It’s relatively easy to confine games into genres nowadays. The vast majority of titles follow a preset formula that has been done over and over again. Game expos have become so ‘run-of-the-mill’ that you can basically guess which games will be previewed each year – several military shooters, a few cinematic-heavy adventure games and a distinct lack of anything notable for racing or fighting game fans. It’s been a long time since someone tried to reinvent the wheel, with the majority of AAA developers releasing yearly sequels and most indie developers trying to bring back the days of side-scrolling pixel-art platformers.

Reinventing the wheel was no new thing to the team behind Evolva, who worked with the revolutionary computer artist William Latham during the game’s development. William Latham was a pioneer of organic, evolutionary art throughout the late eighties, and he is still active to this day. He would work alongside scientists to create computer-generated virtual forms with biological characteristics that had the ability to dynamically change in real-time. His work is truly fascinating and something you should look into if you have even the slightest interest in art. His artistic vision is incredible, and Evolva manages to display it exceptionally.

Evolva was developed by Interplay Entertainment, in conjunction with Computer Artworks, and published by Virgin Interactive in 2000 for the PC, releasing to positive reception from critics. No major criticisms were cited, and multiple outlets praised the game’s innovation and polish. To this day, the game still stands by itself in sense of its originality, with games like Spore attempting, but ultimately failing, to capture everything that made Evolva an awe-inspiring experience.

The game’s campaign mode doesn’t contain much in sense of a plot. Each of the twelve missions consist of you using your genetic enhancements to kill hordes of predatory alien life forms whilst partaking in some minor platforming and/or solving puzzles in the process. Each alien you kill can be attacked after defeat to absorb their DNA, and regain a small bit of health. There are a few levels that stray from this formula, such as the third mission in which you need to protect a small population of docile alien creatures against masses of enemies, and a mission later in the game in which your GenoHunters are split into two groups and must each do their part in reaching the objective.

Each of the levels takes a fair bit of time, and due to some difficult gameplay sections – can result in a lot of retries through trial and error assault tactics. Evolva should last you around 10 hours in total, but you can take a lot longer if you want to take in some of the scenery, or if you just can’t wrap your head around a certain section. One individual mission took me around an hour and a half to complete due to me having to take on a huge onslaught of projectile enemies with the one GenoHunter I had left alive.

Your team of GenoHunters each start off with a specialty, and can be shaped into whatever type of killing machine you desire. I geared one of my squad members towards stealth, so that he could use invisibility to sneak up on his enemies and then blast them with a rocket launcher ability up-close. This led to a mild case of suicide on a number of occasions, but was particularly effective against some of the game’s more finicky foes. Other abilities such as flame-breathing, spike-shooting and the power to conduct electricity came in handy on a regular basis too.

These abilities all became available through the mutation screen, and Interplay boasted over a billion possible variations for your GenoHunters. After absorbing the DNA of a fallen alien, you are granted access to separate genetic paths, which can lead to various static abilities, such as speed boosts and armour as well as a multitude of different activated abilities. Forging your ideal GenoHunters is a really intuitive process, and a great part of the game. Later in the campaign mode, you will feel unstoppable due to the sheer power of these genetic mutations, and having your entire squad surround a lowly enemy grunt can almost feel like bullying sometimes.

The variation of enemies is very well done, and you will have to use different tactics to take on each of the individual enemy types. Fire-breathing spider enemies require a ranged approach, and a lot of strafing, whereas the rocket-launching enemies require precision hits or close-up melee attacks to take down. The majority of these enemies can take a lot of damage, which can be irritating at times as even the basic enemies feel a little bullet-spongey. The game features a number of boss enemies too, who can really take a beating and maim your squad with ease. Quick saving before any of these battles is a necessity as they can wipe the floor with your entire team in a matter of seconds.

The A.I. is incredibly interesting to watch, as the aliens go about their business, picking off the less aggressive aliens with ease before spotting your squad members. Whereas this sort of thing would usually ensue as part of a minor cutscene, it’s great to watch it happen in real-time whilst you have full control of your characters. This method carries over to boss enemies appearing, swarms of aliens coming over the hillside and ambushes from enemy forces. You really do feel like you’re in full control whenever anything is happening in Evolva.

Unfortunately, on a few occasions your teammates will ruin missions for you. Sometimes, they’ll run straight into a pit of lava, other times they’ll get caught on the side of a ramp and be quickly taken apart by enemy forces and even jump over a platform at the same time as you and knock you both to your deaths below. That particular instance led to a lot of frustration and a short break away from the screen whilst I cried out in exasperation.

Evolva is a rather solid game, and an experience that shouldn’t be missed by anyone with a functional post-millennium computer or an account of GOG. It’s well worth a try and might even find a place among your most highly-regarded titles of all time. It’s one of the most unique and innovative games you can find to this day and it’s pretty easy to come by at a good price.

Scored: 4.5/5

✅ Pros

• Unique, Innovative Experience
• Deep Mutation Mechanic
• Varied Enemy Types

❌Cons

• Frustrating Squadmate A.I.
• Bullet-Sponge Enemies