is equipped with three different types of weapons (a rifle, an energy weapon, and a missile launcher), all of which can be upgraded by wonderfully lethal leaps and bounds. These upgrades are responsible for much of the game's charisma. For example, the energy weapon turns from a single shot to a cluster shot that will melt the environment from the point of impact, wiping out a corner of a wall or a strip of floor in a gorgeous display of destruction. And the final incarnation of your rifle, a gigantic rocket launcher that almost dwarfs your robot, is a wonder to behold – and one that causes severe property damage. These weapons save the main chunks of each level, which do get a bit dull and repetitious. Another positive element of Slave Zero is the boss fights. While the first few bosses can be defeated simply by strafing continually and firing until they're destroyed, the ones that follow offer a nice challenge and are fun fight. In one, you confront a flying Slave unit with a snake-like lower body while hopping around on a few building rooftops. The creature splits in two and the components bob in and out of the screen firing at you. When and if they fuse back together, the creature will destroy the building you're standing on. If you can't wipe them both out within the four buildings provided, you're toast. In another fight, you have to annihilate a different Slave model before the room you're in fills with acidic green water. In both, the timing is set to be enormously demanding, but not impossible. The only frustrating detail in these encounters is that if you die, you respawn a few fights back instead right before the main boss battle, but it's not too rough. The graphics in Slave Zero are sharp, with crisp visuals, impressive explosion and weapon effects, and a complete lack of pop-up. The robots and levels are very well-designed, the lighting helps create a dark, oppressive atmosphere, and the sound effects work to support the visuals, though don't quite match or exceed them. The multiplayer Deathmatch mode is the best the Dreamcast has seen to date, with some slow-down not withstanding.. The view shifts from third-person into first-person making for a two- to four-player deathmatch. There are ten multiplayer-specific levels, which vary greatly in design and offer all the noteworthy weapon upgrades that require the duration of the single player game to acquire. While computer-controlled bot opponents aren't available, it's hard to tell which weapon you're using (and, more importantly, if you're out of ammo), and it lacks the depth of, say, GoldenEye 007 on the N64, the multiplayer battles will bring you back. Most of the levels are set up so that you can easily ambush an unwary opponent, which invariably leads to peals of nasty laughter among you and your friends. So bear with it. It starts slow, but Slave Zero builds into a pretty strong shooter that's worth checking out for its guns, bosses, and multiplayer mode. Hopefully Infogrames will produce a sequel that brings more variety to the single-player game, incorporates the Dreamcast's net play abilities, and expands the multiplayer matches even further.--Joe Fielder--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Game! Low Replayability., December 18, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Slave Zero (Video Game)

Slave Zero is a great game to play -- its voice-overs from controllers and an Obi-Wan like mentor, combined with interscene cuts, make it highly cinemographic in its gameplay quality.

In general, the graphics are incredible, with a keen eye for detail ... rocket launches leave translucent, smokey contrails ... bullets hitting walls and buildings take out chunks of the buildings in puffs of dust, leaving bulletholes ... buildings and bridges pancake and collapse when you take them out ... cars and pedestrians fly by you, and go up in fireballs as you shoot them ... or are crunched underfoot as you smash them ...

However, there are several places where the "panning" seems buggy, and you may find yourself staring point-blank at a wall until you physically move. In other places, you may seem "stuck" as half of your body has somehow gotten wedged in a wall. The choppy animations that others refer are only in the cutscenes ... strangely, they are in some instances much choppier than the gameplay itself. However, all of these drawbacks are only minor irritants, and do not affect the gameplay substantially.

The biggest drawback of the game is the low playability value. Your robot configuration is mainly fixed at the beginning (jump jets, autocannon, missle launcher), and as far as I have seen, your upgrades are in basically the same categories. Moreover, the gameplay is highly _linear_, and there are basically no branches in the plot. Once you finish this game, there will be very little reason to replay it, since the gameplay will be virtually identical the next time around.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Listen To These Reviews!, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Slave Zero (Video Game)

This is a fantastic game. I am baffled at the reviews people are giving this game! First of all, I honestly didn't notice there was no in- game music untill i read about it. If there was any in- game music, id turn it off. youre to busy listening to directions to care about music. (this game has great voice acting, btw.) the sound effets are great, from the sound of the robots footsteps to all the explosions. the missions are long, and there are 13 of them. the control scheme is perfect. This game isn't too hard or too easy. Its very well balanced. You'll be playing to the end to see all the awsome weapons you get. As for the frame rate, I don't think its bad at all. I was never distracted by a low frame rate. the frame rate stays at 60fps with 1 or 2 enemies on the screen, any more then 2 and it goes to 30fps. but 30 fps isnt bad! the only time it might go under 30fps if there was a ton of explosions at the same time, but that never happened to me. as for the pc version being better, i didnt feel like spending hundreds of dollars to upgrade my pc so it would run good. and just so you know, im not one of those people who thinks EVERY game is fantastic. i did play through this game entirely. i have no reason to give it a higher or lower score then it deserves. my advice is to buy it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is such a cool game!, December 2, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Slave Zero (Video Game)

I don't know what the problem is either with the really negative reviewers, but I've been following (and waiting for) this game for the past year+ and it's really good! I am very satisfied and look forward to playing through it a few more times.

The graphic style is dark and gritty and really stylistically cool, the main character Slave Zero is very well animated, as are the enemies and all the Slave Bosses, the city is like something out of Blade Runner or Judge Dredd, very realistic explosions and special effects, and it's cool watching all the cars and people swerve and run away from you. Plus, having all the buildings and bridges around you get destroyed while you're in a firefight with another giant robot is totally cool. The enemy robots dodge and swerve your attacks instead of just sitting there like most games.

The game controls just like you were playing Turok (or Quake), and ran just about as fast (I didn't notice any major choppiness... for those that claim the game gets down to 5 fps, i'd like to know how you got your machine to show that!).

The environmental sound effects are atmospheric and change from area to area... speaking of which, the game has a bunch of different areas as you move through the city and story so the art and enemies change also.

There are no other giant robot games out there like this one! Very unique, fast-paced action, fun!

I like the game. Recommended!