The SovKhan rules the First Corporate Dynasty with an iron first from the staggering vertical city, Megacity S1-9. A powerfully productive military/industrial complex, S1-9 spews mysterious and lethal pollutants into the surrounding countryside, creating a flood plain miles deep in stagnant toxic waste.
The Guardians, descendants of ancient clan of warrior priests known for their strength of mind and body, have sworn to destroy the unholy Megacity S1-9 and bring down the tyrannical SovKhan. Banished now to "the suck," the complex of sewage utility conduits, the Guardians have constructed a hidden installation that could provide a new base of attacks. But the fearless Guardians are no match for the SovKhan's evolving army of inhuman sentinels and giant, destructive slaves. The war machines are "grown" from a combination of cybernetic embryos, metal exoskeletons, and the mysterious neutronium (NTR95879) growth compound, Dark Matter. In twelve hours, the embryonic cyberslaves will complete their gestation cycles and emerge from the tanks combat ready -- thanks to the work of the mysterious Dark Matter.
What the Slaves lack is the strength and intelligence of the Guardian's will. What the Guardians lack is the scale and power of a giant robot. Most human minds are too weak to control a Slave, but the rigorous training practiced by the Guardians might prove the exception.
The Guardians have managed to steal one Slave unit, and have chosen their best-Chan-to try to pilot it, to achieve the perfect melding of man and machine. You are the last hope of the Guardians, and, perhaps, of Humanity. You must master the first of these combat monstrosities. You must become SLAVE ZERO(tm).
Installation
1 Microsoft Windows(r) 95 or Windows 98 is required to play Slave Zero.
2 Microsoft DirectX(tm) 7.0 or later is required. Slave Zero will offer you the chance to install the latest version of Direct X if it is not found on your computer.
3 Slave Zero requires 120 megabytes of hard disk space for a minimum installation or 225 megabytes of hard disk space for a recommended installation, which will also install all of the music files to your hard disk. If you don't do a recommended installation, you will need to keep the Slave Zero CD in your CD-ROM Drive if you want to hear music during your game.
4 Slave Zero is a 3-D accelerated game, and requires a 3-D Graphics Card to run.
5 Insert the Slave Zero CD into your CD-ROM drive.
6 If you have the Autorun feature enabled, follow the on-screen instructions for installation. If you do not have Autorun enabled, click on START, then click on RUN and type the following into the dialog box: "D:\AUTORUN" Click the OK Button. Replace 'D' with the appropriate letter for your CD-ROM drive. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Becoming One With The Machine
Controlling Your Slave
You can control Slave Zero via a Joystick or the Keyboard and Mouse. The default Keyboard and Mouse controls are listed on these two pages. While you can configure the controls to exclusively the keyboard, we highly recommend that you try the default controls. They will give you the maximum sensitivity and control.
Mouse Controls
Look Left: Move the mouse to the left.
Look Right: Move the mouse to the right.
Look Up: Move the mouse forward.
Look Down: Move the mouse back.
Fire Hand-Held Weapon: Left Mouse Button.
Fire Rocket Launcher: Right Mouse Button.
Keyboard Controls:
Move Forward: W
Move Backward: S
Strafe Left: A
Strafe Right: D
Jump: E (Most useful when combined with Forward, Backward, or Strafing movement.)
Pick Up Object Control
Throw Object: E
Change Hand Weapon: C
Stomp: F
Turn Left: Left Arrow
Turn Right: Right Arrow
Look Up: Up Arrow
Look Down: Down Arrow
Center Look: End
The Game Screen
Slave Zero's main screen contains some important information:
Slug Ammo: How many shots you have for your ballistic weapon.
Energy Cells: Ammo supply for your energy weapons.
Rockets: How may rockets you have left.
Health: Your state of health. If this reaches zero, your Slave is destroyed and you are dead.
Enemy Health: If you are fighting a notable enemy, a health bar will appear along the top of your screen. This shows the state of your enemy's health.
Game Menus
Navigate the game menus by using the Up and Down arrow keys or your mouse. Left-Click (or press Enter) to select an option, and hit Esc to move back to the previous menu.
Main Menu
The main menu appears when you start Slave Zero. From here, you'll control your game options and start a new game or load a previously saved game.
New Game
Start a new game by choosing this option. You will have your choice of setting the difficulty level at Easy, Medium or Hard. The harder the difficulty, the tougher the opposition. Click on Back to return to the Main Menu without starting a new game.
Load Game
You can load a previously saved game from here. Use your mouse to highlight the saved game you want to load, and then click on Load Game. You can also delete old saved gamed by highlighting them and then clicking. Back will return you to the Main Menu.
Options
You can set a variety of Audio, Video and Control options from this menu.
Audio
Controls how your game will sound. Here's a quick rundown on what you can change:
SFX Volume: This slider will raise or lower the special effects volume.
Music Volume: Adjust the volume of the background music.
Audio Mode: You can choose from four Audio Modes: No Audio (Turns all the sound off), SFX Only (Will only play special effects sounds), Music and SFX (Will play the full array of music, ambient, and special effects sounds) and Ambient and SFX (This options plays everything but the background music.)
Reverb Enable: Turns reverb on and off, if the audio hardware supports it.
Audio Hardware: Allows you to turn Audio Hardware Support on and off, if the audio hardware supports it.
Reinitialize Original Settings: Returns all audio settings to the factory defaults
Video
This menu controls how your game will look.
Video Mode: Tell Slave Zero which video card to use (if your computer has more than one card installed.)
Resolution: Cycles through all available resolutions. The higher the resolution, the more system resources it takes to run, so don't crank this up unless you have a fast machine and 3D card.
Gamma: Adjusts the gamma or brightness level.
Viewport Size: You can increase the performance on lower-end machines by reducing the Viewport Size.
True Color Textures: Turns the true color textures on and off
Clip Range: This allows you to change the clipping plane for the game. Clip range can be Near, Normal or Medium.
M.R.G.: This allows the user to change the Multiple Resolution Geometry on the models. This is set to off as the default. If you have a lower-end machine, you can turn this on for a slight performance increase.
Bump Mapping: Turns Bump Mapping on and off. This isn't selectable unless your 3D card supports it. Slave Zero supports both embossing and environmental Bump Mapping.
Shadows: This turns the shadow maps of the world on and off
MIP Mapping: Turns MIP Mapping on and off.
Wait For Vsync: This option syncs up the renderer with the monitor's refresh rate. Some 3D Cards might get better visuals with this option on. The default is to set it off, unless you are running at a resolution of higher than 1024x768.
Apply Changes: Applies your changes to Video Mode and resolution changes. All other video options are automatically adjusted when you make a change to them.
Restore Defaults: Returns all video settings to the factory defaults.
Controls
Invert Mouse Axis: Switch between On (Move the mouse UP to look down, move it DOWN to look up) and Off (Move the mouse UP to look up, move it DOWN to look down.)
Mouse Speed: This slider adjusts the sensitivity of the mouse movement.
Joystick X Axis: This slider adjusts the sensitivity of the joystick along the X axis.
Joystick Y Axis: As above, but on the Y axis
Analog Input: Switches between Mouse and Joystick control.
Force Feedback: Enables Force Feedback if the control device support it.
Crosshair: Toggles the aiming crosshair on and off.
First Person View: Switches the game between First Person (On) and Third Person (Off)
Weapon Pickup: You can chooe between: Only Upgrade (will only pick up a new weapon if it is better than the only you already have) and All Weapons (will automatically pick up any weapon you move over and replace the one you have, even if the weapon is worse than the one you already have.)
Configure Controls: This option takes you to the control configuration menu, where you can customize your layout. Each control can have two different keys or mouse control. Hit Return to select the option after you highlight it. A slash will appear; you can enter a second key by pressing the key you want to use. Hit Return again if you want to clear the current control key(s).
Restore Defaults: Restores the factory settings.
Quit
Quits the game.
In-Game Menus
When you access the menus during game play by pressing ESC, you'll find a few more options are available to you. They are:
Resume Game: Returns you to your game.
Restart Level: Restarts you game at the beginning of the current level. If you are on a multi-level mission, you will not start at the beginning of the mission, but at the beginning of whatever level you were on.
Save Game: Saves your current game. Highlight "New Save" and Left-Click on Save to save your game, or select a saved game file from the list and click on Save to overwrite it with your current position or Delete to delete the file. Back will return you to the previous menu.
Ammunition
You'll use a lot of ammo as you fight the SovKhan's forces. Each of your different types of weapons uses a different type of ammo. You'll need to stay loaded up on bullets, energy and rockets.
As you move through MegaCity S1-9, you'll find reloads scattered around. Just move over them; if you're low on that type of ammunition, Slave Zero will scoop it up. If you don't need it, it will stay on the ground for future use.
Health
Fighting the SovKhan's forces is harmful to your health. The more you fight, the more damage your Slave will sustain. It's unavoidable. Fortunately, it's not unrepairable. Health come in two sizes: small, which restore 20 health, and large, which restore 100 health. Move over them to use them, just like Ammunition Power-Ups.
Hints and Tips
Picking Up and Throwing Things
ò To pick up an object, stand close to it, and move your cursor over what you'd like to pick up. When the cursor turns red, press the Control key to pick up the object. To throw it, aim at something, and press Control again. You can pick up (and throw) people, cars, and building debris, such as steel girders. The girders make excellent clubs!
Destroying Buildings
ò Most of the smaller building and structures are destructible. Your cursor will turn red when you target a building that can be destroyed. Use your weapons, or move close and punch (Trigger R) the building to destroy it. Power-Ups are often hidden in buildings, so it pays to check each one.
Conserve Your Power-Ups
ò Don't squander your Ammunition and Health Power-Ups; try to get the maximum value from them. Don't move over a Slug Reload if you are only down a few bullets. Instead, wait until you are down 40 or 50 rounds, and then go back and get it. This is especially important for the health power-ups. Don't use a Large Health Power-Up until you are down 30 or more health. Otherwise you will waste most of its effect.
Slave Zero Weapons
Your Slave starts with a hand-held Avenger Cannon and a shoulder-mounted Shrieker Rocket Launcher. As you progress, you'll find other weapons systems. You can only carry one ballistic weapon, one energy weapon, and one missile launcher at any given time. Here's a look at some of what you might get your robotic hands on; there are also more weapons of unguessable power in the SovKhan's vast armory for you to discover.
Ballistic Weapons
AVR-9 "Avenger" Light Slug Cannon
The Avenger cannon is useful for attacking lightly armored enemies in quick, surgical strikes. While the damage is light, repeated hits can take down a lot of your foes.
IR-9000 "Iron Roar" Assault Cannon
This assault cannon fires 100mm shells at a very high rate of fire. This weapon is a tried and true system that has operated reliably in a wide variety of climates and conditions. The Iron Roa's name comes from the short burst it fires at each pull of the trigger. It also has a continuous fire mode, activated by keeping the trigger pressed. Warning: This will rapidly exhaust your ammunition supply!
CR-80 "Cyclone" Saturation Cannon
This massive weapon throws an incredible volume of metal down range at your target. It will chew up just about anything. However, it uses even more ammo than the Iron Roar, and you can quickly find yourself with an empty clip!
Energy Weapons
PPR-2 Plasma Pulse Rifle
This plasma weapon fires a pulse of flash-heated osmium plasma down a linear accelerator towards your target. At launch, the plasma burst is in excess of 7500 degrees Fahrenheit and causes damage to the target by extreme temperature and secondary flash effects.
PS (7) Photon Burst Cannon
An upgrade to the PPR-2, the PS (7) fires a spread of seven small plasma balls in a circular spreading pattern. Although the range is more limited that that of the PPR-2 Plasma Pulse Rifle, the effect is devastating.
Plasma Rail Cannon
The Hellspike fires a single penetrator at an ultra-high velocity, delivering tremendous kinetic impact to your target. It takes approximately two seconds to warm up the rail cannon for each shot. However, the damage potential more than makes up for the slower firing time.
Missile Launchers
SBR-80 "Shrieker" Rocket Launcher
This shoulder-mounted launcher fires an unguided rocket. It delivers a powerful warhead to the target, capable of penetrating up to 800mm of armor at long range. Take care when using this weapon against agile targets, such as Sentinel units.
Stone Dog Guided Missile System
The Stone Dog shoots guided missiles. These missiles carry a larger warhead than a Shrieker rocket, and are very difficult to evade as their internal guidance system homes in on the target. The Stone Dog is an excellent fire and forget solution to your problems! It may also be fired in non-guided mode by simple pulling the trigger without locking onto a target.
Valhalla Class Rocket Launcher
The Valhalla-Class launcher fires an unguided, fragmenting warhead. The warhead is set to split when it reaches its maximum range, but can also be fragmented early with another pull of the trigger.
Opposition
You will be facing a wide array of foes in your struggles against the SovKhan's forces. The following information should help you come out on top. Here is a run down on known enemy forces you are likely to encounter. Keep your eyes open; there are more types of enemies out there!
Conventional Military Force
Most conventional military forces should provide little threat to you as you pilot Slave Zero. As they are considerable less armored and generally less maneuverable than your Slave, you should be able to take them out quickly. Make sure you do, as some of them carry powerful weapons.
M-99 "Reaper" Main Battle Tank
The M-99 is the standard tank for the SovKhan Imperium. Useful in a wide variety of roles, the Reaper mounts a Penetrator Anti-Armor Cannon. This unit is powered by ducted fans that allow it to move easily over water and broken terrain.
CAV-4 "Wolf" Close Assault Vehicle
The standard Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the Wolf carries six battle-armored infantry at high speed across the battlefield. It also carries a FireStreak Missile Salvo Pod, making it a dangerous opponent.
AER-23 "Hyena" class VTOL Gunship
The Hyena is the new top-of-the-line combat VTOL of the SovKham Imperium. Armed with dual FireStreak Missile Salvo Pods and heavily armored, the Hyena is fast and maneuverable. With redundant electronics and psylink control linkages for the pilot, the Hyena is supremely capable in the hunter/killer role.
FireFly One-Man Gunskimmer
This unit is a unarmored one-man Scout VTOL that is of only limited tactical use on the battlefield. In a city, however, the FireFly can navigate when larger VTOLs cannot. The FireFly's main drawback is its puny weapon system, a single Ripper Light Machinegun.
STV-43C "Manta" Sentinel Assault Transport
The unarmed Manta is used to airlift Sentinels to and from target zones. The Manta can also carry infantry assault pods in place of the grapples that would normally hold a sentinel. Whatever its cargo, the Manta should be a priority target; kill them before they can deliver their deadly payload to your tactical area.
Sentinel-Class Assault Units
The Sentinels are the closest things to equal that you'll face on the battle field. Take extra care against these units!
Arbiter Sentinel
The Arbiter was modified from heavy lift suits used for construction. While originally strictly used for crowd control duties, these units have been retrofitted with defense fields to make them suitable for city defense. They carry a 75mm Riot Gun.
Jammer Sentinel
Highly maneuverable, the Jammer is the ideal raider or pursuit unit. While only lightly armored, the Jammer carries formidible armament in the form of a Plasma Pulse Rifle.
Regulator Sentinel
The Regulator is the standard mass-produced warsuit of the SovKhan's armed forces. Armed with a Shrieker Rocket Launcher, the Regulator can function in virtually every climatic condition.
Titan Sentinel
Massively armored and heavily armed, the Titan is one of the most dangerous units out there. It is well equipped with a Plasma Railgun, a Cluster Missile System, and an Energy Claw system, a mixture that is deadly at any range of engagement!
Piranha Sentinel Warsuit
The Piranha was the first Sentinel Warsuit to be adopted by the SovKhan forces. As such, it lacks many of the sophisticated defensive systems found on later, more modern Sentinel designs. The Piranha is relatively fast and moderately armored, and is still quite useful as a garrison or second line unit.
Wolf Spider Gun Platform
A new front line unit, the Wolf Spider is capable of delivering a staggering amount of firepower with its RMDS-7 Reactive Mine Dispensing System. It is slower than other types of Sentinel units, but its six-legged design allows it to traverse a wider range of terrain types.
Credits
PRODUCER:
Matt Powers
DIRECTOR:
Sean Vesce
LEAD ARTIST:
K. Capelli
PC PROGRAMMING:
Jim Mazrimas
Dave Aufderheide
Kurt Arnlund
Jim Tomasko
Jack Ritter
Jason Leighton
DREAMCAST(tm) PROGRAMMING:
Tim Sanders
Edwin Reich
Dave Aufderheide
Kurt Arnlund
Jason Leighton
DESIGN:
Jeff Gregg
Mike Wikan
Jason Weesner
ART:
Jeff Wilcox
Stefan Henry-Biskup
Ted Naifeh
Michael Khoury
Trevor Grimshaw
David Gustlin
Chin-Han Hsu
IN-GAME CINEMATICS:
Lee Petty
Judah Baron
Angus Wilson
Seth Swanson
SOUND DESIGN AND VOICE DIRECTION:
W. Scott Snyder
MUSIC:
Randy Atkins
STORY AND DIALOGUE:
Margaret Stohl
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
Steve Ackrich
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER:
Greg Sarrail
TOOLS AND INSTALLER:
Eric Tetz
MASTERING:
Luis Rivas
LEAD TESTER:
Sam Newman
ASSISTANT LEAD TESTER:
Ted Tomasko
Jeff Loney
TESTERS:
Greg Akatiff
Donny Clay
Jason Cordero
Erik Johnson
Marie Person
Shawn Shinn
Ben Skelton
P. Tseren Sodbinow
Clayton Wolfe
Christoper D. Reimer
Dan Burkhead
Richard Brock
COMPATIBILITY TEST SUPERVISOR:
David Abrams
COMPATIBILITY ANALYSTS:
Adam Stokke
Jeremy Anderson
David Strang
Coung Vu
CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
David Costello
Chris McQuinn
Brent Wilkinson
Jason Stolkke
Moye Daniels
Blair Reynolds
Will Habeck
STORYBOARDS:
Jason Brubaker, Famous Frames
VOICE RECORDING:
WebTone Productions, Campbell, CA
MANUAL:
Bruce Harlick
CHARACTER DESIGN ASSISTANCE:
Chuck Wojtkiewicz
VOICE TALENT:
Commander Li: Morgan Hyde
The SovKhan: Roger Jackson
Old One: Charles Martinet
Number Two: Greg Weber
Number Three: Cosmo Sagan
Convoy Leader: W. Scott Snyder
Manta Pilot 1: Roger Jackson
Manta Pilot 2: David Nowlin
Manta Pilot 3: Mike Wikan
Sentinel 1: W. Scott Snyder
Sentinel 2: Mike Wikan
Sangonar: Charles Martinet
Revenant Prime: David Nowlin
Revenant Prime: Greg Weber
Mayhem: Jarret Black
Screams: Delina Chiechi
Screams: Stacy Lawrence
Screams: Amanda Snyder
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE:
Pat Truong at ATI
Val Felipe at Immersion
Sim Dietrich at nVidia
Tom Forsyth at 3DLabs
Suneil Mishra at Aureal
Micah Mason at Aureal
Keith Charley at Creative
All the folks at 3dfx
Eric Le at Matrox
Allen Hansen at Cyrix
Sean Hunt at Sega
The people at Sega DTS
THE TEAM WOULD LIKE TO THANK:
The Families of the Team
Erica Krishnamurthy
The entire PR Group
James Vitalis
Glyn Anderson
Taunya Shiffer
Matt at Beyond Games
Lars Batista
Trey Watkins
Scott Krager
Andrew Zavattero
Brian Wanamaker
Scot Amos
Karin Sanders
Nikolai Sander/ADN
Harry Denholm/ADN
Jonas Ruikis/ADN
Christer Janson/ADN
Slave Zero was created using the tools and technology of The Ecstasy Engine(tm).
Customer Service and Technical Support
Infogrames North America provides customer service, news, demos and technical support on these on-line services:
Phone: Infogrames North America has some of the friendliest and knowledgeable Technical Support Representatives in the industry. We can help you by phone between the following hours: Monday - Thursday 8:00 am -5:00 pm Pacific time and Friday 9:00 am-5:00 pm Pacific time at(408) 296-8400
FAX: Faxes may be sent anytime to: (408) 246-0231
ONLINE: http://www.slavezero.com
http://www.infogrames.net
Email: help@infogrames.net
Postal Contact: Infogrames Tech Support
5300 Stevens Creek Blvd., Ste. #500
San Jose, CA 95129
Infogrames Hint Line
1-900-454-HINT: $.99/minute. If you're under 18, please get a parent's permission before calling.
Other Infogrames Products
To order other fine products from Infogrames, call 1-800-245-7744 or visit our web site.
