Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer: Sting
Publisher: Ubi Soft

The Evolution engine was clearly optimized for small, enclosed areas- it makes use of high-quality textures, and nice, smooth polygonal meshes for things like the buildings and the characters. The end result is a game that looks pretty nice for a Dreamcast title, but not quite up to the standard set by Soul Caliber and Sonic Adventure.

The music in the game is really just average- standard RPG fare that has been heard many times before, from the typical town theme to the cliched battle music. It isn't bad, but it's nothing special. The sound effects likewise are nothing impressive.

The game takes place in one town, with a series of dungeons branching off of it. The dungeons are randomly generated and are reached via menu and not by any sort of manual traveling. The game's focus clearly is battle. Plot is thin, cutscenes are short, and only shown in between dungeons (which is about 3-4 hours of gameplay). The dungeons, being randomly generated, are pretty dull, and all pretty much look the same. They are scattered with traps and enemies, both of which you can see. The traps are hidden however (they leave a slightly discolored look on the floor), but the enemies are not. In fact, if one couldn't see the enemies, Evolution would be a very boring game. Sneaking up behind the enemies (and avoiding being hit from behind) is key to beating the game, since your party gets the initiative in the attack if you successfully sneak up behind an enemy. The game is fun for awhile, but quickly gets tiresome.

Evolution's humor and atmosphere is very light; in fact, the characters and story are reminiscent of Brave Fencer Musashi- the dialogue is humorous, the character's face textures change to reflect different moods (happiness, embarassment etc.), and the cast is varied and... well, goofy. The story is also very well articulated despite the fact that so little gameplaying time is spent moving the plot along. Some of the scenes are humorous in that they are so bizarre, such as when the evil 20-something Prince in the story brings Linear, a 12 year old girl, flowers, and says he likes his women young. In the end, Evolution is a combat-centric RPG, and the combat places it only slightly ahead of other similar titles of the era, such as Biomotor Unitron and Timestalkers.