Chickaroo Reviews - Malice (PS2)

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Chickaroo Reviews - Malice (PS2)

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This is Malice (no, not American McGee’s Alice), a “spunkalicious” demigod who gets herself in all kinds of trouble in the afterlife. But is this game a forgotten classic or another game lost in the pile of mediocre? Game:Malice
Systems: PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release Dates:PS2: 4/8/04 (PAL), 6/2/04 (NA)
Xbox: 6/2/04 (NA), 8/6/04 (EU)
Developers: Argonaut
Sure Doesn’t Look Like A Demi-God To Me
Story: Our hero of today’s story is Malice, a demi-god of some sort.
The game starts off with her running away from something and then she meets up with Dog God, her arch nemesis. She was about to run away until her head gets eaten off by him, leaving her dead. She is then sent to the Underworld, only for Death to tell her that she can't be there, for she is a demi-god. He sends her off to a clock realm where a grandfather clock helps her try to defeat Dog God once and for all.
The "Fun" Begins
Gameplay: So this game had suffered a bit of development hell since 1997. It was meant for the PS1, but since the PS1 was slowly going to die after the year 2000, they held off on the game until 2004.
The game is your typical 3D platformer. Malice has a hammer / club thing that she uses to swing enemies with. But let me tell you, this isn’t very fun. It’s very freaking repetitive. There are 2 buttons for the hammer. One is for a simple swing and one for like, a slam-down button. I really recommend not using the slam-down move, for it is slow and will get you killed. It’s happened before.
There are some collectibles to get as well. There’s these little skull and crossbones that can add extra health to Malice. There are also these keys you have to collect to get to Dog God (I think). But honestly, this game plays very slowly. Which is not a very good thing. The enemies are also pretty easy to beat too.
Also not to mention, that there is this one part I cannot get past because you have to guide this little robot guy to a thing that he can turn on. But every time you try to activate him and try to guide him to where he needs to go, he falls off the platform and it’s really freaking frustrating.
Man, She's...Something
Graphics: This game doesn't really look great. Especially Malice's model. She doesn't look like a great character really. Her eyes are just big and weird, as if the game was trying to cash in on the whole anime craze of the 2000's. It's not too terribly bad, but not really spectacular either. Not to mention, this game was originally for the PS1. There was so much to that version than this one, it does feel rushed. Or that it looks like an early-ish launch title.
No Doubt About the Music
Music:Originally, Gwen Stefani and her band, No Doubt, were supposed to do the music and Gwen was going to voice Malice. Well, they dropped out.
So now, the music isn’t even memorable or any good really. And the voice acting isn’t that great either. I mean, it’s pretty bad. Though there was a demo video on YouTube with Stefani’s voice if you’re interested in hearing her voice instead. It’s just too bad she wasn’t in the final version.
Music is composed by Nick Arundel and Karin Griffin.

Shall We Not Speak of This Game?
Overall:Malice is not a very good game. It really isn’t. This game had a lot of potential, and sadly there were cut. The voice acting is terrible and the gameplay is slow and a bit unresponsive at times. I was hoping this game would’ve been a hidden gem, but it’s not really much of anything. Just another game that was stuck in development hell for no reason.
2 / 5
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