Evolution

Evolution is a fun and quirky arcade game from Sydney Development. You start as an amoeba trying to advance up the evolutionary chain to become a human. To do this you will have to go through a total of six distinctly different evolutionary steps, each an action 'mini-game' with its own challenges and goals.

In the amoeba stage, your goal is to eat all the DNA while avoiding spores, microbes, and other one-cell animals that try to catch you. In the tadpole stage, you must eat three of the elusive water flies while avoiding the menacing fish. In the rodent stage, your goal is to eat five blocks of cheese. For the first time, you can now attack your predators (the snakes): here by dropping one of your dung piles on them.

In the beaver stage, you must finish building a dam with sticks while avoiding alligators. In the gorilla stage, you must protect your three oranges from thieving monkeys. Hit five monkeys with coconuts to go to the next level. The final stage, set after you have evolved to be a human, is set in the far future. Here you must kill the mutants with your laser pistol.

The gameplay is smooth, hectic, and quite a lot of fun - although the levels are unfortunately too short. The gorilla level is by far my favorite level, although like all the rest it is over all too soon. Worth a look if you like unique and interesting action games, and check out the SNES game on this site EVO: Search for Eden for a more sophisticated take on the same theme.

Review By HOTUD