Evilution - Nigma Adventures RRP œ8.95 (maybe plus P&P) (Text/graphics adventure for ST) Reviewed by Piotr Tyminski It must've been flick of a genius that day couple of weeks ago when I dug out a prehistoric issue of "ZERO" (no. 26, Dec'91). This particular one was battered horribly - looked like half eaten by my younger daughter - but still in good enough shape to enable me to have a look at that once great adventures section. There, hidden among other mini-reviews, was a short article about an adventure game produced by Nigma Adventures. And then I suddenly remembered what had originally attracted my attention; they said the game was boxed and with printed manual. Not an extremely innovative concept, you may think, but honestly - how many adventures come boxed and with printed booklets these days? I wondered then what the hell was the reason for not buying the game back in 1991. I'm afraid there must've been some priorities higher on my shopping list at that time (eer... apparently it was vodka again). I wrote a letter to Nigma Adventures then, and, after receiving a nice reply, I ordered the game immediately. First thought was that lots of work must've been put into producing this commercial-like release. Packed in a plastic box there were two disks (with printed, professional looking labels) and a small manual. Except for detailed information regarding commands, syntax and other usual technical stuff it contained an introduction to the game; not just these "your sister was kidnapped and you have to rescue her" kind of intros but a full story. One could probably live without it (you could still play the game anyway since a short guideline is given at the back of the box, too) but it's very nice to see the authors put that extra bit of work to give the player a feeling of a real thing. The game has atmospheric digitized graphics; these are of good quality, far better than in many games of this kind. The screen is split between graphics window and text in the usual way (well, not exactly - the upper window looks like a wall made of stones with graphics window cut in it). There's also a third window added in the top right corner of the screen, this one displaying current time, health, strength, fatigue and score. These are changing all the time depending on your actions, and the whole thing works in real time, i.e. people whom you normally meet during the day may not be there in the night so don't expect a baker to sell you some bread at 1 a.m. Basically, this part of the display is more of an RPG style than of a regular text adventure - you have to sleep, eat, rest, etc. Alternatively you may just fall asleep anywhere (and all of a sudden!) if you get tired to the extreme. It's quite an original approach and it definitely improves the gameplay in a significant way. Suppose you're fighting someone: your stamina will decrease with each hit absorbed but you may still change your mind and try to run away if things get really serious. You don't get this kind of luxury in other adventures, usually you simply drop dead when attacking eight knights with just a wooden stick. Magic is another nice touch: there are numerous objects to be found which enable you to cast various spells. Animals can't speak (at least that's what I was taught at school but bear in mind it was a Communist school so according to the current doctrine it was a bad one, logically then animals are allowed to talk - see our President if you don't believe). Fortunately, in "Evilution" they do not talk to you if you don't want to listen (not like our President) or, rather, if you are not able to communicate with them (that's where magic comes in handy). Ramsave/ramload are supported, as well as useful "oops" command, provided in case you decide it was a stupid idea anyway to charge at those eight knights. What about the gameplay? So far I've discovered only 34 locations (reason for that is that I just MUST finish couple of other adventures before really engaging myself in "Evilution"). There's surely much more to explore than those 34 places I visited (there are two disks so it looks like there should be plenty to do) but it was enough to ensure me of high quality of the game. There are couple of puzzles to be solved at the beginning, most requiring a certain item to be used at certain location. Also proper interaction with non-player characters is essential. Everything seems to be logical so far, at least at the early stage. Puzzles are not too tough but it's just the beginning. The game must've been thoroughly playtested since I haven't noticed any misspellings or general mistakes; all in all looks like a very polished product. It seems "Evilution" fully deserves 62% score (as given by "ZERO", but don't worry, for some reasons they always seem to give low scores to adventures, usually between 30 and 50 percent) but if it looks equally good in further stages, with puzzles hopefully getting tougher, it should be given a higher rating. If you are an adventure fan "Evilution" should definitely be on your shopping list - it could be a worthy addition to your collection. In case you decide to give it a go but have problems with finding the authors here's the address: Mark J. Howlett Nigma Adventures, 10 Greygoose Park, Harlow, Essex CM19 4JH, ENGLAND The game costs œ 8.95 plus I added œ 1.00 for postage but who knows, maybe P&P is included in the price for UK deliveries, check before sending your cash. Anyway, if you overpay that one Sterling it's still worth it.