Weapons/Enemies

Big weapons

The "Slave" mech that you pilot comes armed with a shoulder mounted missile launcher, and two different types of guns - ballistic weapons, and energy weapons. You're allowed to carry only one type of each weapon, and every time you come across a better one, you'll be automatically upgraded. It's classic console style, very simple, very easy to understand. Missiles are always accessible through your shoulder launcher, but you have to switch back and forth between the ballistic and energy weapons since they come in the form of huge rifles that your mecha holds in its arms. Whichever gun you're not using is slung over your shoulder.

Another one bites the dust

Grab that car

Spitting slugs, lasers, etc.

The ballistic weapons in Slave Zero are rather boring. You start with a machine gun, upgrade to a machine gun that shoots faster, then a cannon that shoots even quicker, until finally you get the mortar style cannon that lobs grenades in a low, lazy arc. The energy weapons are marginally more interesting. The initial one shoots a simple ball of plasma, while the next upgrade is like a shotgun, allowing you to fire a spread of seven shots. The next two energy weapons were borrowed straight out of Quake: a rail gun and a lightning gun type weapon that fires a long shaft of highly damaging energy (my favorite weapon in the game). The final energy weapon is the game's ultimate one - it shoots a slow, lazy ball of energy that explodes into a massive nova when it hits a target. Anything caught in the blast radius usually dies or at least takes massive damage.

Car is in hand (see headlights?)

Missile away

Rockets

The initial rocket type is an unguided, straight shot. Slave Zero's first rocket upgrade gives you guided missiles. Set your crosshairs on an enemy for about a second and you'll get a lock on. The guided missiles are useful for firing around corners and from protected areas. Next up is a spread type rocket that fragments into several warheads after a certain distance. The last rocket is a single shot, but ultra high speed, guided, and very damaging.

Railshot from below

Railing the spikers

The baddies

Most of the enemies you face in the game have no chance. Tanks, helicopters, and jets will all fly at you, but it only takes one shot to kill them. Sentinel style mecha provide a tougher challenge. They're smaller than your Slave class mech but are agile (they'll roll out of harm's way), and often just as well armed as you are. Some can even fly so you'll have to watch overhead. Speaking of overhead, the spider mechs can climb on ceilings and walls as they spray bullets at you. You'll even face off with the occasional Slave class mech as level bosses. What's most annoying are the Sentinel bots that use shields. You'll often find these guarding narrow corridors as they cower and snipe from behind their bullet deflecting shields. The only recourse is to try to hit them as they peer around the shield or just go brute force and waste a lot of ammo on breaking their shield.