Available on - SNES
Score between 7 and 10 - 7(Average)
You may like E.V.O if you like - Old school 2D action side scrollers like Joe and Mac, Congos Caper or Drill Dozer.
Game Concept - E.V.O is a 2D side scroller that puts you in the shoes of a creature as it evolves through out the ages. You start out in the fish era then evolve through the amphibian, dinosaur, ice age and finally early man eras. The game features RPG elements that let you as you gain experience(called EVO.Points)evolve your creature to play more effectively.
Pros
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Evolution Made Fun! - The game does a really good job of being loosely educational but still fun.
Music - The music changes several times throughout a level and was actually pretty pleasant, though Enix games generally did have solid music even back in the SNES days!
Death is punishing yet fair - If you die you are not forced way back in the game, instead you just lose half your E.V.O points. This is frustrating but at the same time feels fair.
Attention to detail - The game has backgrounds that actually look like they move with you as you are moving, there are also plenty of things like volcanoes or schools of fish with stray sharks swimming in them. Its not the biggest positive in the world obviously, but its a nice touch. Another nice little attention to detail piece is that the game actually switches between night and day and certain enemies actually fall asleep at night making them easy prey, again not the biggest deal in the world but a nice touch!
Evolving your character is a lot of fun - It's nice to play a game where as your character is supposedly getting stronger you see major physical changes. As you level up the different parts like horns, feet, fins, tails etc etc it changes the way your character looks not just their stats. I enjoyed spending my EVO points to grow double horns and a giant spiked tail which not only made my character look wicked but let him jump higher and defend himself better!
Multiple Paths to evolve - As the game goes on it gives you different ways to evolve your character, do you want multiple legs that keep you sturdy and moving fast or 2 that really let you jump?
Cons
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Missed Education Opportunity - While the game does a decent job at basic ideas of evolution I cant help but think how cool it would have been if this game went a little further! Ultimately at the end of the day the game is fun and that is all that matters, but still with a little more effort they could have made a game that was both fun and really taught you something.
Game could have made it more clear what evolving does - The game does not always effectively tell you what evolving a specific part will do exactly. There are hints at the beginning of each new stage, but it should have told you in the selection stage as well!
Controls not as tight as they need to be - At times, especially during the opening fish era I felt like the controls were really stiff.
Difficult bosses - The bosses have a good challenge to them since you can only evolve your character so far and they hit for close to a third of your life sometimes. This could be seen as good or bad though since while the game is tough at times it rarely feel unfair.
You move sooooo slow -Honestly it doesn't matter which era your playing in, it feels like your character is a damned snail. It's not game breaking, but it can be annoying that regardless of if I have upgraded my feet/fins that I still move so slow!
This game is expensive! - Even for a cart only there is a good chance your going to fork out near $80 on ebay for this baby! Emultate it or be prepared to take out a small loan from your bank to play it ;(
Closing Comments - If your itching for a 2D side scroller and you have played games like Joe and Mac to death then E.V.O is a great alternative. Leveling up my different forms, fighting the difficult bosses and watching my character evolve through the ages was as fun replaying for this review as it was as a kid. The progression can be a little slow thanks to your slow movement and the controls are not quite as tight as they need to be, but at the end of the day the game is still a blast to play. Give it a shot if you have $80 to burn or if you are not against against emulators!
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