Previous Next

Many moons ago there were lemmings. These tiny, green-haired chaps formed the basis of a computer game that was different to all the others - a puzzle game which involved using a number of these lemmings to team up and get through obstacle-filled levels. Lemmings, as we know, went on to be one of the most successful games in history.

It was inevitable, then, that other companies would see the potential in creating a game involving tiny characters with different attributes. One company in particular, Mirage, thought that as lemmings had already been used, they would replace them with cavemen. Humans was born.

The humans were fewer in number than the lemmings, but even with the help of neural networks (a learning intelligence) these guys behaved in a very similar way - tell them to walk off a cliff, and off they go, no questions asked. Hmmmm. However, they didn't tend to get killed quite as often as lemmings - but you didn't get the same feeling of sorrow and loss when they bit the dust.

Anyway, to the point. The humans evolved slightly, and the sequel, Evolution: Dino Dudes (EDD) is the game you're looking at now. Although the humans (who are now called "dudes") themselves are basically the same, they do have further abilities such as making fire, and now a witch doctor is included in their group.

Eighty levels await you and your small tribe of lemm... er, dudes. The basic idea is to negotiate your way through each level, solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles as you do. Each dude can do the same things - he can manipulate spears, rope and fire as well as the next dude.

The first problem is to discover a spear somewhere on the level - quite a simple puzzle, but introducing you at an early stage some of the features of the dudes. The spear is positioned on a high rocky outcrop, away from any ladders or other means of climbing. To get up there you need to build a dude ladder - position four or five dudes, standing on each other's shoulders, and climb another up the tower to reach the spear. The spear opens up a whole new world of possibilities for your little dudes. Each one, instead of just being able to walk or balance on another shoulders, can now use the spear to vault over small gaps in the rock. As you would expect he can also throw the spear, which can either be passive (throwing back to your mate so that he can use it), or aggressive (lobbing it at a rival caveman or dinosaur). With seemingly no end to his new talents he can also brandish the spear, which apparently keeps hungry dinosaurs at bay although it doesn't seem to work for us.

Other items waiting to be used on later levels include a wheel, which your dudes can push along or stand on. Standing on it gives added mobility: pushing left or right pedals your dude around, and if he's going down a hill then he picks up lots of speed - just right for jumping over large ravines. Rope is in limited quantities as well, and it's normally hidden away. Quite often you agonise for hours over a puzzle which could easily be solved with a length of rope, before spotting it out of the corner of your eye.

Perhaps the most interesting and exciting discovery by your dudes is fire. A burning stick, lying nonchalantly somewhere in a level, is a sure-fire (forgive the pun) way of creating fun and games. It won't blow out, so you can throw it and brandish it to your heart's content. Brandishing it near a bush (a fiendish obstacle) causes a fire, and a small charred twig appears where the bush once stood. Although we haven't found a real use for it yet, this arson also applies to other dudes. Wave your burning branch in the direction of a friend, and up he goes like tinder. Strange.

So, as your dudes progress through the 80 levels, they are progressing through the stages of evolution. Discovering things like wheels and fire are all part of evolving (albeit slightly more simplistic than in real life), and as you go on solving puzzles, so the next puzzle gets more difficult. Given that more intelligence is necessary anyway to evolve more quickly than the dinosaurs, this fits in, again simplistically, with the evolutionary chain.

The major obstacles to overcome are stacks of stone bricks, which can't be climbed. Try poking them with your spear or your fire-stick, vaulting them, throwing your spear at them, rolling a wheel into them - nothing. Again, many hours of despairing follows, before reading the manual reveals a number of switches dotted around. The switches are actually depressions in the ground which, when a heavy object is placed in them, makes the stone wall disappear.

Hang on a mo, though. On a deeper plane, these switches which make walls disappear are obviously the sign of a superior intelligence. After all, the dino dudes are just learning about fire and wheels, and yet here they are grasping the concept of matter diffusion. An interesting touch would have been to include the odd UFO or something, to link up this bizarre technological jump with what's happening to your dudes. Maybe in the sequel, eh?

Right then, the witch doctor. This is a dude with a mask, who has obviously made some kind of pact with the devil, or something, and now knows significantly more than Paul Daniels about magic. Witchy (as he shall be known) can do lots of tricks, as long as they involve producing an object out of thin air.

You can bet your life that, if Witchy is around, another object is necessary. To make him conjure one up, he requires a single dude as a sacrifice. Position the dude next to him, click on the icon, and the dude burns up, replaced with the required object.

The most excellent aspect of EDD is that there are so many levels. To get through them all would take you many hours of play, in a very similar way to the hook of Lemmings, where you just can't put it down without getting just that little bit further. Graphically, the game is pretty good, with a decent full-colour backdrop behind each level and some neat parallax scrolling. Everything else is a direct port from the Falcon version of the game, which is a shame because the dudes could do with a few more animation frames. The sound is pretty typical, a bibbity-boppity tune and a few sound effects, but while some more could have been done to improve this, it does create a reasonable atmosphere.

The only reservation, really, is if this game is what Jaguar owners want. Of course, it's good for game platforms to have a broad range of game styles. However, in the Jaguar's case what we all want to see are games which do something different, and, quite honestly, if you saw this game running on an STE you might not look twice.

Evolution: Dino Dudes is a good puzzle game, but if you want a lively, graphical and sonic treat that you can show off to your friends then save your money for the next few releases.

Graphics 70%
Decent true colour backgrounds, parallax scrolling.

Sound 50%
Dinky tunes, reasonable sound effects.

Capability 30%
With Dudes, the Jag doesn't even sweat.

Gameplay 50%
The control isn't really suited to a joypad.

Overall 78%