"Not quite the gem I was expecting..."

Mace: The Dark Age is a game of fantasy and adventure, with the fighting end of it being the main focus, and the story line really just trailing behind as a fill in. Several gruesome, powerful characters, as well as detailed and dark stages are what await you in a quest to find the mystical Mace that will allow its holder to rule over everything else with infinite power. Sounds pretty cool, right? It is in a way, but it falls short of expectations within a few round of play!

Allowing you to play as one of several different characters, some of which might remind you of your last bad date, you find that the games focus is on trying to make a combination of Tekken style game play with Mortal Kombat style special moves and really coming off with a few hitches that are clearly seen within the first few rounds of play. Most of this comes from the fact that the difficulty on the arcade machine is set so ridiculously high, that any hope of proceeding to the next round is dashed by a prolific ass kicking that your grandchildren will feel!

Another area of problems, is the amount of image break-down there is during the battles. Characters will overlap each other from time to time, the extension of a character weapon or attack looks like it hits, but apparently it doesn't. The in-game combinations are hard to pull off with super stiff control, and you'll find yet again, your ass being handed to you by the same combo that you were trying to pull off just seconds earlier!

-Game Play 7/10-

While not ground-breaking, it is a fighting game that features some pretty hard battles to fight. Taking on the role of one of eight characters, or a couple of hidden ones depending on if they're unlocked or not, you battle in a best two out of three situation on your way to collect the almighty Mace. This isn't a bad thing mind you, but the way that the difficulty is set up, you'll be lucky if you make it past match four intact and not having spent four bucks in quarters to get yourself there!

The fighting engine is comprised of Street Fighter style motions with Mortal Kombat results and then adding in Tekken style combinations that require a lot of practice to compete and actually use effectively. You could say that the learning curve for Mace is damned near as steep as it can get for an Arcade fighting game, but once learned, is relatively worth the effort especially when you finish them off with a wicked ass Execution Move!

-Control 7/10-

You control is set up much like other fighting games. You have your sets of punches and kicks, using back to block. Every move is done ala Street Fighter, and each combination is a collection of button presses at the right time that can lead into a special move if you pull everything off correctly. What kills the control in Mace, is the fact that it can be seemingly sluggish and unresponsive at times opening you up to a beat down of epic proportions!

-Audio/Visuals 7/10-

The music track tries to be fast paced, dark and foreboding but is offset by the volume of the sound effects going on during any particular match. Your basic set of grunts, groans, weapon clanging, and the ever popular death screams as well as a pretty mean sounding announcer that tells you to kill off your opponent!

The visual is in need of some work. The battlegrounds are huge and very well detailed, but in certain areas, they are either too dark, or too bright. With the bright stages, there isn't enough detail, but in the dark stages, you can see the interactive backgrounds if you squint your eyes at the screen. The blood and gore of the game is relatively contained to the Death Moves, although the special moves can be a treat to watch once you get the practice to use them.

-Quarter Crunching: 10/10-

It's one hell of a tough game to play, and it's ultra hard on your quarter supply as well. With the starting difficulty on Insane when you first start out, you'll notice that the game takes a certain turn for the worst when you get into later stages and you start pumping more and more money in!

-Overall 7/10-

Not a bad game, but not a great one either, Mace: The Dark Age is a game that coule have been a contender with the big goys but fell short due to the extreme difficulty of the computer controlled opponents as well as the outlandish learning curve the game has to offer. It you add that in with a useless soundtrack, blaring sound effects that don't sound all that bad if they're turned down, and the fact that the stages and characters either have too little detail, or you can't see it, you're looking at a slightly above average game that doesn't hold much of a candle to anything else you've played!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/01, Updated 09/05/01