Malicious

Malicious is by no means perfect, but it is one of the most entertaining downloadable PS3 games I've played in a while.

Unfortunately, when you have finally managed to settle into Malicious' gameplay and the game presents itself from its best side, the fun will be over before you have even appreciated it enough.

Malicious is a fresh, hardcore arena action game, packed with some very inspired graphics and sounds. There are only six stages, but they can be very hard to beat, both for the hundreds of enemies you'll find in there and the awful camera.

It's an attractive game, too, its painterly art style and creative enemy design sullied only by the occasional drop in performance and that persistently unhelpful camera. If wrestling with the right analogue stick is no one's idea of a good time, such frustrations are worth enduring for a daring and sometimes exhilarating boss rush.

Malicious is a well packed action game, and though it's not free from flaws, it's still enjoyable for those looking for a decent, cheap, downlodable game.

Malicious just isn't a good game and it's not worth your time. And that's too bad, because Malicious certainly had a lot of promise. It just doesn't deliver.

The game has an interesting artistic design and quite an original gameplay concept, but it has its limitations, lacks a tutorial and becomes simple and repetitive soon.

Although this game has its shortcomings, I consider it a good buy for the price. Malicious is what I would call a hidden diamond in the rough, as it is a fairly good game which had the potential to be something greater, by an widely unknown developer and will probably not gain much attention. If I had to compare it to other games, I would say it is like Mega Man, Dynasty Warriors and Shadow of the Colossus combined. The pros: Nice action, bosses, and environments, good challenge. Amazing art. The cons: Short, sometimes wonky camera, not all weapons are equally useful. The way the game is set up, you head into an arena that has a boss and mobs of enemies. The goal is to beat the mobs to power yourself up enough to beat the boss. After beating said boss, you gain a power or weapon corresponding to the boss. This is why the game is usually compared to mega man, as the weapon system is similar. As for the specifics of combats, I won't go into it much, but essentially you have light attacks, heavy attacks, a lock on button, and a block/dodge. Lights and heavies, depending on the weapon, can be mixed up to produce different combos, each with their own usefulness. As you beat enemies, you gain aura, which you use to either heal damage or increase your damage temporarily. Unfortunately, using the lock on can land you in a lot of trouble as it isn't the most accurate in realizing who you want to lock on to, nor does it handle keeping track of enemies well. The latter is more so a fault of the camera which is not that great. That said, these problems can be mostly avoided by simply manually aiming your attacks and forgoing lock ons. The art of the game is really what caught my eye and subsequently made me look up information about the developers, as it it not your normal looking game. If I was more art-savvy, I would try to describe it to you all, but unfortunately I lack the terms. All I can say is watch a video of the game on HD and multiply it by 3. All in all, it's not a perfect game, but it is a pretty good psn game that is easily worth the $9.99. However, don't go in expecting it to be a flawless ride.

Well, it's not a terrible game but isn't great either. As a boss arena type game with only a handful of bosses, you're not getting much content. Some of the bosses just take a lot of time to kill because of a very high amount of health. They aren't particularly difficult, but it's mediocre fun to learn how to defeat a boss the first time. It's not anywhere near as good as Shadow of the Colossus but I can see how it was probably lightly inspired by it. Sometimes it's a lot easier if you take on a boss with an ability earned from a previous boss kill, but it's not impossible to do without them. I bought this alongside Tokyo Jungle, and enjoyed the latter a LOT more. I think Malicious would have been awesome if there was areas leading up to the boss battle, or at least bigger areas to fight in. Starting off and playing in one small arena each battle gets a bit boring once you learn the tricks to kill the main boss. The stages aren't that unique so the scenery got old really quick. I'll probably go back and play it at some point to get better times or see if there are easier/quicker ways to defeat the stage, but I wouldn't be surprised if I forget I even bought it. It's just a bland forgettable experience overall.

The first time i look at this game I found the graphics incredible and interesting gameplay. When I started I realize that the game didnt give you any training and send you to a BIG CHALLENGE without you be prepared, facing a series of boss battles, which no tips. Ok, the game has manual, the NPC can tell you one thing or another, but what will really teachs you how to play, is watching any youtube guideline, so you can get an idea of how to fight. Then, the camera enter into play. Even knowing what to do and what you want to do, the camera will put you into trouble. You will not be able to properly lock an enemy and will feel dizzy trying to locate you target. Dash move is confusing, if you are familiar with the DmC style and get some time to get it usual (but not perfect) If the game corrected a few things, like an intro stage or tutorial to teach you the basics and how to fight, fixed the camera and the dash command, this would be an perfect game!

An interesting idea, but not fun to play. "Malicious" is an incredibly short downloadable game in which you fight six boss battles, 5 of which you can fight in any order. That's it, that's really all you do. It's got some interesting hooks like gorgeous anime style graphics that reminded me of 2008's Prince of Persia reboot, and a structure similar to Mega Man in which beating each boss grants you new abilities. But unfortunately it all falls apart do to the overall poor design of the game. These boss fights take place in open areas flooded with endless waves of brainless enemies that do nothing more than get in your way and annoy you. The bosses themselves are mostly huge towering monsters with large health bars that you have to find a way to chip away at. Basically you just memorize patterns and use the best weapon. Once you figure this out the fight becomes busy work while you constantly dodge and spam attacks. It all just gets dull after a while. The gameplay itself is really awkward. Nothing is explained to you in the game when you first start so you have to kind of figure it out as you go. Things like switching weapons, healing, and the controls themselves aren't told to you when you first start. This can lead to some frustrating deaths at first, made worse by the fact that the health system is awkward to figure out. You don't have a health bar, but instead judge how much damage you've taken by the number of limbs you still have. I eventually figured this out thanks to a random tip that popped up mid-game, but it would have been nice for some kind of tutorial. The controls themselves are awkward, particularly when it comes to the camera and lock-on system. Movement itself is just weird in this game. Due to the number of enemies on-screen at one time it gets hard to lock-on to a specific target other than the boss, this is especially frustrating when the game tasks you with targeting a specific area on a boss. The games story is practically non-existent, making it even harder to care, much less understand, what's going on. In closing "Malicious" is not a good game and is not worth your money. I got it free through Playstation Plus, but even if you can get it free I still don't recommend it. It's just not fun to play which is a shame because it's a good overall concept that could have used some more work.

Malicious is a game that, to put it simply, fails to deliver a fun, entertaining experience. Noticeable flaws permeate the entire game, such as a really, really bad and wonky camera, repetitive gameplay, dated graphics and subpar sound effects. It seems the designers were going for a really interesting and original concept by bringing back some characteristics from old school platformers such as Megaman, but the game falls short and it's really disappointing. The creators of the game also do a terrible job telling you the (really weak) story of the game and explaining you how the gameplay works. I wouldn't recommend this to anybody.