Malicious is a tight action-game filled with pretty visuals and creative enemy designs, but doesn't last very long.
Story 7/10
The story is pretty bare-bones and you certainly shouldn't be here for it. When you begin the game, several bearded sages give you a short sum-up of who you are and why are you there. It's not like the story is going to grab you, though. The next time you'll hear from the story is at the very end when the sages simply announce that the you, the Spirit Vessel, must be put to sleep in case the Malicious were to strike ever again.
In the main menu, there is an option called the 'Back-story', which apparently tries to form some kind of a deep story to the bizarre world you get thrown into, but I never really looked into that.
Gameplay 10/10
You're going to love it, and I do mean love it. You are the Spirit Vessel (which is shaped as a man or a woman, whichever you choose), a force that uses a transforming scarf to get rid of any opposition. At the start you only have two forms for the scarf to take; the Dark Bullets and the Fists. As you defeat certain bosses you unlock the Sword, the Lance, the Wings and the Shield. All of them play really differently and you have to utilize them all in order to fight efficiently.
The hub-room works a lot like a Megaman- game's stage select screen. You can choose to clear any scene in any order you want and after you've cleared them all you unlock the final scene. After each scene you are rewarded with the aforementioned powers and other upgrades.
Let me get this straight; the game is fun as hell and every fight feels different. The more upgrades you get, the more fun the game gets. Trying out different weapon combos and flying around the battlefield 150mph with your wings just feels damn enjoyable. All the bosses are extremely different and require different strategies for you to beat them. Of course, simply mashing the attack button won't do. Just try that and you'll be dead pretty soon. Defeating smaller enemies that roam around the battlefield around the boss character give you 'Aura', which you can use to power up your attacks, repair your body or let you unleash a special state called the 'Aura Release', which strengthens your attack power and defense immensely. By defeating those smaller enemies with Aura-infused attacks, you make them explode and any other enemies caught in that explosion get blown up as well, causing huge chains if the enemies are stuffed together, which results in huge amounts of Aura for you. The most efficient way to beat up a boss is to collect a lot of aura first and then smack the boss around with your Aura- attacks.
Just to sum it up, the game has tight controls, the fights are super fast-paced (even though frame rate drops pop in occasionally) and playing it just feels right.
Graphics 8/10
Certainly not the best on the system, but still pretty sweet. The game is bright and swarming with pretty colours. The enemy designs are brilliant and the way your Spirit Vessel's scarf animates is just beautiful. But like I said, the actual textures and such are pretty decent at times and an occasional frame rate drop or two may pop in for a short visit.
Sound 8/10
The game features no voice-acting whatsoever (with an exception of one of the bosses, who seems to speak some odd language, but it sure as hell ain't japanese). The soundtrack is very Lord-of-the-Rings- like and most of the songs are pretty good. My personal favorite being the one that plays in Royal Battle Escort. The sound effects are nice and decent too, nothing to complain about.
Length 6/10
I'll just crash this to you. It simply isn't possible to clear the game in more than 3 hours. Each of the bosses feature a 30- minute time limit and there's a total of 6 scenes. The game ends just when you're beginning to enjoy it, which really let me down. Of course, this being a downloadable title for only 8€, it's only natural for it to be this short. Obviously all the emphasis has been put to the actual gameplay, which I can appreciate. The game is designed in an arcade- way. When you clear the game, you don't get a credits roll or anything. You get a result screen of your overall score from all the scenes you cleared. You can unlock Free Mode, Time Attack and Score Attack modes, but those don't really differ from the actual Story mode. But a game this fun has to be played multiple times, you won't satisfy for just one playthrough. Still, it will lose it magic over time as there still are only 6 bosses to bash. I'm hoping for some DLC featuring extra bosses to increase this amazing game's poor length.
It's worth the 8.5/10 rating and definitely worth your 8€. It's fun, challenging and it has 11 trophies for you to grind, which aren't actually easy to get.
Pros and cons:
+ Super-fun and fast-paced
+ Pretty visuals
+ Challenging
- Short length