Malice (Nov 29, 2002 prototype)

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Malice (Nov 29, 2002 prototype)
Malice (Nov 29, 2002 prototype)
Build date	Nov 29, 2002 10:59:22
Dump status	Released
Released by	ObscureGamers
File release date	July 8, 2022
Origin	XDK Hard Drive
Lot	Terarelease 3.0 (2022)
Game	Malice
System	Xbox
Genre	Platform
Final build	EU Feb 24, 2004; US Feb 24, 2004;
Release date	EU Aug 6, 2004; US Jun 2, 2004;

A prototype of Malice for the Microsoft Xbox.

Notes

Dated nearly 15 months before the final build.
This build of Malice reflects an interesting time in the game's development. The members of No Doubt were still providing their voices for characters and it appears to be one of the last builds made while Sierra was the publisher. Additionally, there are several levels, game mechanics, and storylines present that would later be removed entirely from the retail build.
It was found on a Xbox Debug Kit that was used by Argonaut at some point, though portions of the build did not survive due to the kit being reused after it was sent off to another studio.
The English sound packages were overwritten and only 60 out of 85 level packages were able to be recovered. The Spanish sound packages are fully intact and can be turned on by changing the Xbox's system language to Spanish.
Expect occasional crashes that are usually stemmed from missing assets.
The game is able to be progressed normally up until the fire elemental code is accepted at the Orrery. You have to save your game and switch to the December executable in order to play the variant of Burning Siren Tree that follows. You are able to switch back to the November executable after it is completed, though.
However, the game will not be able to be progressed further (at least by normal means) after completing the first Fire Fortress level. This is sadly due to the level package for Gloop River Caves being overwritten.
The debug level select on the main menu can be used to play some levels that can't be accessed by normal means such as 0_beachofsouls_04a.pkg.
In order to navigate the debug level select, press and hold both triggers and use the left thumbstick to scroll through the list of levels.
Malice.xbe also has a debug menu that can be accessed while the game is paused.
Plugging a controller into the second port will allow access to more debug options:
- Pressing A will toggle the display of hitboxes.
- Holding down White will take screenshots, which will be saved as TGAs in the game's folder.
- Pressing the right trigger toggles a profiler.
- Holding down left trigger+Y enables another debug menu with settings that pertain to level-specific elements. Enabling this may cause crashes on some levels.
- Pressing BACK enables a free camera. The thumbsticks control the angle, while the A, B, X, and Y buttons control the position.
The build may need to be rebooted after getting a game over with Malice.xbe. It will try to go back to the title screen, but since the executable is supposed to jump to the main menu by default, it will not respond to any controls.
0_BeachofSouls_00a.pkg and 0_beachofsouls_03a.pkg are intact, but they will just load into a black screen. Sounds from the levels play, and they respond to controls, so perhaps a code change or some other issue is causing them to not render properly. Malice is sometimes sent to Beach of Souls after losing all her lives, meaning that the build needs to be rebooted whenever that happens.
The build is quite unoptimized. There will be very noticeable frame drops on levels that are graphically intensive.
Original filename: Malice (Nov 29, 2002) (Incomplete) [READ NOTES].rar