"Typical RPG formula made worse by incredibly tedious repetition"

At the time of Evolution World's release, the Gamecube had, what… five RPGs? So it was a welcome relief when Ubi Soft announced Evolution Worlds, a port of Ubi Soft's Evolution games for the Dreamcast, is a typical RPG with turn-based elements, multiple characters, and the typical level-up system. However, that's just the problem with Evolution Worlds - it's too typical. Thus, the result is a typical RPG formula made worse by incredibly tedious repetition – casual gamers and hardcore RPG fans alike will find themselves frustrated by the game's lack of depth and style, two key elements required for any good RPG.

Evolution Worlds brings in the traditional physical/special attack system found in all RPGs (the battle system is discussed below) by using machines known as “Cyframes,” which is actually the game centers on. The game's protagonist, Mag, assisted by his companion Linear and butler Gre, will travel from dungeon to dungeon, searching for the legendary Cyframe, the ultimate weapon. Of course, along the way, and Mag ends up having to save the world.

The gameplay is ridiculously stale – as you and two companions travel through a dungeon, you collect items in chests, fight enemies, and climb stairs to reach the top of a level. However, there is absolutely no creative design – the game literally has you traveling from room to room, fighting bad guys, and search for the stairs to the next floor. Repeat nine times, hit a boss, and do it again. Because Evolution Worlds is a dungeon crawler, it must be inevitably compared to games such as Phantasy Star Online, another RPG for the Gamecube. But whereas Phantasy Star Online throws complex mazes, puzzles, and backtracking into their dungeons, Evolution Worlds contains nothing. As a result, traveling through them (and 90% of the game is spent inside of a dungeon) is unbelievably boring. And since 60% of the dungeons are randomly generated, you could be dropped off in a room with the stairs to the next floor right next to you; this game of gameplay is so simplistic, you can completely zone-out and before you know it, you'll be at the boss.

Each room contains a few floor traps (which stick out like sore thumbs once you learn how to recognize them), a few item chests (item space is incredibly limited in the game, especially later on), and visible enemies. The visible enemies is a welcome relief for a game like this, where random battles would make the game almost unplayable. However, Evolution Worlds is driven strictly by increasing your power – you can get through the entire dungeon and not fight a single enemy, but you won't be progressing anytime soon.

The battle system in itself is way too simple - watch as you an your friends pick an action and trade blows until a winner is decided. The game has your typical “normal” attack and a “magical” attack – using the Cyframe, you can unlock powerful skills for each character. The game grants you two types of experience points – one for basic leveling up, and the other for unlocking Cyframe abilities. The only sidequest in the game (through a randomly generated dungeon with a horrific fifty floors) is there to grant you these Cyframe points, which later on become the key for doing well in battles. Enemies and characters can be surprised, depending on how you make contact in a dungeon, which adds a little bit to the gameplay. However, the enemies are so dumb that you'll find yourself surprising them battle after battle, making the game even easier than it already is.

The graphics, when compared to the Evolution games, are noticeably cleaner. Sharper resolutions and an improved polygon count make it look like a relatively nice Gamecube game. There are a few CGI sequences in the game, which look excellent, but the dungeons look truly horrific, and is a massive downside to the bright and sharp-looking towns. Because the dungeons are simply room after room after room, there is absolutely no texture to the environment, and no detail whatsoever. This gives the dungeon and even blander and more boring feel than before, simply because there's nothing to look at when you're playing the game.

The battle animations look okay, at least. They sure as hell can look a lot better, but the later Cyframe moves are kinda cool to watch when Mag is spinning is Cyframe around like a tornado before smashing it into the ground and causing an Earthquake. No slowdown occurs (and it shouldn't, there's never enough going on) and the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS.

The audio is a mixed bag. The battle theme is energetic and appropriate, and doesn't sound that bad. There are three separate themes, depending on how you approach the enemy. The dungeon themes are truly awful – maybe a twelve second piece that runs on a repeating track, something that is bound to remind you of the tedious work that you're doing. The game is fully voice acted (no lip-syncing here, sorry), and while there's the occasional “groan” factor worked into the performance or the script, the majority of the voice acting isn't that bad – I would have preferred it if they didn't make the main character's voice the most annoying one of the bunch, but the voices make up for it.

One thing I'll note about the sound is that it isn't properly synchronized with what's going on, most noticeably in battle. Strange, but in terms of the sound effects overall, they're quite average and goofy – things that you'd expect from a game like this.

While seriously devoted players with a lot of patience may be able to complete this game once, casual gamers may even quit on the first run through. The fact that there's only one sidequest (which is, wouldn't ya know it, a grueling, randomly generated dungeon) doesn't help at all, and there's nothing to offer by completing it a second time. At the time of the release, gamers desperate for a Gamecube RPG may have gotten something out of this by a rental. But now, with RPGs such as Phantasy Star Online,, Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, and Paper Mario available, there are quite a few better options to go with.

With the release of more RPGs, Evolution Worlds has nothing to offer, and should be flat out skipped. A better design and a more complex battle system could have made this a great game, but instead we're left with a hollow game that's boring, tedious, and unoriginal. And for someone who had been anticipating this game prior to the actual release, I must say: what a disappointment.

FINAL SCORE: 4.8/10

Over and out.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/06