I don't hide my obvious fanboy-ness of the Sega Dreamcast. It was one of the best consoles ever produced, with some amazing games that always had that "Sega feel" to it. When Evolution: The World of Sacred Device hit our grey and orange system, the game was met with mixed reactions. My initial response was: "Right on! Finally an RPG". Unfortunately, my smile eventually faded about five hours into the game and the promising RPG crash-landed into the doomed fate of a bland dungeon crawler.
As much as I wanted to love the series, the second in the series (Far Off Promise) was a slight improvement but still couldn't save this from mediocrity. Probably the most frustrating aspect of the series (Worlds' included) has to be how so much potential was wasted. The RPG had all of the right ingredients to become an instant classic with RPG-heads around the globe. It had a great combat system, lovable characters with colorful graphics to boot, yet the gameplay and adventure panned out like a horse with blinders. The repetitive gameplay relied on endless dungeons that looked nearly identical, finding wimpy objects and returning them to a "museum". Soon it became nauseating and linear.
When Evolution: Worlds was announced for the Gamecube, I was the first on the list for a pre-order. Surely, they learned their lessons and it didn't take a Miyamoto to point out the shortcomings of the originals and build on that... or did it?
Mag-nificent?
If you are familiar with the series, than much will look nearly identical to the originals as far as gameplay and story. Evolution: Worlds combines aspects and stories from the previous two and meshes it into a "new" adventure. Briefly, here is the concept of the game as well as what to expect for the RPGamer: You play the initial role of Mag Launcher. Mag is a witty boy who classifies himself as an explorer. His sole purpose in life (as well as the Launcher's historic name) is to be the best adventurer ever. He does this by exploring "new" worlds and collecting various items for the museum. During his adventures, the ultimate goal is to locate "Evolutia", the legendary cyframe.
Cyframes are the real "hook" of the game. Cyframes are hybrid weapons that fit on the back of Mag, sort of like a huge backpack with groovy power-ups. Mag is the only character that uses cyframes, except for the anti-hero Chain Gun who is always trying to get to the treasures before Mag and company. You'll soon find out that the character development is the focal point on the game, and it's hard not to like the personalities of the characters.
During Mag's quest to find the Evolutia, Mag and his party will come across a plethora of randomly generated dungeons to explore and loads of gold to collect. As with other traditional-type RPG's, gold can be used to purchase upgraded weapons and armor as well as banking his collected horde. While the concept is nothing new, the initial aspects are quite refreshing. There is no world to save, no five stones to collect from releasing evil and no time jumping. The premise is simple: find stuff, get gold and buy stuff. But this is where the fun ends. The dungeons are just as boring as the originals, and the sense of exploration is really never there. You magically "warp" to different locations. What I mean is, is that you are in town and if you want to go to a specific area, you simply "go" there. There is no traveling to find the place, no random battles in between so this leads to a 100% linear type RPG. This is where Evolution fails to be considered a "real" RPG.
The saving grace, however, is the clean combat system which is traditional turn-based and quite enjoyable. The magic system is usually secondary, yet still nicely compact. Most of your party's abilities are "weapon-based" yet very untraditional. This makes the battle system fit nicely into a neat little package that seems as an extension of the lovable characters that you pick up along the way.
For RPG purists, Evolution can barely break the mold of mediocre. Small frustrations end up being large problems. Issues like endless dungeons, no exploration and mind-numbing stories quickly become an anathema. Although the storyline is solid, just getting there is more than a bother. With cut scenes lasting up to 20-minutes long, it was all I could do not to turn the game off at times. This also plagued Final Fantasy VIII, with over-used cut scenes and over analytical situations portrayed in video and not in gameplay.
The control of the game is also problematic, save the combat. The "c-stick" has been left out altogether, and many of the camera angles box you in like a trapped rat. Sure you can use the shoulder buttons to rotate the camera, but you'll far too often finding yourself feeling like you are in a small hallway with only one way out. Traveling around the town is almost laughable as it dizzies you if you go around a building one too many times...
Dreamcube
Graphics within RPG's are secondary in my opinion. Heck, graphics are actually at the bottom of my RPG checklist to be honest. But, in this day and age, it seems visuals are always the focal point for any next generation game. Many will conclude that the visuals are out-dated and simply boring. However, I found the graphics to be clean, colorful and attractive. Sure it can't fully compete with others on the console, but it shouldn't matter. If the game were more robust, critiques might have bumped up their "graphics score" a notch or two. I like them, as I did five years ago on the Dreamcast. While little has changed as far as improvements, the characters were nicely developed and the animation was light and whimsical.
The audio (sadly) is probably the best feature on the disk. Sound effects, as well as the sound track are animated, colorful and very light-hearted. Even the Japanese/English was done quite well. Don't expect any vast Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound going on here, but do expect a nice clean soundtrack with a complimentary humorous theme.
66 Says:
When it comes down to purchase, rent or skip; I would conclude that it just depends on your gaming history. As mentioned RPG purists will simply use the disk for skeet but others might benefit from its elementary gameplay. This is an ideal entry-level RPG for younger gamers. If I had to introduce a young gamer to the RPG genre, Evolution would be one of my top picks.
For casual RPG'ers, this is a nice pick-up-for-an-hour type game that is a blast to play a dungeon or two and put down. However, for those like myself who eat RPG's up like candy the shallowness is nothing more than a wasted effort. The game was so close to becoming a legacy like the FF series, yet shoots itself in the foot for trying to shackle players with zero freedom. As with other old-school gamers with a Cube, I await for the day where we are treated to a solid RPG. Let's hope that Square will resurrect a dying genre on a great console.
