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Evolution 2: Far Off Promise

Score: 70%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
Developer: Sting
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: RPG

Graphics & Sound:

The graphics in Evolution 2 remind me of some anime that I’ve seen, as I’m sure they were intended to do. The characters, while kawaii, are not My Little Pony-level cute, which is nice to see. Each character has their own distinct style and look, and you’ll never get them confused. (Although without reading the instruction book, it’s easy to not know Chain’s gender.) The levels themselves are pretty nice looking; most dungeons having their own graphical style. Of course, after wandering through a dozen of the same-looking levels, you get pretty tired of the graphics, no matter how nice they look. The various weapon and special effects are nice, but with a few exceptions, they’re not all that spectacular. The enemy models, on the other hand, are almost uniformly excellent, easy-to-recognize, and generally quite cool-looking.

The voice-acting, in a brilliant display from Ubisoft, remains in the original Japanese. English textboxes also appear, keeping you up to date if you don’t happen to speak Japanese. Each character has a distinctive voice, as well, from the exceedingly quiet Linear to the boisterous Pepper. This is a great idea, and one I hope that many companies who import games and localize them will take heed of. If you can’t get good English voice-actors, don’t bother.

The music is boisterous, although sometimes it feels a little... -too- boisterous. This happens especially with the ‘You surprised the enemy!’ music, which drove me to the point that I wouldn’t surprise enemies just so I wouldn’t hear that tune again. You Have Been Warned.


Gameplay:

Evolution 2 picks up soon after the first game ended, or so I would assume -- not having played the original, I must judge this game on its own merits. The characters match those from the first one, though. You are Mag Launcher, adventurer extraordinaire. After an interesting scene at the beginning of the game, you find yourself in Museville, taking on ‘assignments’ to explore ancient ruins. Between assignments, you have the obligatory plot-moving scenes, along with the chance to upgrade your characters’ equipment. But the bulk of the game is spent exploring the various dungeons put in front of you.

And you’ll wish it weren’t. Evolution is basically a -like game (for those who don’t know what a Rogue-like is, think of the randomness of the first Diablo, or Azure Dreams). Although some dungeons are pre-built, others are randomly generated when you enter, and change whenever you come back. Items are sprinkled about in chests, and enemies are liberally scattered as well. There are also the requisite number of traps and whatnot that you’ve got to dodge.

This would all be well and good if it didn’t drag on. The first real ‘dungeon’ has five floors, which feels just about right. But the first time I went into the Forest (the second place), I ended up warping out after going an hour and a half without a save point, paranoid that the power would blink or something bad would happen and I’d lose my progress. This is simply inexcusable -- a save point after every floor, like it does in the first random dungeon or in Time Stalkers, would have made the game much more enjoyable. As it is, you’ve got to tough your way through floor after floor after floor, hoping that nothing bad happens so that you can beat it and save the game.

The battles themselves are enjoyable, with your three characters positioned wherever you like, and damage dealt depending on such things as distances. There are also attacks which hit various patterns -- a circle of enemies, an entire row, or a group of them. When you first get into a dungeon, you’ll look forward to the battles, to see what sorts of new enemies you get to fight. As the particular dungeon wears on, however, you’ll dread every battle, as it means it’ll be that much longer before you get to save the game. The boss battles are suitably difficult and a pleasant way to end a dungeon, but by the time you reach them, you’ll be desperate for something new anyway.

Some of the characters (Mag and Chain at the start, soon to be joined by Pepper) have Cyframes, which are basically neat robotic extensions. They can put different types of weapons into their Cyframes, and upgrade them. In fact, you’re probably going to be spending a whole lot of money on upgrading the Cyframes, as the various special moves cost prodigious amounts of FP until you do. And you’ll find Appraisal Items throughout the dungeons, which can be sold for money or combined in the right ways to be sold for even more.


Difficulty:

Evolution 2: Far Off Promise isn’t all that difficult. What’s difficult is finding the time to set aside for two-plus hours of non-saved action at a time. If you’re willing to risk acts of the gods to do that, you’ll find the game to be pretty much smooth sailing, with the occasional difficult boss or area. When you start getting bored of an area, you can always press a button to switch into an over-the-shoulder view, which looks quite nice. Be sure to switch back, though -- traps are much more difficult to see in that mode than in the standard, overhead view.

Game Mechanics:

The random levels are neat, but as said before, they drag on way too much for their own good. The battle system is easy to understand, and I especially like the meter on the side of the screen that shows you what order the enemies and you will be attacking in. Very nice touch. The menus are easy to navigate and understand, although item management is sometimes something of a bore.

I really tried to like Evolution 2 more than I did. It’s a Rogue-like, which I generally love, and it’s got great character design, which is always a plus. But in the end, the tedium of the game got to me. You can certainly do worse, but similarly, you can certainly do better. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of the first game, or are starved for Dreamcast RPGs, you’ll probably want to give Evolution 2: Far Off Promise a skip. In the end, the game feels merely passable instead of truly enjoyable, and you’ll have invested more time than the enjoyment you’re likely to get out.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

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