Many games can get away with slightly sketchy performance if the gameplay experience is a bit more laidback and relaxed (or ‘cinematic’, if you like). Others, however, like Slave Zero X, which focus on blistering combat and stylish visuals, can be almost impossible to recommend if their performance isn’t up to scratch. Sadly, this is exactly the case with publisher Ziggurat Interactive’s retro action game, which honestly has the potential to be one of the most respectable hack 'n' slash/beat ‘em ups in recent memory, but for now, squanders this on Switch with a dreadful frame rate.
This is genuinely frustrating because the core gameplay is exceptional - truly. And for a short period as we worked our way through the game’s opening level, we thought to ourselves, “Good lord, this is great!” Unfortunately, while the introductory level boasts reasonably stable performance to complement the non-stop action, the frame rate tanks after you beat the first boss and move onto the second stage. It got so bad that we had to swallow our pride and eventually call it quits before the end, defeated by the poor optimisation on Nintendo’s console. The publisher says there's a patch on the way which should alleviate this, but the game came out nearly two weeks ago at the time of writing, and the damage is done.
But let’s talk about the positives first, shall we? Slave Zero X is a prequel to the 1999 Dreamcast third-person shooter Slave Zero (which, incidentally, was published by the recently revived Infogrames label) and shifts the action onto a 2.5D plane while trading in guns for a samurai sword. The story sees you take control of Shou, who merges with a stolen Slave Unit Prototype and thus becomes a near-unstoppable killing machine intent on getting revenge on its creators. Both Shou and the Slave Unit are fully voiced, so there’s some nice back-and-forth dialogue during gameplay and cutscenes. Obviously, you’re not here for the plot, though, and the game does a great job at ensuring you’re not pulled away from the action for too long.
This is a traditional hack ‘n’ slash in where the aim of the game is to learn specific combos by combining light and heavy attacks to survive. Its gameplay is exceptionally methodical, so there’ll be no button mashing here, folks; it’ll get you nowhere. You can use both attacks in conjunction with directional presses to unleash different moves, and you can also sprint, jump, and duck to mix up your offensive strategy. We will say, however, that jumping doesn’t feel all that great; indeed, whenever the Slave Unit isn’t swinging its sword, it’s not the most agile character in the world, so jumping up ledges or over gaps feels a bit more cumbersome than it should.
When you’re in the midst of a fight, however (and the frame rate is behaving), Slave Zero X feels wonderful. There’s a bit of a steep learning curve at first with the combat mechanics, but once you get into a bit of a groove and accumulate longer combos, you start to really appreciate the work that’s gone into the gameplay. As you progress further, the enemies become more and more numerous to the point where you might be up against four basic soldiers, four heavy enemies, and three airborne drones all in one go. To be honest, this is probably one of the main reasons why the frame rate struggles to maintain consistency, and it also feels somewhat antithetical to the methodical gameplay mechanics.
Slave Zero X really feels at its best when you’re up against one or two (maybe three) enemies in one go. It allows you to slow down a bit and figure out the optimal way to dispatch foes while providing ample opportunity to parry incoming attacks or dodge out of the way. It’s when you get a dozen or so enemies in one go that it can start to feel overwhelming, but thankfully the game does provide a couple of additional tricks to help you manage the crowd.
By clicking the left analogue stick, you can send out a quick pulse which sends all surrounding enemies flying backwards, allowing you to regain your footing. Meanwhile, pressing 'R' enhances the Slave Unit’s attack power, which makes larger enemies feel a bit less ‘spongy’ than usual, resulting in quicker, more satisfyingly gory deaths.
We should also note that Slave Zero X looks gorgeous. Developer Poppy Works utilises incredibly detailed 2D sprites in conjunction with 3D rendered environments, and visually, it works well. There will be multiple points in each level where you’ll turn a corner, allowing the camera to pan around the environment to give a real good peek at the background. Again, however, this probably doesn’t help the frame rate on Switch, and the combination of multiple characters on screen with a rather busy, animated background is a match made in hell for performance.
We hate to bang on about this so much, but Slave Zero X follows in the footsteps of Konami’s Contra: Operation Galuga in that it’s a genuinely great game… just not on Switch. Both titles rely heavily on split-second reactions, and when the performance isn’t up to snuff, it makes the experience way more difficult and frustrating than the designers intended. Slave Zero X was already delayed on the Switch, but honestly, we would have been happy to wait longer.
Conclusion
Slave Zero X is an incredibly frustrating release, because it could have so easily been a slam dunk. It's a great game — it really is — with stylish combat mechanics, beautiful 2D sprites combined with 3D environments, and an awesome, cyberpunk-esque storyline. Unfortunately, though patches may eventually turn this lump of coal into a diamond, the game as it stands is a hot mess on Switch, with a wildly inconsistent frame rate that makes the complex, methodical gameplay feel like a chore to play.
Comments 33
That’s a bummer about the state of the Switch release. But this seems like something i would enjoy and will be checking out the pc version, while keeping an eye out for patches on the Switch.
Anyways, thanks to Ollie for spotlighting this!
Almost pre-ordered the physical copy. Glad I waited. I guess I could play it elsewhere, but really wanted it on Switch. Guess I will have to wait and see....
Someone be sure to post here if patches go through to fix these things! I want this, but in the words of whatshername in The Matrix, not like this.
How a game like this can struggle on Switch?... We have awesome looking and perfectly performing 2D fighting games on Switch (excluding BBTAG... Well, BBTAG is bs, anyway.)...
@canaryfarmer Trinity?
It's crazy how some games that outwardly look much better than this one (BoTW, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom for example) play so much better than this game, which can in theory get away with so many fewer polygons and lower-res textures.
@Vyacheslav333 No, it was one of the people who first meet up with Neo...had to look it up, her name is Switch!
Huh, in my time playing I haven't experienced any major frame rate issues, I'm only on stage 3-2 though. I do agree the jumping is pretty clunky, there's a couple platforming sections that felt poorly thought out.
My other gripe is the difficulty. I'm no stranger to action games such as this, but this game is really tough, and the checkpoints are rather spaced out, meaning you'll have to fight through large sections again if you die. Maybe they're going for an old school design mentality, but some kind of easy mode would've been appreciated so I can better come to grips with the combat system. Even Strider 2 which this game draws a lot of inspiration from allows you to adjust the difficulty.
Anyway, still enjoying the game for the most part so far.
Welp tossing into the “wait on patches” pile.
@OldManHermit Helpful info, my friend! I am curious if i will find this challenge too frustrating. I am going to wait for a sale, as i have enough to do as it is.
P.S.Haven’t watched AoPrecinct 13 yet, hoping to get to it this weekend, i’ll let you know when i do!
what a damn shame. Id put the cover art in my top 10 ever so I really wanted the physical. guess I'll go w pc, plus it saved where I left off in the demo Im assuming.
I can play Overwatch online with 10 people flinging around colorful lights all over the place but a mostly 2d sprite game drops frames horribly?
Yep that's just pure lazyness on the devs and putting low priority on Switch. Which means they don't deserve my money.
@canaryfarmer Oh, lol, okay.
@canaryfarmer Absolutely. I'm really hoping I can recommend this one eventually. We've got our eyes peeled for the eventual patch.
I very nearly pre-ordered the physical version…….it’s always nice to know that you dodged a bullet 🤣
Unfortunately, the developers decided to use Game Maker (a 2D game engine) for Slave Zero X, as that was the application their lead dev was most familiar with, instead of using something more suited to this style of game like Unity or Unreal.
That's likely why there are performance issues. It's the same on PC, the Steam Deck, for example, struggles to hold 60 FPS at certain points in the game, even with the max power settings. It's kind of unacceptable for a largely 2D game with 3D backgrounds.
They designed their own 3D methods to use in Game Maker, but it isn't optimized for it, and Game Maker also can only support 1 thread, so it doesn't make use of multiple CPU cores/threads, so it's hard to say which is the issue on the Switch.
Time for another leisurely browse through the comments section to see complaints on how this is totally the Switch's fault for being an aging device and definitely not the developers' lack of pre-release optimization despite knowing full well the capabilities of the hardware they'll be releasing their game in.
That’s a long list of pros and a short list of cons for such a low score 🤷♂️
Can anyone tell if patches can save this? I mean, it's still the same game engine, the switch, and lots of enemies on the screen.
@PinderSchloss Not every pro or con is equal. Something can easily have a lot good going for it but be completely wrecked by one thing that's bad enough.
And here we go again. It's the curse of the Switch's final years releases, that is becoming more and more evident with each month. Bad releases, or old, outdated hardware? I believe it's a bit of both, but this is becoming a mainstay.
@Pillowpants The Switch was old when it released. It could never hope to keep up.
Imagine a world where Nintendo quits making gimmick consoles, focuses on software and releases Tears of the Kingdom on PS5 🤩
@PinderSchloss While I agree that a focus on software would be great, I think Nintendo is too large an innovator to not keep making consoles. Thanks to them millions of people were introduced to gaming, thanks to the Wii and their handhelds.
And while I happily admit that their hardware is always outdated when they release it compared to PC and PlayStation (of which the latter is also already somewhat outdated when it releases), I think Nintendo does offer gaming for the masses at more affordable prices than Sony and Microsoft do. And that means sacrificing sheer (graphical) power.
On the other hand, it is often said that restriction forces people to become more creative and I see more games on Switch that are a result of working wonders with the restrictions than any other platform. So, while it would be awesome to see Tears of the Kingdom on PS5, I know it is extremely unlikely to happen. Especially given the enormous success of the Switch. But let's hope for a more powerful handheld/console hybrid as the successor to the Switch!
@rainbowtick Cool post, bro.
If we’re talking about ‘trash’ developers or publishers I think we should take a quick glance at the eshop and those titles that release and rerelease at 90% discounts week in week out.
The game in question here is a passion project made with comparatively tiny resources and a handful of people. It’s also been made with technical limitations of both Switch and the software it was developed on. Can’t believe that people have pitted it against Overwatch in here.
Luckily I always wait for indie games that come from PC to Switch before I buy. Its always a hit or miss and this looks to be a miss but I plan to pick up the PC version so no biggie
Waiting for patches to significantly improve the performance then since for now I'd be able to play this exclusively on Switch, thanks for the review!
It is kind of funny how Nintendo Life will wait for like a month for the baseball game on switch but then they trash this one real fast.
Having said that, it's really sad that developers don't polish their game before release! Even if they do clean up the game, and the performance, they still have screwed the pooch and will have many bad reviews.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Games of this calibre were running perfectly fine on Switch back in 2017 and 2018. The only explanation for performance like this is laziness and a lack of care.
@Xeno_Aura Hmm... Okay. But, GameMaker Studio is better than Unity. Unity sucks. On every platform. What's about Unreal Engine, though... On Nintendo Switch, Unreal Engine games sucks. Unreal Engine games on Switch can be too much blurry.
@Vyacheslav333 Game Maker Studio is designed for 2D games, however. So doing a 3D game in Game Maker just isn't a great idea, the graphics pipeline isn't designed to handle 3D which is why it runs slowly.
Unity from a technical standpoint is much better for a 3D game, from an ethical standpoint, maybe not so much.
Unreal Engine games can be blurry, but that's usually developers using a low resolution to make the game run on Switch and then applying something like TAA, which won't work well with low resolutions and framerates. Unreal Engine games can look fine on the Switch, but a lot are blurry because they're trying to run very high-end games on a very low-end system. As Slave Zero X isn't a high-end game, using Unreal Engine 4 for it, for example, should have been perfectly fine on the Switch.
Even Nintendo use Unreal Engine for their games on the Switch now.
@Xeno_Aura Oh, I understood. Thanks for the explanation.
@N64-ROX "I've said it before and I'll say it again. Games of this calibre were running perfectly fine on Switch back in 2017 and 2018. The only explanation for performance like this is laziness and a lack of care." Or maybe that Nintendo should updating their old as dirt hardware and give gamers better? Otherwise, you'd end with another Wii U; a console with very few third-party games.
@PinderSchloss Yeah, that's another reason I hate Nintendo sheep like NL. And why I don't negotiate with sheep. It's beyond fanboyism.
@cpmh1234 "It's crazy how some games that outwardly look much better than this one (BoTW, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom for example) play so much better than this game, which can in theory get away with so many fewer polygons and lower-res textures." Let me stop you right there. BotW does not look amazing. It looks old, especially TotK and that's one of the biggest reasons I think Nintendo really is scraping the bottom of the barrel and really needs to release the Switch 2 NOW.
"Imagine a world where Nintendo quits making gimmick consoles, focuses on software and releases Tears of the Kingdom on PS5."
@PinderSchloss That would be the dream. Oh, and for Nintendo to stop C&D fans who are showing labors of love only to be middle lingered by Nintendo.
@twowingedangel,
So games like this were running fine on the Switch in 2017 & 2018, so it must be developers not putting the care and attention into this port, but then you suggest Nintendo should update their hardware, even though you clearly stated this was not the issue in the first place.
Not sure your comment makes much sense.
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