The sound of Slave Zero is pretty good but not stunning. The technology is all there: It supports A3D and EAX, and we were delighted to find that it supported four-channel sound on our Guillemot FORTISSIMO sound card. The sound effects vary widely throughout the game. Early on, when you have weaker weapons, the sounds are weak. As you get more and more powerful weapons as well as more interesting enemies to use them on, sounds get more involving and heavy-hitting. We wish they could have done the earlier weapon sounds better. The music is, sadly, your bog standard techno 303/808 synth stuff. It takes nothing away, but something with more grit, with a more metal edge, would have served the game better.
In the end, Slave Zero is an excellent shooter that manages to maintain our interest much more than other shooters tend to. It has excellent graphics, snappy controls, and fun play. Its main flaw is that it's just not long enough and things end far too quickly. As flaws go, that's one to be envied. If you're looking for a fast-paced third-person shooter, Slave Zero is the best one on the market today.
Jon Simon
Assistant Editor