Pikmin meets dinosaurs in the Adventures of Darwin

By Katie . July 19, 2007 . 5:33pm

In the 19th century, Charles Darwin was the thinker who put forth the theory of evolution. Then, in 1961, came the first video game. So it was only a matter of time until Darwin would be digitally reincarnated as a prolific monkey who puts the theory of evolution into practice, in order to save his band of complacent furry people from a vision of fiery, meteoric death…

 

Okay, it doesn't really sound like a natural conclusion, does it? Nevertheless, D3 Publisher has this month challenged all homo sapiens to answer "why not"? in Adventures Of Darwin for the PS2 - and this one has. As with all of the grander mysteries of the universe that get tried out in video games, what takes millions of years in nature is realized (and only loosely so) in but a few hours of Adventures. Only, AoD tends to oversimplify all the goings-on in the wild, as well as the key differences of humans from our predecessors. What seems a viable Pikmin knockoff is instead replete with unclear, repetitive objectives, vaguely-defined terrain and quasi-mediocre systems, all within a bare-bones engine that could have definitely used some 'creature meat'. That said, there is some good to Darwin's adventure, as we shall see.

 

 

Upon starting a new game and sitting through some variety-challenged storyboards, you the player enter the first, and last, human village of monkeys, where begins the simulation aspect of AoD. I'm not about to go on knocking the visuals the whole time, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: will the 2-D and 3-D artists please cooperate? It's very strange that a civilization in need of saving already looks pretty developed (and on a side note, like the product of Flash), but I guess treetops would have been just one more thing to design and animate, and the developers needed those resources for the cute sketch on the loading screen.

 

Ahem. Anyway, inside the houses, a few monkeys hang around and barely fit in the camera's frame… say hello to mister nothing-for-a-head and his lovely legless daughter. They'll say sometimes-helpful things that ultimately don't much matter, since gathering any materials regardless of their advice still builds more houses. Thus is your role as village philanthropist more or less limited to buying and talking - but at least what you bring back, how much you evolve, and in which mineral's development you invest affects what's in the store. (Of course, if you choose the stone quarry over iron like I did, your choice won't much matter when rock can't be the stronger…)

 

 

The fields, on the other hand, are home to the game's highly geometrical polygons and bland, if bright, textures, plus species that shouldn't co-exist - some hostile, some are not, all vastly out of proportion and crude in design. Tiny wolves that look like blue versions of tigers litter the landscape along with strange gazelles that make elephant noises, all awaiting your combat skills. Actually, such randomness as is on display in Darwin offers little means to gauge what you're really ready to undertake, and, since you can run past the multitudes due to unintelligent design, there's little reward for skill. As commander of four initial peons, Darwin looks no different, but he knows a few ways to command - pick up, drop everything, push, eat, and fight. 'X' is the context-sensitive button for everything but drop all, which can result in a silly loop of prompts during fights. No, I do not want to eat the sour fruit, I want to fight and nearly die by this sporadic AI, thanks. Just remember you can run away and find one of many, MANY star icons that replenish health and one dead unit to your ranks (a tipoff that somebody knew this game had design flaws.)

 

Speaking of that, a lock-on or at least a lasting imperative to attack a chosen target might have helped matters not be so button-mashing, as might have consistent enemy patterns, rather than their lax "now we're moving, now we're taking free shots because there's a wall in the way" attitude. Yeah, the tangent is on now.

 

 

So in effect, the scavenging for materials to improve your village, and the conquering of woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers, and the bosses of each of four fields, are all it takes to go bipedal, lose body hair, and so on in accelerated fashion until you achieve your goal. But the main thing that sticks out like a blistered gaming thumb here is the lack of communication in the interface. Although level-ups occur quite easily from the get-go - which maintains the playability of the game when the most you can transport home is a couple tree branches - the number of points they add to your attributes is anyone's guess. But that's to be expected in a game that gets you to advance text, everything from saves to ends of conversation, with "Yes". With no maps to aid you, no surefire directives, and very few 'men' at the outset, the road in this revisionist history - to become human and avoid the deep-fried fate of the dinosaurs - surely is a long one.

 

One good point is the music, which of all the production values has the unlikely distinction of being the highest. In Montreal at the International Games Summit, I heard the plight of audio technicians and designers concerned with the lack of funding put into their areas in the games industry - well fellas, all you need to do is land a job on D3 Publisher's games. However, tribal rhythms and long tracks, good though they may be, still aren't enough to save the project.

 

All in all, if you're looking for a diversionary romp akin to Pikmin but without structure or good visuals, then I'd suggest renting Adventures of Darwin for yourself. There may yet be a way to save Earth in the palms of your hands.

• RSS
• Stumble this
• Digg it
• Share on Facebook
• 1 Comment »

Related Posts

• The Adventures of Darwin evolves to a DS game
• Watch: The Adventures of Darwin
• New Pikmin toys
• Revenge of the Pikmin!
• Treasure X ESP X D3

Search Categories

• D3 Publisher
• Playstation 2
• Playtests
• USA