Malice

Malice is, from top to bottom, about as standard and, unfortunately, boring a platformer as you can find. None of it is bad, but sadly, nothing about Malice is fun, interesting, exciting, new, or worth your thirty bucks.

For a game that's been in development for such a long time (over four years), that was hyped as being something original and "the next big thing," I would have expected Argonaut's Malice to have taken some chances, done something innovative. But no, after spending five hours with the big M (that's all it takes to beat the game!), I can assure you, the only chance Argonaut took with this game was putting its reputation on the line. Malice is, from top to bottom, about as standard and, unfortunately, boring a platformer as you can find. None of it is bad, but sadly, nothing about Malice is fun, interesting, exciting, new, or worth your thirty bucks.

J'ignore s'il existe encore des irréductibles qui attendaient la venue de Malice après une telle attente, mais le fait est qu'on se retrouve avec un jeu plutôt classique dans son déroulement, doté d'une ambiance qui aurait pu être sympathique mais qui se noie lui-même dans des lacunes de gameplay qui nuisent complètement au plaisir de jeu. La sortie du fameux Malice risque donc de passer beaucoup plus inaperçue que prévu.

In some ways, it almost seems like Argonaut never had a firm grasp on what it wanted to do with Malice, and when it came time to bring it out, whatever looked close to finished was thrown together to try to make a coherent game. Whatever the case, Malice simply doesn't cut it, and 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.

J'ignore s'il existe encore des irréductibles qui attendaient la venue de Malice après une telle attente, mais le fait est qu'on se retrouve avec un jeu plutôt classique dans son déroulement, doté d'une ambiance qui aurait pu être sympathique mais qui se noie lui-même dans des lacunes de gameplay qui nuisent complètement au plaisir de jeu. La sortie du fameux Malice risque donc de passer beaucoup plus inaperçue que prévu. D'autant plus que les ralentissements indigents de cette version Xbox donnent matière à se poser cette question, le jeu a t-il été réellement finalisé ? Tenant plus d'un moteur graphique en test que d'un jeu, Malice ne parvient pas à convaincre.

Unless you're absolutely rapt with morbid curiosity about how Malice ultimately turned out, your time and money are definitely best spent elsewhere. After more than three and a half years in development, Malice is finally available to the gaming public. And what a long, strange trip it has been for Argonaut's oft-delayed platformer. Not long after its initial 2001 announcement, Malice essentially disappeared. A few news tidbits would pop up here and there regarding shifted release schedules, but no real news or concrete word on the game's status surfaced--not until May of last year, when VU Games, Malice's publisher, announced that it was dropping support for the game. Flash forward to this January, when budget-title publisher Mud Duck announced that it would be bringing the game out in the US.

It is a shame that a game that we all had such high hopes for will be remembered more for its delays than the actual game itself. The very basic gameplay is further dumbed-down by the imbecilic computer AI to make for a game that even novices can breeze through in one night (and we don’t mean a long one either). There are a few nice looking levels, but for the most part this is proof that next-gen hardware demos should be taken with a grain of salt. Let’s just thank God that we got Halo as a launch title and not Malice.

This is a prime example of a game that I wanted to be good but was simply so bad that I couldn't stand it; it was certainly a waste considering all that Malice went through in order to finally get published. This game should be buried in the desert, along with the ET games that hurt the Atari so badly. And, Argonaut, please don't make a sequel unless you're willing to direct appropriate time, care, and attention toward it. I don't think I need to plead here, though, I'm sure Malice's sales figures will speak for themselves.

Malice is out in stores. That sentence feels like it should be the finishing touch to a gag, but it's just a simple fact: one of the more troubled projects in the Xbox's history, a game that went from interesting tech demo to projected launch title to a three-year-delayed release, is now out. It's unlikely this is going to make anyone's week, or even day, but if you were one of the two or three people we imagine as still anticipating the game, we'll try to let you down easy.

When we last saw Malice, the spunky, red-haired heroine was lost in limbo?another ?Vapor Trail? game doomed never to see release (see ?Vapor Trails 3.0,? page 38, March). Thanks to a last-minute publishing deal, she has a second chance to make a banal impression.

Malice would be suitable for a young gaming audience; hopefully they could find some enjoyment of Malice's bizarre world. The level of difficulty is rather low, and experienced gamers will just plow through the game, if they haven't turned it off.

Malice falls flat in more or less every regard. The dialog tries way too hard to be funny and ends up nearly incoherent at times because of it. The gameplay lacks any sort of challenge and is monotonous. Visually, the game just can't compare to its direct competition. It feels like Malice was shipped just to get the game out of the office so they could start work on something better. Here's to hoping for success in the future.