The scene opens on Neo-earth. It is far, far in the future, and the world has turned into a megalopolis of immense proportion. Mega-city, a massive urban jungle, is overrun with crime and oppression. You are Slave Zero, a towering hunk of machine, bent on righting the world and destroying anything that gets in your way. A huge arsenal of rockets, lasers, and thermonuclear devices will help you along the way. Sweet.

Right from the get-go, Slave Zero flexes its graphical muscle in a big way. Heavy on variety, Slave Zero’s textures are a mix of urban and oriental designs. All the models in Slave Zero have a distinct imposing character that conveys a sense of power and size. The city levels themselves are immense, sprawling out in a maze of web-like streets and underground passages. Cars and helicopters buzz by your hull as you stomp down avenues and over low buildings. Thirteen weapons, ranging from sniper rifles to all out doomsday guns, each have their own energy discharges and accompanying effects.

The background music and ambient sound effects are all done well. Minimal but noticeable, these sounds add to the hyper-tech futuristic atmosphere of the game. However, the weapon discharges, massive explosions and other ‘booms’ and ‘kerplows’ could have been improved with regards to selling the size and power of the sound effects. Wrecking a 60-foot sentential into a skyscraper with a charged ion cannon is going to cause quite a ruckus. Let us see some windows break, some cars get thrown around, and other mayhem. These guys are huge, and they should cause some serious damage to the objects in hearing distance of them. Potential. That’s what my sixth grade English teacher said I had. That’s what Slave Zero has. Plenty of potential, little follow through. And as with my third place finish in the sixth-grade spelling bee, Slave Zero ends up with little to show for any efforts it’s made. Impressive graphics, an ambitious storyline and a pulsing urban setting are all makings of what could be a superb third-person action shooter. However, once you get past these initial aspects of the game there are few other astonishing goodies.

I usually refrain from going into detail describing the plot, and this time will be no exception. However, I assure you that the story is interesting. So interesting, in fact, I wish developers had done more to integrate it into the story. Not surprisingly, the gameplay only marginally develops its neo-futuristic plot. Much like its shoot-em-up predecessors, Slave Zero fails to provide any form of character development or interaction. Unless of course, you count blowing shit up. An all too short, all too unimaginative series of fifteen levels are over before you warm up your trigger finger.

So what now, you ask. You have passed the game in under an hour with just the default gun, shot down every building and thrown around every car. What to do now? Well, there’s always multiplayer. Call some friends, get a server and go at it, deathmatch style. Oh wait, silly rabbit, multiplayer has yet too be implemented. They promise an upgrade soon. If I am paying full price for a game, I want the full game. End of story. If publishers are going to continue to buttfuck consumers with incomplete, buggy, half-assed products maybe we should rethink the way that games are purchased

Slave Zero has some of the features that are needed to be recognized in this heavily saturated genre of PC gaming. Distinct graphics, variety of weapons and enemies and a futuristic urban anime-stylized setting provide the core of where Slave Zero goes right. Lack of plot development, no multiplay features and poor replay really hurt an otherwise worthy competitor.