Evolution Worlds (GameCube RPG) A long time ago, the World was ruled by a highly advanced civilization. Time passed and for reasons as yet unknown, this civilization collapsed and the human race began all over again. Now, in the 930s Epoch, mankind strives to piece back together its past with the help of Explorers, adventurous dungeon crawlers who risk life and limb to bring back artifacts that The Society, the premiere archeological institute, can study. And amongst the many Explorers who have spent their whole lives digging for answers, none are more famous than the Launcher family. The Playable Characters... *Mag Launcher, the last remaining member of the Launcher family and our hero, finds himself in alot of trouble as of late. His parents disappeared a while back searching for the elusive and all powerful treasure, Evolutia. Now, as if trying to adventure his family's way out of debt with The Society wasn't hard enough, a mysterious girl has come into his life who may complicate things quite a bit more for Mag. Carrying the powerful, Hand Cyframe (a machine tool/weapon, a remnant of the ancient civilization, that some Explorers use to find items and fight monsters), Mag is the offensive leader of the group. Though he'll eventually learn the ability to heal other party members, his main job is beating things to a pulp. A hero of the "happy-go-lucky" variety, there isn't much Mag wouldn't do for his friends. Speaking of which... *Linear Cannon, the girl who showed up on Mag's doorstep one snowy night bearing a letter from Mag's father to protect her no matter what... Quiet, shy, and introverted, there is much about her that no one understands, however, it is Mag's friendship that allows her to open up bit by bit. Though she weilds a frying pan in battle and has some offensive abilities, she is for the most part the healer of the group and will remain so for the majority of your quest. *Of course, a famous adventurer can't explorer without a good man servant at his side and thus we have, Gre Nade. The voice of reason in the party, he tries to keep Mag from getting ahead of himself. In battle, he wields a shotgun but his main function is to serve Mag by increasing his stats and such. However, he does also gain the abilities to heal the party and to attack enemies with his culinary skills. *Additionally, every good adventurer must have a rival of some sort and that comes in the form of the annoying little brat, Chain Gun. Though she carries a torch for Mag, you'd never know it from the way she treats him. Vain, self centered, competitive, and generally a pest, Chain delights and beating him to treasure and then making fun of him about it. ...But once things get hairy, she won't want to let Mag go alone. Her Cyframe of choice is a Disc-Type that also allows her to hover and fly around. Like Mag, she's an offensive fighter but much weaker and has few other useful skills. *Usefulness, however, is Pepper Box's middle name. An experienced adventurer, herself, she brings much to Mag's Team. Quick witted and scantily clad, she loves to flirt with Mag, but she's more of a big sister to him. Usually found hanging out at the local bar, she'll lend a hand whenever it's needed. However, business is business and she likes to take her own cut of reward money issued by The Society. She uses a Cannon-Type Cyframe that can both hurt and heal. She can also give Mag moral support in battle to improve his stats. *Much more mysterious and harder to get help from is Carcano, the thief. A mysterious "Robin Hood"-Type character, he'll only join you if he's sure you're on the right side. Though his skills are equally mysterious as he is, his Grappling Hook-Type Cyframe packs a punch and can help get your party into certain places. The Ruins... Also known as "The Places You'll Be Stuck In For the Majority Of The Game", they include both normal dungeons and randomly generated ones. Within them you'll usually find tons of monsters, though you can try to avoid them or surprise them a la Earthbound, and tons of treasure chests contaning armor, weapons, items, and collectable artifacts that can be sold outright or combined so they may be sold at even higher prices. Considering the monsters don't drop money, what you find in chests will provide you with a nice second income aside from your Society payments. Some treasure will be in plain sight, other hidden forcing you to knock down a wall to get at it, or may even be guarded by monsters. And finally after you've gone through the torture of exploring the whole dungeon, you must fight its boss. Though usually not overly challenging, if you're not prepared you may have to be rescued by The Society... Or you can at least hope they can. Fortunately, on the floor just before a boss, you'll find a Save Point and a warp to escape the dungeon if you need to (and don't worry, you can usually return to the floor you left off on later.). But that's not the end of it, not by a long shot! Dungeons are also full of traps of all sorts. They can heal you, hurt you, make you blind, confuse your controls, and various other nasty things. Fortunately, both they and the dungeons themselves may be navigated via Dungeon Items that can show you enemy positions, the map of the floor your on, and even show you where traps are hidden. However, these are usually found only in dungeon treasure chests and can't be purchased so you'll have to keep an eye out for them. The Battle System... Combat starts out in a way fairly simmilar to Earthbound. As eluded to above, monsters can be seen in the dungeon and if they see you, they WILL charge forth. You can meet them in combat for a standard battle, surprise them and get the upper hand, or if they catch you from behind, prepare to tend to your wounded. In fact, all three potential battle forms each have their own specific theme: If you've been caught unaware, a serious and forboding theme will where as a if you have the upper hand, a stirring adventurous melody will follow your monster thrashing. Once the battle starts, you can look to the right side of the screen where a convinient turn order chart shows you how the fight will shape up turn- wise. Of course, turn order can be changed through items and spells but you can use this feature to plan out your attacks. As your first character's turn comes around, you'll have a variety of choices but they pretty much boil down to: Attack (normal physical move), Skills (the character's magic), Talents (special moves that can only be done every now and then), Items, Move (your characters stand on three rows, this option lets you move their row in battle), Defend, and Escape. After it all ends, your characters will pick both experience points and technical points that can be invested in their Skills. The Cyframe System... One of Evolution World's more interesting features is the ability to customize the special attacks of your Cyframe carrying characters. How is this done? While basic customization (changing around Parts are are found in dungeons and can affect your character's stats in differet ways from slot to slot) can be done anywhere, outside of battle, to increase the amount of slots on your Cyframe and increase the power of the equipped parts, you must go to a Cyframe Shop. Though very expensive at times, the money spent a Cyframe Shop can really help your party stay alive in dungeons. Though fears abound that the GameCube is getting short changed with a port, especially for players of the original DC games, there may still be hope in that this new version may have some significant additions to warrant playing through it again, however, wether or not it truly is more than just a simple port is something that we'll have to wait to see. All in all, however, considering where the N64 was at this point in its life cycle RPG-wise, Evolution Worlds Gamecube owners who have yet to adventure with Mag and company may have something to look forward to.