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''Mace: The Dark Age'' is a
fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is resorted to either as a method of ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
released by
Atari Games Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade video games, active from 1985 to 1999, then as Midway Games West Inc. until 2003. It was formed when the coin-operated video game division of Atari, Inc. was transferred by its owner Wa ...
for
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
machines in 1997 and later ported by
Midway Games Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...
to the
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
. Like many fighting games of the time, its style is marked by extreme violence, with characters graphically slaying defeated opponents. Utilizing
3dfx Voodoo 3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the fi ...
chips for the hardware, the game received attention for its cutting-edge graphics and turned Atari a profit in the arcades. Critical response to the gameplay was much less enthusiastic.


Gameplay

The game is similar to '' Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.'' and the ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...
'' series. As in ''Mortal Kombat'', when a character wins both rounds, they can perform an execution move on the enemy. Similar to its contemporary ''
Dead or Alive A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...
'', in lieu of ring-outs ''Mace: The Dark Age'' has arenas which are surrounded by dangerous terrain, causing damage to any character who goes out of bounds. An evade button allows characters to step backward or forward into the 3D environments.


Plot

In the 12th century, a collection of nations called the Covenant of Seven send their best warriors to kill Asmodeus, a practitioner of the dark arts who wields the fabled Mace of
Tanis Tanis ( ; ; ) or San al-Hagar (; ; ; or or ; ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ''ḏꜥn.t'', an important archaeological site in the northeastern Nile Delta of ancient Egypt, Egypt, and the location of a city of the same name. Tanis ...
. The Mace is imbued with necropotic energy, offering those who wield it a tantalizing promise of ever-lasting life and unbridled power. Leaders from the East Asia and Remaining European Free Nations sense that Asmodeus is plotting and send their own chosen hero warriors to eliminate him and his Covenant of The Seven before it is too late.


Development

''Mace: The Dark Age'' took roughly two years to develop. The developers created 30 characters, then narrowed them down to a lineup of 11 through
focus group A focus group is a group interview involving a small number (sometimes up to ten) of demographically predefined participants. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are used in market researc ...
s of teenagers. The latest
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
technology was used during the game's development. A member of the Atari team who happened to be in the
Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...
did all the motion capture acting. The game was originally released on the arcade machines using the
3Dfx Voodoo 3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the fi ...
graphics card, the same technology powering '' San Francisco Rush''. The 3Dfx technology was cheaper to develop for than a proprietary system, and Atari used the savings to sell the game at a lower cost to arcade operators. Besides the
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
port, a
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
version of the game was also planned but never released.


Reception

Although the arcade release of ''Mace: The Dark Age'' was a commercial success, the game garnered average critical reviews. Critics discussed the Nintendo 64 version in the context of the console's dismal fighting game library at the time, and claimed ''Mace'' was the best of them only by default; for example, ''
Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' stated that "The best fighter to hit Nintendo 64, ''Mace: The Dark Age'', would still get pounded into the ground by any
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
or
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
fighter game." An exception was
Jeff Gerstmann Jeff Gerstmann (born August 1, 1975) is an American video game journalist. Former editorial director of the gaming website ''GameSpot'' and the co-founder of the gaming website '' Giant Bomb'', Gerstmann began working at ''GameSpot'' in the fal ...
of ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'', who considered it inferior to ''
Dark Rift ''Dark Rift'' is a 1997 3D fighting video game for the Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows, developed by Kronos Digital Entertainment and published by Vic Tokai. It is notable for being the first N64 game to run at 60 frames per second. Though ...
'', saying it "looks fantastic but still plays poorly." This was a common lament, as critics widely agreed that the game's graphics are excellent but the gameplay is mediocre due to issues such as uninteresting moves and rough controls. Kelly Rickards of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' elaborated, "The combos, while cool to look at (like everything else in this game), don't flow smoothly and only seem to work when much flail action is being performed. The whole feel of the control interface seemed to be locked in a yesteryear-zone, back when the 3-D fighting game pioneers were still perfecting their art." In terms of visuals, ''Mace: The Dark Age'' was noted for stage interactions with elements such as water, and damaging areas such as lava. ''Next Generation'' reviewed the arcade version, stating that "Detail and depth on the order of a ''Virtua Fighter'' take years of development and practice, and Atari Games has a good start. ''Mace'' is a beautifully designed game with attractive characters and bodes well for ''Mace II''." ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' later commented that "If your local arcade had this machine in, then you probably took a close look at it at one point or another. ... It is clearly one of the most visually impressive fighting games around, boasting smooth animations and large, colorful characters." Critics did praise the arena designs, particularly the interactive objects and danger zones, with ''
GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'', one of the few to give ''Mace'' a wholly positive review, applauding the "dynamic details that not only look great but add to the fun and playability of the game." Some also complimented the fatalities, while opinions on the soundtrack were wildly divergent. ''IGN'' and ''GamePro'' both remarked that it fit the mood of the game well, while ''Next Generation'' called it "awful" and Gerstmann said it was simply "decent". The quality of the conversion from arcade to N64 was considered good by most reviewers, though a number of them complained of bad
frame rate Frame rate, most commonly expressed in frame/s, or FPS, is typically the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (Film frame, frames) are captured or displayed. This definition applies to film and video cameras, computer animation, and moti ...
s. According to
Matt Casamassina Matt Casamassina is a video game journalist, businessman, and novelist, and a founding editor of ''IGN''. He quit working for IGN on April 23, 2010. In his time at the site, he was the author of many reviews and previews of games by video game ...
of ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'', "Possibly because of the attention to detail, character animation is sometimes choppy and, because of that, gameplay suffers." In 2011, ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' included it on the list of ten "most blatant ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...
'' ripoffs", adding, "If anything, it was like a more brutal version of ''
Soul Edge is a 1996 fighting game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It is the first installment in the ''Soulcalibur'' series. Introduced at the JAMMA trade show in November 1995, the full arcade game was released in February 1996 on System ...
''."


Notes


References


External links

* * * {{Atari Games 1997 video games 3D fighting games Alternate history video games Arcade video games Cancelled PlayStation (console) games Fighting games Midway video games Mortal Kombat clones Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo 64 games Video games about ninja Video games about samurai Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Richard Marriott Video games set in Europe Video games set in feudal Japan Video games set in historical China Video games set in Saudi Arabia Video games set in the 12th century Video games set in the Viking Age