Malice Preview

Argonaut needs no introduction, producing some of the most original and groundbreaking, technology wise, games over the last 15 plus years. Having recently covered Powerdrome, we now take a look at Malice, both of which are released over the next 2 months by a new publisher, Evolved Games.

TVG spoke with Producer, Andy Pang from Argonaut, about Malice, that a few journalists remember seeing at an Xbox event way back in 2001, which at the time was a 1 level technology demo, and looked amazing but was basic in terms of gameplay.

The origin of the game goes back even further as it was conceptualised on paper as a cool idea for a character, a fallen Goddess who had to restore order to the universe rediscovering her powers along the way. The team then used this as the basis for the tech demo on the Xbox. This humble start, with plenty of interest in it, cemented the teamâ??s decision to develop it into a full game, as Andy briefly explained.

â??Developing for the Xbox was very exciting, which allowed us to go wild with render features that had previously been denied on previous consoles. The team took the challenge of developing on the Xbox and invested heavily in developing technology and visuals that had until then not been seen before in a game. This has successfully transferred to PlayStation2 â?“ which has its own distinct features and visual content.â?

Malice can essentially be described as a platformer, containing fun puzzles, sub-games and combat action. It includes some clever evolutions of traditional gameplay, mixed with a curious cast of characters and a big-mouthed teenager/goddess with crazy weapons and magical abilities.

The main objective is to track down and defeat the Dog God to put the universe and afterlife back in order. This is achieved by going on a variety of quests to obtain vital Logic Keys for the Metal Guardian who unlocks portals leading to the far ends of the universe. The adventure takes the gamer on 9 quests through places such as the Memory Maze, Piston Hell, Gloop River Cave and Earth Forrest, to name but a few. Each mission within Malice is driven by either puzzles, jumping sequences or combat action. There are many interesting and festive moments on offer and you should look out for the combat sequence nearer the end of the game, where Malice has to battle her way through the Earth Forest, where the Crow Army appear in overwhelming force, but using Maliceâ??s magic strategically turns the odds in her favour.

Andy explained some of the foibles for the character the player assumes. â??Malice is a goddess who is not quite sure why sheâ??s arrived at the Beach of Souls, having just lost her head to the Dog God. This doesnâ??t keep her down for long and she's soon wielding apocalyptic weapons (Mace of Clubs, Clock work hammer and Quantum Tuning Fork) against the Dog Godâ??s minions and casting magic that enhances her natural strength, health, adjusts time and allows her to float like a leaf in the wind. She also has a loud mouth and is not afraid to use it.â?

The Malice universe, as you will find out, is full of charm and diverse characters and enemies. The Dog Godâ??s Crow Army, for instance, is one of the main forces to be reckoned with. As Malice progresses closer to her ultimate enemy, she battles through an ever larger and evolving Crow Army. Dog Godâ??s personal minions may have their weaknesses, but the harder theyâ??re hit, the meaner they get. Their strength, numbers, intelligence, tactics and weapons develop over the game providing the player with a challenge throughout.

Now what game of this description can be without the big bad baddies, the ones where you scratch you head and wonder what to do next? Andy, keen not to give anything away, was evasive but you could understand why!

â??Thereâ??s a great variety in the bosses and how you defeat them, but Iâ??d rather not go into specifics and spoil the fun. However, what they do have in common is that theyâ??re all-evil, under the command of the Dog God and out to make you fail. Find their Achillesâ?? heel, use your weapons and magic effectively, and with good strategy and timing youâ??ll be on your way to the final showdown. Take the FireFly Queen for example â?“ she may spit fire and have a tendency to very, very bad wind, but sheâ??s not so good at the tight turns, and what goes up must come down to earth at some stageâ?¦â?

As always Argonaut manage to put a fabulous spin on even the simplest of genres and eye candy graphics, some of the most mesmerising around, come as standard. Andy reinforced, â??We wanted to have a graphical stamp, which said â??Maliceâ??. The strange, diverse universe of Malice, fully loaded render engine and skilled team, helped us to achieve just that. Special effects are commonplace throughout Malice, I personally love the texture detail within the lush environments, and the rich colours.â?

In many ways Malice has a number of similarities to Croc, another of Argonautâ??s top sellers, and with some of the team working on this, which was fundamentally a platform game, an inventive one, it is not surprising it bears a number of mutual ideas but the team was eager to make the point that although it may share some of the strengths of Croc they believed that Malice far exceeds it in terms of variety, look, special effects and gameplay.

Andyâ??s final say was to sum up the game.

â??A dark and tricky adventure through a warped and dangerous universe to wrest control from the fearsome fiery Dog God and his hordes of rat-bag minions before returning the world to a strange form of normality.â?