Is Malice, underrated?
Malice is a platformer developed by Argonaut and published for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox
by Mud Duck in 2004.
If Argonaut sounds familiar to you retro folks, that's because they were the ones behind the
incredible Star Fox for the Super Nintendo way back in 1993.
Mud Duck on the other hand is mostly known for their late-release budget games for the
PlayStation.
However, the story of Malice begins in 1998, six years before its eventual release.
Here, the game was actually being developed for the original PlayStation.
However, Fox Interactive pulled out of their publishing deal before the game was completed.
From here, Microsoft took interest and looked to publish the game for their then upcoming
Xbox console.
The game was then ported to the Xbox and was supposed to be a killer-app for the Xbox launch.
Unfortunately, this never came to fruition either, and Halo ultimately carried the Xbox
through its 2001 launch.
Next, Sierra came in, moving the game to the PlayStation 2 and bringing Gwen Stefani and
No Doubt into the fold.
However, Sierra too would eventually pull out of their publishing deal, leaving Malice
without a home, and Argonaut nearly bankrupt.
Ultimately, the game was finally finished, and released to little fanfare in 2004.
The game was a victim of wild ambition and project mismanagement.
The Malice we received is not the game originally intended, instead a collection of some of
the game's levels and features finished for the sake of getting it done.
Argonaut would go belly-up just a few months later.
Critics were ultimately disappointed with the finished product.
GameSpot gave the game a 5/10, stating: “It provides absolutely nothing that hasn't been
seen and done countless times before and done better at that.
Unless you're absolutely rapt with morbid curiosity about how Malice ultimately turned
out, your time and money are definitely best spent elsewhere.”
1UP.com scored the game a 4.5/10, citing: “Malice is so generic and mediocre that
its release only serves to spoil what little status it had as the punchline of a joke.”
Finally, the official Xbox Magazine gave the game a 3.5/10, proclaiming: “Death would
have been better than this lifeless mess.”
So, is Malice really this bad?
Let's dive in.
The game opens with an enemy called Dog God biting off Malice's head.
Malice then arrives at the gates of Hell, I think, with Death informing her goddesses
are not allowed, and he tells her to go sort her issues.
Next, Malice arrives at the Metal Guardian, who is the Keeper of the Universe.
He advises we need to collect the eight logic keys in order for him to locate Dog God so
Malice can get her revenge.
As I've stated in the past, we have a hero, a villain, and a mission, which is all I really
need in a platformer's story.
Collecting the first logic key is actually quite trivial.
The first level acts as a tutorial of sorts, teaching us the basic controls and how to
activate buttons.
It's a bit too hand-holdy for my tastes but its short so, whatever.
From here, you receive your first weapon, the Mace of Clubs, and the real game begins.
The first half of Malice basically plays out like a bunch of simple fetch quests.
You are instructed to kill a certain amount of enemies to trigger the next quest.
It's very simple, a touch repetitive, but shows potential.
Malice can perform two attacks with the club.
She can slash, which is a quick attack, or perform quake, which takes longer to pull
off, but deals more damage.
As both attacks stun the enemies, preventing them from attacking you, you're better off
using the quicker slash attack multiple times as it's less risky.
Now, there are times where quake is required, like these little bugs, which is nice.
The quake attack also does more damage on bosses, but we'll get to them a little later.
You can also extend your life meter by collecting heart pots.
Collecting 10 of them will give you an extra hit point.
The game states there are 100 to collect in all, and I found just over 70.
As you progress you'll also unlock magic spells.
These are activated by holding the right trigger, then pressing a face button.
For the most part, these are optional, but the game presents a use case for each.
For example, increasing your speed allows you to run over crumbling platforms before
they, uh, crumble.
After the initial four spells, you'll unlock four more.
These are mapped to the same buttons, only you press the face button twice, and they
use more mana, as they are more powerful spells.
Speaking of mana, these little crystals will be scattered about the levels, and refill
your mana.
Again, the magic is not required, but are helpful tools to make the journey easier.
I found myself using the glide magic the most, as it can be used to reach tricky platforms,
or prevent a nasty fall, and the shield magic, which repels incoming projectiles.
I occasionally used the boost-magic to assist in dodging boss attacks, but I'll get to them
later.
To be honest, I would have liked to see the magic system more fleshed out, perhaps required
to solve puzzles, but alas it was either left out, or never programmed to begin with.
Still, it's optional and doesn't drag the game down, but it seems like a real missed
opportunity.
The real reason it doesn't bother me is because Malice actually controls exceptionally well.
Somehow, despite six years of development hell, the controls are awesome.
Running is slow and deliberate and the jumping is accurate and predictable.
Navigating tricky floating platforms is a breeze and really makes the game wonderfully
playable.
Level design follows suit.
All of the various platforms are tuned perfectly to Malice's limitations and the game plays
to the strengths of Malice's speed and mobility.
There are pretty much no BS moments where the game asks you to perform a task outside
of Malice's capabilities.
It's actually kind of refreshing, and aids in the enjoyment.
There are also a few moments that are wonderfully clever.
In this section, you have to guide a robot across platforms.
However, everything is moving, and there are giant crushers.
It forces you to slow down and learn the patterns of the environment.
Another area plays a bit like Simon, where the game shows you a certain order to jump
on platforms, and then forces you to remember said order to grab required items.
Still, even I must admit the gameplay as a whole is a mixed bag.
Far too often you're simply searching for the last enemy on a map, or desperately trying
to find the last widget on a level, to unlock the next area.
Games of hide and seek don't exactly make for, riveting gameplay.
Thankfully, Malice is quite beautiful.
I don't mean technically either.
I'm not even sure this would have been impressive as a launch title.
Level geometry is a bit simplistic, the texture work is blurry at times, especially on Malice
herself, and the frame rate isn't particularly smooth, even though nothing seems to be taxing
the hardware.
On the other hand, the art direction is rather fetching.
There is an almost fantasy, dream-like quality to the overall presentation, like something
you'd find out of a children's storybook.
Everything is vibrant, the colors chosen for each area complement each other well, and
despite being low-res, the textures are still visually pleasing.
Enemy design follows suit, and all are sound conceptually and really fit in with the story-book
themes.
Enhancing the beautiful visuals is some excellent music.
The whimsical orchestrated melodies would fit right at home in a Disney animated feature,
and again help the story-book world of Malice, come to life.
Despite the uneven gameplay, the one thing Malice does better than most platformers is
setting a certain mood.
When playing Malice, it is really easy to get pulled into the world as time ceases to
exist.
The mood and atmosphere is absolutely amazing, and easily the highlight of the game.
However, Malice does have some strange problems.
First and foremost, the game is just way too easy.
Nearly every enemy will drop a heart or mana, making it exceptionally easy to remain at
full health, at nearly all times.
Combine this with a lack of difficulty overall, partly because of the lack of frustrating
BS, and it makes for an experience that is often devoid of any challenge whatsoever.
Even stranger, the game will walk you right through every section if you let it.
As you may have noticed in the video thus far, there is almost always a book on the
screen offering hints.
Pressing the black button will open this up, telling you exactly what to do.
After 30 minutes or so, I ignored this altogether, as it's unnecessary.
But it is kind of annoying to have the icon there constantly blinking.
An option to shut this hint system off would have been welcome.
The second issue is the dialog.
Now, I get the feeling this game was intended for a tween girl audience, as there is plenty
of harmless sass and sarcasm.
Generally speaking, it doesn't bother me.
The voice acting is above average and nothing here is annoying in the slightest.
The problem is there is just too much of it.
Conversations always seem to wear out their welcome, and a bit of editing could have really
tightened things up.
And finally, the bosses are lackluster.
These all play out the same.
You are in an arena setting, dodging telegraphed attacks.
Once the boss stops to take a breather, simple hit it.
Repeat for a few minutes, and they are over.
Adding insult to injury, they drop hearts when you hit them, making them even easier
and more anticlimactic than they really should be.
So, after obtaining all eight Logic Keys, the Metal Guardian can finally locate Dog
God, allowing Malice to exact her revenge.
But first, we are presented with a giant mech suit.
This is a pretty bad-ass moment.
However, as you can see here, the final boss plays out like every other boss in the game.
Kind of a shame really.
Anyway, after defeating Dog God, Malice restores order to the world and the game is over.
Queue, those credits.
This of course brings us full circle.
Is Malice, underrated?
To my surprise, I would honestly say, yeah.
Don't get me wrong, it would be easy to nit-pick Malice into oblivion.
The graphics are dated, the hub world seems half baked and serves no real purpose as you
can only access one level at a time, the dialog drags on, and in general, Malice does not
live up to the hype it generated in its first couple years of development.
Yet somehow, when playing Malice, I found myself having, fun.
This starts with the controls, which are really about as good as it gets.
It's easy to make tight jumps, judging distance is never an issue, the collision detection
with enemies is spot on, I never experienced any glitches in the Xbox version, and the
camera never got stuck on anything.
Next, the environments themselves are pretty awesome.
Now, I desperately wish half the game wasn't a mindless collect-a-thon, but there is something
inherently fun about exploring the fantasy worlds.
Beating a level means you get to see the next piece of art the developers created.
Again, it isn't perfect, but the fact I found myself wanting to continue says a lot.
And finally, the game does offer a sense of progression.
Malice starts off with a club, which is later upgraded to a hammer, and finally a tuning
fork.
Each does more damage than the last, and looks cooler when using them.
Additionally, Malice does get more challenging as the adventure unfolds.
Enemies have more complex patterns, are placed in trickier areas, and the platforming requires
more dexterity and thought.
Now, Malice is far from a great game.
It really could have used some more of those clever moments, like this section where Malice
is shrunk down.
Or this section, where Malice is captured and has to escape using security monitors.
But the game is far from bad.
In fact, I find it better than average, and at times, surprisingly good.
Above all else, through the game's 5 hour run-time, Malice is very likable and enjoyable,
and in the end, fun is what it’s all about.