Evolution Worlds (GameCube)

Reviewed by

Greg Kasavin

on 12/20/2002

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The combat system in Evolution Worlds is pretty straightforward, but it has a couple of interesting touches. Like with most RPG combat systems, your characters and their enemies exchange turns smacking each other until one side or the other is completely defeated. Characters can learn and use a number of special moves as they gain experience, and some of these moves can be used only if you have certain combinations of characters in your party. Special attacks, either yours or those of your enemies, often affect entire areas of the battlefield and not just one character. So positioning is important in Evolution Worlds' battles, where your characters must be placed strategically in a 3-by-3 grid. Characters in the front lines can deal (and will take) more damage, while those in the rear ranks are better protected but have less combat potential. Some special moves can cause you or your enemies' ranks to get shifted around. Beyond that, though, the combat is your typical Japanese RPG slugfest. Here's the only real strategy: Use potions or healing spells on your party members when they get hurt. You'll fight a lot of the same enemies over and over, which makes the monotony of the dungeon crawls that much worse.

Evolution Worlds combines a couple of old Dreamcast RPGs into one.

When you get back to town, in between missions, you can buy stuff, upgrade some of your gear, and speak with the locals. Evolution Worlds isn't a particularly big game, but there's full speech to go with all the dialogue, and while the performances aren't great, they're energetic and appropriate. The dialogue itself is like something you'd find in an anime show suited for younger audiences, so it's not exactly layered with meaning, but it helps flesh out the game's colorful characters and should be fun to listen to for younger players. Likewise, while the game's graphics aren't technically impressive by any means, the character designs are good, and close-ups of the characters reveal some expressive facial animations. The combat looks decent, too, though the exploration sequences appear pretty bland. If not for the presence of an onscreen automap, you'd be totally unable to distinguish one part of a dungeon from any other.

Evolution Worlds doesn't set its sights particularly high and as such is fine for what it is: a lighthearted, entry-level role-playing game best suited for younger players. It's linear, repetitive, and predictable--criticisms that perhaps can be leveled at a lot of such games, but they apply more accurately to this one.