While it may be too difficult initially, S.L.A.I. tends to grow on you.
The game provides solid gameplay, with four available control schemes. One for complete beginners that features a “fire all weapons” button, and no option for strafing. One that features and left-side, and right-side firing buttons and simple, first-person shooter style strafing, using both analog sticks. The third control setup maps each of your four weapons to the L1 L2 R1 & R2 buttons respectively, and features a “torso swivel” style of control that players of all previous mechanised combat games will be very familiar with. The fourth and final control scheme is a totally customizable layout, that allows you to have any combination of movement and firing controls. The first difficulty I had with the controls came not in the layouts, but in the Dualshock 2 analog controller itself. Attempting to fire off all four weapons at once, for most of your matches, might quickly lead to cramped fingers! The solution came to me in the form of the Pelican Chameleon controller, which is much more ergonomically designed, and won’t cramp your fingers, even in the most intense firefights.
The main menu is laid out very nicely, and it isn’t at all difficult to find what you’re looking for within a few seconds. The story mode menus can be a little confusing to navigate, thankfully they have a quick menu system in place that can take you exactly where you need to go.
The mechs all control very solidly, with various stats that realistically effect the speed at which you will be able to move them around on your chosen playing field. There is a somewhat disappointing selection of weapons available to you in the game. However, that is balanced by the ability to upgrade your weapons through 198 levels of customization. You can choose to go to the “light” side of the scale, which will reduce weight, armour and maximum damage, but increase the amount of ammunition available. Or you can choose the “heavy” side which will have the opposite effects. There are 99 levels for both light and heavy, on weapons, body and leg parts of your mech. Another choice you will have to make is which partner “chip” you will buy. There are many chips available, each is modelled after an animal, and each have their own strengths and weaknesses. You chip will level up as you battle via it’s own set of statistics. All that upgrading and levelling gives S.L.A.I. an RPG like aspect to it.
The story mode is a very lengthy affair than can get slightly tedious at times, and can take awhile to master in the beginning, but once you get the hang of handling your chosen mech, and become used to just how much damage you can take before running away, things start to pick up. The tedium of starting a story mode game of S.L.A.I. isn’t helped out by the fact that you will at first think there is not much story involved, but if you are patient, your wait will be rewarded with a very suspenseful murder mystery, that will keep you playing just to find out whodunit.
There are also two multiplayer options available to you: splitscreen two player, and online, for up to six people. The interesting aspect of this is that they modelled the online battles just like the single player, with four players on the field at once, and two waiting for people to fall to be summoned in.
Graphics:
The game’s graphics are nothing special, nor however, are they sub-par.
The mechs all have their own unique looks, and you can choose to buy paint schemes, with dozens available to you.
In game objects look like something you’d expect from a decent quality game, with enough things to fill out the levels, but not so much that it becomes distracting. Plenty of buildings, walls, underground passages and the like are available to explore, and ambush your enemies from. As well as towers and other elevated sniping positions.
The game features plenty of particle effects when you are hit by missiles and bullets, and your machine will kick up a trail of dust when moving over unpaved ground, though sometimes the resolution of said effects can be slightly low.
For the most part the game runs at a steady clip, but some drops in frame rate will be experienced during intense fights with missiles flying around everywhere.
Sound:
The sound in this game is great, with only a few exceptions.
The music is very complimentary to the game, with each different area having it’s own set of music. The artists chosen for the soundtrack are a worldly bunch, that not many people will recognize. This is not a bad thing however, since there are American artists when playing in an American area, European for Europe, and so on.
The sound effects mostly hit the mark, with thunderous explosions, and rapid gunfire. The only complaint in this department is that some of the sound effects can sometimes be slightly out of line with the action. Usually this will go unnoticed, however, since you will be too busy trying to keep yourself in the match.
Value:
This game has great value, and is well worth the price of ownership.
The story mode is extremely lengthy and will keep you busy for a very long time.
Plenty of replay value comes from the online mode, complete with “world ranker” style leaderboards.
Two player splitscreen mode, when you just want to blow up a friend!
In summary, S.L.A.I. is a lengthy, engaging, sometimes difficult affair, that will keep you coming back for more, if you can just push through the initial single player difficulties. Anyone that enjoys mechanized combat games will definitely enjoy this. I highly recommend it!