Slave Zero X Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Games that pitch themselves as challenging experiences are a common occurrence these days, and Slave Zero X is one of them. Within that challenge, though, there has to be balance and a way for players to overcome them, combining growing player skill with levelling up, better equipment and more. At times Slave Zero X walks that tightrope, but at other time it feels so grossly imbalanced that all sense of any fun trying to beat the challenge is taken out of it.

Slave Zero X is a hack and slash 2.5D side-scroller set in a post apocalyptic biopunk world where the USA is the American Empire, led by the SovKhan and his Calamities. Kitted out in a sentient Slave suit named X, Shou is a Guardian who’s undertaken the mission to take down the SovKhan and exact his own vengeance on the world. The world of Slave Zero X itself has a very dark and sombre atmosphere with a retro 3D look to the background graphics, while the environments are crumbling in the earlier sections, but getting more opulent the closer you get to the SovKhan.

Enemies are colour coded and rank from weak melee soldiers that you can kill in one hit to heavy guards, and creatures that are the epitome of body horror. While the designs are different between soldiers and creatures, some have similar attacks to each other to attack Shou with. Shou and X have their own powers in return. Armed with a sword, they can attack fairly quickly in close quarters, but also have limited grenades to do some range damage. They also have a blast ability to push enemies away to get some space, as well as a focus ability that lasts for a while and gives more power to attacks.

The duration of the focus ability, the speed at which ability bars, refill, your health, and grenade carrying capacity can all be upgraded using in game dollars, awarded on performance. However, the amount awarded seems paltry the further into the game you get, and you really will want to have as many of the upgrades as possible to survive the last few stages.