Malice: 23rd Century Ultraconversion for Quake is a total conversion for Quake, developed jointly by Team Epochalypse (which would go on to form Ratloop) and Quantum Axcess. Malice was published by Quantum Axcess on November 14, 1997 and sold as a stand alone item. It would also later be available bundled with Q!Zone and the original Quake in the form of the Resurrection Pack for Quake, as well as a pack-in jewel case on certain editions of The Ultimate Doom & The Classic Quake, both distributed by GT Interactive. Malice, not being a stand-alone total conversion, requires the full version of Quake in order to be played. Contributors Lucas Pope and Sian Yue Tan had previously worked on "The Temple of the Mist".
Background[]
Set in the 23rd century, the player assumes the role of a bandana wearing mercenary named Damage. Working for Colonel Bossman and his underground crime syndicate, the player is pitted against Bossman's main rival, Takahiro Industries. Takahiro industries has its own security too, with a small army of guards as well as various sophisticated robots. It is these, that Damage has to fight against, through various futuristic environments in order to assassinate his goal, Takahiro himself. However, as things progress, the Bossman seems less and less likely to pay Damage for his wares, it seems like someone is being double crossed...
Gameplay features[]
Being a total conversion of Quake, Malice features a similar gameplay style to that title. The game includes eighteen new levels, fourteen new enemies, various additional items (known as "Toyz" in the game), a new soundtrack, and new weapons. Unlike in Quake, weapons in Malice can be manually reloaded. Featuring totally new weapons, models, artwork and locations, Malice was almost totally unrecognisable from Quake. Some of features in Malice include:
- 25 new maps - This included 16 regular single player maps, 2 secret levels, and 7 deathmatch only maps.
- 10 new weapons - Some of these weapons had to be manually reloaded by the player, although this has become the norm with first-person shooters nowadays, Malice was one of the first games ever to have this feature. Other weapons could set enemies (and the player) alight, both hurting the enemy and reducing their vision.
- 13 new enemies - Not a single enemy was recycled from Quake. This, coupled with the other new assets made Malice feel like a totally different game, and not just a mod.
- New soundtrack - Malice featured an entirely new soundtrack, with 9 new tracks composed for the game. Unlike the low-key ambience as heard in the Quake game, these tracks were higher tempo electronic rock tracks.
- New equipment - Malice introduced various equippable "toyz" in the game. Amongst them, included a parachute, hoverboard, spy drone, and a drivable minisub which could fire heat seeking torpedoes. Items like the hoverboard, which would increase player speed, give the player the ability to boost upwards and negate fall damage, would also give an extra dimension to deathmatch, making Malice into an even quicker and more frantic game than it already was in the singleplayer.
- In-engine cutscenes - In between levels, the story was conveyed via cutscenes with full audio rendered in the game engine. Although cutscenes rendered within the game engine have become prevalent in current first-person games, Malice was one of the first to successfully implement this.
- Engine enhancements - Malice added many new features into the Quake engine, providing effects that Quake itself could not produce. Although these features have now found themselves into the majority of modern first-person games, Malice should be noted for being a pioneer in this regard.
- Destructible Objects - Objects could be destroyed or blown up, including lights which could be shot out and walls which could be destroyed to reveal different routes.
- Movable Objects - Objects like crates could be pushed to reveal blocked paths or moved to enable a player to jump to a higher area.
- Weather Effects - Effects like rain, thunder and lightning were added to the game, giving a more immersive realistic atmosphere to the game.
Critical reaction[]
Press reactions to the game were generally favourable, with the game earning positive reviews from all publications featured. Online publication Adrenaline Vault gave the game 4.5/5 and it won their "Best Addon Award" in 1997 [1]. PC Gamer UK gave the game their "Game of Distinction Award", also in 1997. PC Zone also praised the game, noting favourably how well Malice managed to get away from the original Quake and awarded the game 80%.
Easter Eggs[]
Within one of the game system files (PAK2.PAK) contains six bloopers of actor Dan Janis getting his lines wrong with humorous consequences.
Bugs[]
The original release of Malice had a particularly bad bug, where the developers had forgotten to include a parachute in level 8 which was required as player needed to go down a very deep shaft. This made it impossible to complete the level and therefore the game. The developers admited the mistake and advised players to use the console 'fly' cheat command until they were able to release a patch.[1]
External links[]
- Archived homepage
- Modern page
- Internet Archive
- GitHub
- MobyGames
- ModDB (Refined)
- Malice Jam
- The Malice HD Project
- MSDN review
- Amiga Reviews
- Retro Games review
- Super Adventures in Gaming review
- Quake Haus review
- GamingOnLinux retrospective
- Old PC Gaming
- Gamicus article
- Toasted Gaming
- Malice Review: The Forgotten Quake
- (Not So) Speedy Reviews - Malice for Quake
- Malice mission pack for Quake 1 game review
- Original Quake Mod - Malice Commercially Released Full Conversion Quake Mod | QUICK LOOK
- Walkthrough
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