Most of what I said about War Gods remains true to Mace: The Dark Age. It’s another bare bones Mortal Kombat clone with a small amount of 3D movement, once again with extremely generic stereotypes for characters, this time based on medieval times. The one stand out character to me was the training dummy character from the basic practice mode, called Spanky.

Mace does have two points in its favour, though. First are the graphics, which look great for the time. The 3D models for the characters are very well made, with detail in the model itself rather than pasting on photographs. The detail also extends into the stages, with impressive detail. On top of that, the stages aren’t just backdrop.

While it’s awkward to move around the stages, you can try to use the different layers to your advantage. Some stages even have hazards that cause damage. It creates a feeling that you’re actually fighting in a location, instead of fighting in an empty void with artwork pasted behind you.

As I’m not skilled at these kind of games, I’m not really sure how the fighting itself compares – it felt just like War Gods to me – but N64 Magazine rated it highly, so there must be something more to it.

Fine

All of which is a rather convoluted way of saying that Mace: The Dark age is shin-splinteringly good fun, and almost makes up for the uninspired excess that N64-owning fighting fans have so far been privy to. Almost

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #9. Review Score: 81%

Remake or remaster?

With War Gods, this can be re-released as some kind of Midway fighting came collection.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Mace: The Dark Age