Round 2: E.V.O. the Search for Eden

E.V.O. - the Search for Eden SNES ROM (1.15MB)

This week's game is EVO - the Search for Eden. It's an action RPG for the SNES by Enix. You start out as a fish that dreams of becoming a man. Or Flying Tooth Machine. You eat things, they drop meat, you get Evo points to evolve a part of your body (body, teeth, flippers, etc), which gives you more HP, attack power, or defense. The plot hangs on the goddess Gaia, and collecting these weird crystals that the other animals don't really trust for some reason. Occasionally you hear weird, official voices discussing the progress of some plan. Or the seaweed will tell you what's going on.
The evolution mechanic is a neat idea, even if some of the upgrades are nebulously useful. Yes, that row of spikes down your back looks awesome, but does diddly squat against things jumping on you. Also, while there are some trade-offs for play style (do you like being nimble, or a tank? How important is jumping to you?), your upgrades are pretty linear. As straight as this plays the idea of evolution (the stages are various million-year eras, which you get time-transported between), there are some interesting diversions. You can only control minor upgrades, while drastic changes in form (from fish to amphibian to reptile) are automatic, as predicted by Stephen Jay Gould's theory of punctuated equilibrium. The vast majority of your "evolution" really seems more like Intelligent Design, with the player as the Creator. You make upgrades and then adjust your animal's actions accordingly: you can't get better jaws yet? Then you have to make do with jumping on things. A truer evolution-based system would work in reverse: if you spend too much time jumping, then your jaws would atrophy, or vice versa.
This is overall a pretty fun game, even if sometimes it's a grind (stomp dragonfly, eat, repeat x 50, evolve). It also sets the stage for future evolution/eat-or-be-eaten games, like Cubivore, Viva Pinata, Evolva, and Spore.