First of all, the graphics are pretty poor. The characters are not very detailed. The animation isn't very smooth, and some of the fighting backgrounds are downright crappy. In one of the stages, I could actually see the seams in the blurry nature backdrop. However, as I look at screen-shots around the web, I am beginning to wonder if I played a defective game or something. The images around the web show sharper, more detailed graphics and larger characters than what I observed during my evaluation of the game. Maybe there was something wrong with my TV. Nonetheless, I must relate to you what I saw, and what I saw was poor graphics.

As for the actual fighting, there isn't much new. I've seen it before, and so, probably, have you. The only new addition is the different levels in the arenas, some of which may contain dangerous obstacles such as lava. In the end, this addition adds very little to the gameplay.

What I found really disappointing was the lack of cool special moves. I'm not referring to the super complex moves that nobody I know can execute, but the basic ones listed in the manual. They're all standard lunges or fireball attacks. Yawn.

As with War Gods, the only two-player action you'll get is when someone breaks in by pressing start. Why the developers couldn't bother to include a dedicated Vs. Mode is beyond me, but they didn't.

Mace just doesn't rank with the other N64 fighters out there. Dark Rift has better graphics by far. War Gods has better MK style violence. And Dark Rift, War Gods and KI Gold all have better basic special moves. The bottom line is that Mace doesn't do anything that hasn't been done better on the N64 already. I can't think of one reason to recommend it to anyone.