E.V.O. Search for Eden

E.V.O Search for Eden

Overall: 3.2
Originality: 4.0
Gameplay: 2.0
Mechanics: 2.5

                The first game from the "Games you might not have tried list" I decided to take on is E.V.O. Search for Eden. An action rpg where the player starts out as a small fish in the early beginnings of Earth, and by means of Darwinian wits and a little help from a goddess, is allowed to evolve into any creature they fancy (and when I say that I mean choose between three different creatures that actually have a shot at ending the game). This game could be considered the predecessor of the huge EA flop Spore and I sadly have to say it follows in the mediocrity of its newer model. It's important to understand that at the time, crazy game ideas like this were actually pretty common place, so claiming that the game is good just for the new concept it introduced isn't a valid criticism shield. Also, the gameplay is safe the entire time, reigning back the player from experiencing what's good about the game, while forcing the player into the same SNES RPG formula whenever it gets the chance. It was hard for me to characterize this game because I found myself teetering between RPG and adventure dungeon crawler, but after playing for a few hours you can tell it definitely is an action-RPG joining the ranks of Secret of Mana on my shit list. Let's begin.

Story: All the history of the Earth
           Yep. The beginning of the world. And lucky for you a benevolent Goddess named Gaia (Oh hey Gaia! It's you again!)  gives you the form of a fish and tells you to go explore the ocean waters. And by explore she means devour every living thing around you so you can gain EP (evolution points). EP can used to evolve specific parts of your fish body (e.g. torsel fin, tail, jaw, jaw, jaw,). Seriously, the only thing you need to evolve is your jaw because once you have the best jaw, there really isn't any scaly creature that can stand in your way. Look for this as a theme of how leveling up works later in the game. Along the way of evolving and getting bigger there's always some creature that seems to have the leg up on everyone else. Gaia instructs you to take him out, often conveniently causing a huge tragedy on the Earth whenever you defeat one of them. This forces you into a new epoch and a new body. You know what a new body means! You're weak as a hell. So get back to eating everything in sight so you can become strong again. No seriously, this is the part of the game that's incredibly disheartening because often when you find yourself proud of that strong creature you've created, the game dismantles him right in front of your eyes. You might think that the excitement of a new, more advanced creature is enough to motivate you, but after spending a good 25 minutes doing the same rote grind kill of the same monster just to get a jaw that you will only use to kill the boss such excitement simply doesn't cut it. If you play to the end (which I did), you can get to the moment you were always waiting for (or at least I was); the moment you finally get to transform into a human! Or a better description is a caveman with an axe. The way you get to this point is through a weird combination of rabbit body and cat parts, that completely defies the improve jaw formula the game has trained you to follow! This pissed me off, because I found out I could have gained the human form much earlier than when I did.

Gameplay: Grind, chomp, Grind, chomp
      The gameplay is hard to describe because I don't think I actually figured it all out. Certain actions can be done with certain bodies. But it doesn't really matter. All you need is a chomp and jump and later kick. There's a horn, but it's useless. Most of the game you'll find yourself farming the dinosaurs that give you the most EP drop for time and effort. You do this early in a new form so that you can bypass all the other tertiary body parts and jump to the most expensive ones. This allows you to breeze through the game instead of having to actually fight the monsters the way the developers probably intended. There are side quests, but they are laughable. I end up killing anyone who asks me to do a sidequest, simply because that's my personal philosophy when it comes to evolving. This game starts off being fun and exciting, but ends in a big blob of boring.

Where it went wrong
          What's cool about E.V.O.? Well, we can argue for hours what people would personally like about it, but the main thing going for it is its new concept of using the evolution cycle in a video game. In fact, I think all the excitement it garners comes from the idea of being able to live through that cycle. Making their interpretation of that cycle was the job of the developer. Instead, the developer clearly decided to use the cycle as a tool to drive a broken rpg plot, that had little profoundness. It would have also been nice if I had another option instead of ripping peoples' faces off. I would have loved to be a little mouse or cockroach that was just incredibly evasive. Or a social lion that developed amazing social skills, allowing me to use my pride as one would command a fleet. Even if you wanted to stay with this lone wolf model for means of practicality, then make it so that the highlights of the game are all the different routes one can take. Instead the game forces you into a corner and gives the basic message of bigger is better, except for humans because we know you're vain. I wish the developers would have realized that it had the opportunity to give players a vessel through the evolutionary process.

So who should play this? If you're a game enthusiast this a must. Also if you like anal boss battles, this is right down your alley. The game has a metaphor of fitting the creation story with science, but that metaphor is just a giant container the game is put in, not a portrait being painted. I don't know what else to say. For the grand price of 0$ I paid on vizzed, check it out. You'll be hooked for a bit, but eventually you'll kinda wish you didn't waste your time.