Slave Zero X

Guilty may gaiden: third strike

It's beautiful, but ultimately unrewarding. Finishing out later sections feels more like a game of chance than of skill. Smaller groups of enemies and Lieutenant fights are fantastic, frantic and fluid which makes the last few sections of the game so bitterly disappointing. "Well I can't block both a super ability and bullets from both sides, guess I only juggled them 5 times instead of 6 - looks like I'll be restarting this section again" and "Great another super armor hammer guy is here and there's grenades coming from off screen" wiped away any sense of fun. While I appreciate a challenge, Slave Zero X goes well beyond that into purely slog territory. It feels like a game out to eat my time and quarters in the worst possible way. Fundamentally the aesthetics are so incredible it almost makes the game worth playing, but without them no one would give this a second glance.

It's a fairly classic arcade experience with real difficulty that's more interesting than enemies being sponges or some form of assist mode. You have to play this game on IT'S terms, and I like that. Stun locks are irritating, but it often feels like your own fault getting into those situations. Defense is at a very very difficult parry, or what you usually should do, use your movement. Keeping enemies under control is so important and a huge part of the fun. The visuals scream so much style. Often it feels like an arcade cabinet would elevate this game further. Admittedly some places its impossible to see (intentionally) but still, it can be irritating to some. I can recommend this game if you want something short and sharp in its design.

Beat it, ehhhh.... Really not a bad game but for sure could do with some improvements. I'll list my main gripes: 1. Fatal Sync is OP: I really love that they threw meter management into this game and any Guilty Gear or BlazBlue player will feel right at home with it (you can even RC drift, like wow that's some dedication). The problem is Fatal Sync is WAAAAAAAAAAY too good to ever justify using meter. Why continue a combo when you can get infinite meter and health regeneration for the cost of a full bar and burst? Any good character action game needs to have a DT but if you're playing optimally (which isn't too hard) you'll never be meter starved and can essentially loop FS into itself since you don't build burst by taking damage 2. No default stick mapping: This one wasn't too hard to remedy but for a game that takes so much inspiration from arcades and FGs the lack of a included fight stick mapping is odd, I feel like the jump button could have been replaced with an UP input as we...

I want to start by saying I don't hate or heavily dislike this game. This is one of the few cases where I would like to have a neutral rating on steam. I love the artstyle, animations, setting, and overall gameplay functionality. The game absolutely sounds and looks great for the style that it's going for. The gameplay makes my brain fuzzy due to the free form combat with animation cancels and bursts, giving the player a huge pool of combos to work with if they would like to indulge in that. However, that's about it for what I have to say that I love about it. It's hard for me to recommend this game because it doesn't really know what it wants to be. There's a standard beatemup feel to it while being wrapped in a fighting game blanket. What's left is a clunky and somewhat bug riddled mess. The bugs aren't inherently the worst I've seen. I've had to restart a few levels due to being knocked out of the map, which isn't too big of a deal. It makes me sad because I really wanted to li...