Evolution

"Evolving into a fun adventure"

Well we had Evolution rented, but I was never able to complete it. Well now that we own it and my brother finally gave it up. I was able to complete this wonderful gem. Hey it actually made me want to complete it. Well time for the break down.

Story-7: The story is pretty good and it is nice too listen to the others. And the cliches are done so well that sometimes I don't care how cliche they are. Plus the story is done in such a way to keep the game mostly Non Linear.

Graphics-8: Pretty good for the quoted first Dreamcast RPG. The colors are defined and everything is easy to spot.
Through the dungeons start of simple in the later half of each dungeon the graphics are much more elaborate.

Characters-7: Each person is done very well with their characters. Linear just fits her role perfectly. Only problem is the characters maybe too set in their ways, but at least one changes slightly.

Gameplay-10: The game is set up in such away you may have to make harsh choices of whether to attack normally and waste healing items or use up FP a lot.

Each member can learn their skills in almost any order they want.

And finding one Cyaframe part can turn a useless member into the best member depending on what it is. In fact this happened to me just yesterday. I found a special part for one member and she became very useful and the other member became completely useless. Stuff like that can be quite cool.

Plus with the money problems deciding what to upgrade becomes a game in itself. In other words you won't have the budget to get 500,000 of everything. In fact you can only carry 32 items at a time.

And then the ruins are designed so you must decide wether or not to go up/do another floor or use a random teleporter you may have seen.

Heh just wait until you see the bosses dies in unique ways to each other

Music-9: Now this is music. The boss tune is one of the best
in the game. The tunes that play through out the game feel natural. It is like the composer doesn't try to throw them at you. So instead he/she let's them blend into the game so you get tunes that amplify what you are doing instead of being a distraction.

Replay-6: Probably not much replay value except maybe deciding who to level up instead next time. Still it has good potential for it.

Over All-8: Sure there are some flaws to it, but over Evolution is a game designed to be played. It was meant for those who want to relax.

To Buy or Rent: Rent as always you may disagree through I think it is worth buying.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/01, Updated 08/12/01