Y2K Game: Slave Zero

Slave Zero

This game was released right in the middle of the Y2K era: 1999. Naturally, the art direction totally matches the era. It's got the green, black, and steel grey aesthetics that belong in the most Y2K movie ever: The Matrix. It's also got emphasis on distant technologies. In this case, it's about growing massive cyborg mechs out of oversized embryos. It goes into vague detail about how this process is acheived using dark matter compounds. It's not particularly important. What is important is how the game plays and it plays fine; repetitive, but fine.

Generic Fun

This game is about as generic as you could possibly get. It's also quite repetitive. It also happens to be quite a bit of fun. You are Chan, a member of the Guardians. You are in control of a giant biomech on a quest to take down the tyrannical SovKhan and free humanity from his quest for global domination. You will have to destroy SovKhan's own mechs as well as the embryos used to develop them. You will eventually face off against the tyrant himself in a head-to-head battle to determine the fate of the globe. That story is not particularly original, but it does provide enough motivation to blow things up. That is exactly what you will be doing throughout each of the game's levels which is actually quite amusing. The levels themselves are repetitive. There is no change in the dark, futuristic, and dystopian city scenery. The bad guys don't vary much, either. It's typically the same set of rival mechs, choppers, tanks, destructible buildings, and hapless pedestrians placed throughout. Playing this game will not let you boast to your friends about your refined video game taste.

Mindless Action

This game will provide a few good hours of mindless action. If you're a fan of the described future-dystopia aesthetic or big mechs and destruction, and are not at all concerned about deep gameplay or epic storytelling, this game is for you. I personally enjoyed it. I did complete on PC, but there is a Dreamcast version of it that I own. I did play through the first level on Dreamcast and I must say that the controls didn't age well. It's the same problem I complained about before: the controller has only one analog stick. They did conduct a clever workaround, though. The analog stick controls vision while the face buttons control movement. It works, but it just doesn't compare to dual analog sticks. And it definitely pales in comparison against mouse and keyboard. Also, they completely removed the techno-rock music! That reason alone is enough to skip the Dreamcast version and only play the PC version. Only play the Dreamcast version if you're curious. The PC version is mindless fun. It's repetitive, but I recommend it if you're into this sort of thing.