Cursed! -- Dead Reefs Review

Dead Reefs is a pirate story and murder mystery set on a small island in the 1700s. The player takes the role of a pretentious detective, Amadeo Finvinerro, who is sent to the island from the mainland to investigate the death of the Baron's eldest son. Having plummeted from a cliff, he may have fallen or he may have been the victim of foul play. It's up to the player to figure out which was the case. Making things more interesting is a creepy local witch who tells the Baron that his son was most certainly killed, and the fact that the island has been stricken by a deadly curse. This curse manifests every nine years, and it has been nine years since the last islander fell victim. The plot is fairly intriguing early on, offering a mysterious history to ponder over and plenty of secrets to unravel. As the game wears on, though, the intrigue fades, leaving just an average tale with a new skin applied.

The graphics are solid, and appear to capture the feeling one might expect from an island village in the early 18th century. The air is dense and dingy and the buildings all appear worn down by time. The inhabitants of the island sport a similar worn-out look that can make a player feel like heading home to the mainland. The problem with the presentation of the island, though, is that it is too dead. This isn't in a frightening or ominous way - it is more of a boring and lackluster one. Though the townsfolk display a fair amount of character while in the spotlight, they remain utterly lifeless until engaged. They remain as fixtures in the virtual world, much like any piece of furniture or random item. There is simply nothing "alive" about the island of Dead Reefs.

The audio doesn't add a great deal to the game's ability to draw the gamer in, either. The musical score attempts to create a tense atmosphere, relying heavily on the string section, but doesn't quite achieve its goal. This is possibly because it only kicks in on occasion, and when it does it fails to make an impact, fading into the realm of background noise. The voice acting in Dead Reefs is not bad. Most of the characters have interesting voices and deliver their lines well. The worst performance is by none other than the main character, though, who is uninteresting, uninterested, and dryer than sawdust. Sometimes his voiced responses don't even transition logically from the preceding statement, which is particularly jarring.

More disturbing, however, are the game's control options. Once you step onto the island, the first thing you will notice is that there is absolutely no mouse support in this game. All character movement is mapped to the W,A,S, and D keys, in a character-relative fashion. This means that W always moves forward, and the other keys make him turn. It ends up being quite cumbersome, and it's a wonder the developers at Strko-Graphics didn't implement something more manageable. Actions such as look, talk, and interact are assigned to the arrow keys, along with inventory access. That part may seem a little strange, but works thanks to an ever-present on-screen guide. The best part about the control setup is that it includes a first-person visual search, which highlights interactive portions of the environment with an eyeball icon. This eliminates a lot of the click-everywhere syndrome that other adventure titles have suffered from in the past.

Unfortunately, Dead Reefs is incredibly linear. Most everything is carefully scripted, and certain actions act as triggers for the next pre-set interaction to become available. It's as if the book has been written, and all you can do is turn the pages. Additionally, players will feel like they are at the mercy of the protagonist's every whim, because he will often refuse to go anywhere that doesn't lead to the next incrementation of the plot. This means that most doors, gates, and other passageways are often closed to the gamer. There is very little free reign to explore the environment.

As is the case with most adventure games, Dead Reefs features a healthy amount of puzzle situations. Usually, these make use of some combination of the many items that Finvinerro finds during his hunt for the crime's perpetrator, and players must use them in uniquely logical ways in order to be successful. Unlike a lot of other adventure games, the puzzles aren't overly convoluted or ridiculously conceived. They make at least some sense, and often a bit more than that.

One big problem I noticed while playing Dead Reefs is that it seems to be somewhat unstable, and gave more than a few errors on each of three different PCs that I installed it on. On one, there seemed to be issues with the display drivers. The game refused to start at all, even after much tweaking. On another PC, the game would experience random crashes and freezes, causing me to save my progress at every turn. Of course I can't make a universal diagnosis based on the specific problems on my personal computers, but if the issues are indeed widespread, then you can go ahead and chop the final score in half on account of a broken piece of software. On a positive note, it's nice that the game features the save-anywhere option, but I would rather not have had to make use of it under those particular circumstances.

Overall, I believe Dead Reefs has a good game hidden deep down inside, but there are a few layers of obfuscation that disallow the gamer from ever experiencing it.

Ridin' Dirty -- Colin McRae: DiRT Review

DiRT is captivating. Actually, it's enthrallment on wheels. This mix of arcade and sim rally racing from Codemasters will draw you in, even from a position of innocent spectatorship, and make you a DiRT fiend. It's a good thing the game is fun, or else the previous statement would be a big problem.

The first thing you will notice about Colin McRae: DiRT is that it's drop-dead gorgeous. From the cars, to the drivers, to the forest, desert, and mountain vistas, the game screams, "look at me!" Even the menus are some of the most attractive that I have ever laid eyes on. Their web 2.0 design is a real visual feast, and a good starting point for the rest of the game.

DiRT features six different racing disciplines across it's four gameplay modes. The types of races include rally, hill climb, rally raid, rally cross, crossover, and CORR. If you have no clue what any of that even means, it's ok - neither did I when I began to play. The good news is that the game does a great job of making everything accessible, even to beginners. A guide is in place to let you know exactly what every discipline, track, vehicle, event, and option is all about, and you don't even have to read. The entire help system is voiced by a "presenter," who will describe whatever item is in focus after a simple tap of the Y button.

The racing disciplines basically cover timed point-to-point sprints, busy circuits full of vehicles, and treacherous cliffside runs, all of which happen over a variety of terrain using cars, trucks, buggies and even big rigs. There is a lot to do here, and players will be sure to find a combination of favorite and despised vehicles, disciplines, and tracks as they progress through the game's piece de resistance, the career mode.

DiRT is very single-player oriented, but luckily its main solo mode is a good one. The career is arranged into a tiered structure of all the different types of events. As players complete races, they earn money and points based on their finishing position (hint: it's better if you win). Money is used for buying new cars and liveries, and points unlock access to later events. There are over 45 cars and 66 events in all, and you'll definitely want to handle the career mode right off the bat, because cars and races available in the other modes are limited to what has been acquired in the career mode.

Players can advance through the career at their own pace, as DiRT offers five different difficulty levels that are selectable on a per-race basis. If any particular event is kicking your ass (and I guarantee some will do just that), then you can simply drop the difficulty, finish the race, and be on your merry way. Adjusting these difficulties allow the player to race at a competitive level, no matter how skilled (or unskilled) they may be. Other little options over the course of the career mode include a sizable amount of vehicle performance customization, and test runs with your modified racers. It's not as involved as buying all kinds of parts, but focuses more on tweaking brake, shock, wheel, and other variables to make the cars run better. If you're not into that sort of thing, then you'll be happy to hear that it's entirely optional - it just might be harder to win on the pro difficulty level.

Like the title suggests, DiRT is as much about the surfaces you drive on as the vehicles you drive in. Navigating the terrain is half the battle, and doing it quickly enough to win is another story. The cars all have very distinct feelings of weight to them, as well as varying degrees of power and handling. Depending on the vehicle and the terrain, players will find themselves implementing many different racing techniques throughout their Dirt career. For example, properly navigating the same turn with four different vehicles might require simply letting up on the gas, braking and then accelerating, e-braking to slide, or just powering through the turn. The gameplay variety is pretty vast.

There are few annoyances one might notice as he or she plays DiRT, however. The first, and most gigantic, are the horribly long and almost painful load times. Waiting 40 seconds between selecting a race and actually racing it is not far-fetched. The game offers a bunch of interesting statistics to look at while you wait, but after the first few times, you really don't care anymore. Playing the game is a little bit more interesting. The other gripe I have with the career mode is that players can't test more than one vehicle for a particular event in the "shakedown" portion before deciding which to race with. To do so, you have to retire and take the loss each time you switch. It's a small point, but is still rather bothersome.

Multiplayer as a whole is pretty shoddily designed. There is absolutely no local, split-screen multiplayer mode, so don't worry about having extra controllers for your buddies. All multiplayer is either via LAN or Xbox Live, and those options don't offer a very favorable gameplay experience. Each individual player has little say in what vehicle and location he or she will be racing in. This is determined by a vote of all the players in the lobby area of the multiplayer game session. Although up to 100 gamers can compete in one race, each races alone while tracking opponents in a small on-screen leaderboard. The final slap in the face from DiRT's multiplayer mode is the lack of support for voice chat. Weak.

The only person who will be talking to you during DiRT races is your crew man, and the comments he makes before and after races get old pretty fast. During races, as he calls out turn distances and angles, I love him, but hearing him call me "tiger" or "my steady" makes me want to staple his face shut. Aside from the aforementioned commentary and the strange menu music with moaning women in the background, the rest of the game's audio is standard racing fare, and generally pleasing. The roaring engines and other sound effects all sound realistic, and although they don't quite match the game's graphics, they still get the job done.

Like I said before, these graphics are GOOD. I didn't know much about rally racing before playing DiRT, so I decided to watch a few videos online. What I discovered was that DiRT is exactly like real-life rally, only with BETTER graphics. The visual damage modeling is top-notch. Besides getting DiRT-y (lame, I know), these vehicles get trashed. Each bump into a guard rail, tree, or opposing racer causes deformation of the car's shell, with resulting effects ranging from slight concavity or re-applied texture-mapping of the car's surface to completely lost and/or obliterated sections of the vehicle. It is some of the best car damage I have seen in a videogame. Before the damage, too, each car is just about as photorealistic as a gamer could ask for (besides those really demanding types), with smooth lines and intricate details, as well as superb representation of the vehicle's reflective properties. As races progress, you will see cars go from shiny and new, redirecting the sun's rays right into your eyes, to dull and dirt-laden, with varying degrees of specularity in-between. The settings are just as beautiful than the cars, and feature amazing real-time light and shadow, blur effects and of course stunning views. Race replays are especially astounding.

Still, the game is not without its flaws, even visually. Although it is sometimes difficult to notices as you're focuses on the coming corners, DiRT suffers from lots of pop-in and occasional slowdown. Bushes, rocks, trees, and even some textures don't show up until they reach a certain distance from the camera, and in a few cluttered races, the frame rate can dip below the desirable range. The only other downfall of the graphics tech in DiRT is that the vehicles don't leave accurate furrows in the ground. The ones you see as you race are not yours.

DiRT is fun and addictive, and offers quite a bit of gameplay for a single player. The career mode is long and rewarding, with a wide variety of vehicles and races to choose from. Although the visual presentation is through the roof, there are still a few flaws in the design, graphics, and audio departments, and you might as well have a book or handheld gaming system strapped to your belt to keep you busy during the ridiculously long load times. Other than that, DiRT is certainly a great game, and I think I'm going to go play some more of it right now.

For The Overlord!! For The Masta!!! -- Overlord Review

What do you get when you cross an action RPG focused on moral choices and open-ended quest completion with a strategy game that features an army of underlings with various different abilities? Well, if you take the angel off of one shoulder and replace it with a second little devil, you get Codemasters' and Triumph Studios' Overlord. The overall feel of this action-adventure game is something like Lionhead Studios' Fable with the added bonus of commanding a small army at all times, a la Pikmin. And it's evil.

The game begins when the titular Overlord is awoken from his deathly slumber by a few of his loyal minions. His castle is in ruin, and it is up to the player, the Overlord, and the gremlin-like minions to restore the evil kingdom to its former glory. What better way to start than by wreaking havoc on the countryside?

The Overlord himself is as a hulking mass of armor, and looks to be made for battle. Although he is much more powerful than his faithful followers, he can still become overwhelmed should he find himself in the thick of combat without them. It is the minions who are the stars of this game, really, and the proper manipulation of the raucous mob is the key to success in the player's crusade of comic villainy.

Minions are called to the Overlord's side from special holes in the ground, where I'm convinced they do nothing but party, drink, and fight with each other until they are beckoned. When they emerge, the Overlord is in control. Players use the R trigger to order the eager minions at various targets, which can be locked onto with the L trigger. More often, however, gamers will find themselves using the right analog stick to sweep the horde through piles of boxes, crates, and jars, as well as swarm them around enemies and obstacles. This is all done independent of the Overlord's personal actions, which include movement, melee attacks, and spell-casting. The basic gameplay is very reminiscent of Nintendo's Pikmin, and the players will undoubtedly form the same sort of fondness for these little terrors as they may have once had for those little plant creatures.

Minions destroy or devour anything in sight, and as they defeat enemies, smash barrels, and ransack houses, they pick up weapons and bits of armor to make the overall force stronger. They also bring the Overlord health and mana potions, and collect gold to pay for castle and weapon upgrades. Lastly, as they kill enemies and innocent little animals, they harvest life force - the key to expanding the minion army. The more life force they release, the more minions become available to do the Overlord's bidding. The color of the life force depends on the type of creature that meets its untimely demise, and each color cultivates a certain type of minion.

There are four distinct types of minions, in all. Each type possesses different attributes that are used to progress through the adventure. Brown minions are the core units, with the highest attack power and greatest hardiness. The player begins the adventure with only these at his disposal. The others must be found in "lairs" throughout the adventure before they join the minion army. Red minions are invulnerable to fire, and have a long-range fireball attack. Greens can pass through, as well as remove, poison clouds in the Overlord's path. They also receive a big bonus when attacking from behind, and become invisible when stationed at a guard marker. Finally, blue minions are the only ones who can swim, and are able to revive fallen minions. The minions are similar to the classic classes of warrior, mage, assassin, and cleric, respectively.

The Overlord has the ability to either command all minions at once, or those of only one color at a time. He can also set guard markers for the selected group of minions, where they will remain stationed until called. Using all four minion types to effectively achieve your goals is one thing that makes the game so engaging, and when strategy and tactics come into play, the game becomes more rewarding. The control of the minions isn't perfect, however. Managing the army with the analog stick, especially, becomes a bit difficult to manage when minions get caught up while carrying out tasks. It is also much too easy to accidentally send minions to their watery, fiery, and other sorts of deaths. The overlord already sacrifices the little buggers to heal himself and to imbue his weapons with power, so losing a full squad to nothing more than an over-sized puddle seems such a waste.

The game is organized into a bunch of different areas, which are all accessible via the castle's built-in teleporter. In each of these places, characters beg the Overlord to help them. Usually the quests fall right in line with his self-interest, so players should be happy to oblige. Rewards are mostly limited to self-satisfaction and the fun of completing the quest, but along the way one will find items that add to the Overlord's heath, magic, and horde size, not to mention tons of cash and minion-spawning life force. Each is a generally profitable endeavor. The only GLARING ISSUE that will put a damper on things is the lack of an in-game map...of any kind. The levels usually dump players right back where they need to be after completing an objective (which is lovely design), but considering the complexity of some of the areas, there is bound to be quite a bit of confusion finding your way without the help of some form of cartographic aid. The overall progression through the game is somewhat self-directed, and the quests often afford players the opportunity to choose a path of evil, or...less evil.

Visually, Overlord is very appealing. It has a few technical issues that can't go without mention, however. First, the game suffers from a bit of pop-in and clipping. Trees and shrubs will sometimes magically appear as players approach them, and may clip through nearby boulders or other objects. Also, the leaves within trees will fill out as the player approaches, making the canopies look as though they are shimmering until you realize that empty space has magically transformed into leaves before your very eyes. Lastly, I noticed a couple of lighting issues while playing Overlord. There are inexplicable flickers of light here and there, as well as a strange inconsistency with certain shadows that seem to have an affinity for locomotion. Aside from these pitfalls, however, the overall presentation of the game is very pretty. There is a whimsical feel to the world, brought about by a crisp, colorful world and a healthy dose of bloom effects. The scale of characters is large, and each is very detailed, fitting right into the well-textured, bump-mapped, specularly fantastic environment. It may not be perfect, but it does look good.

The audio picks up where the graphics leave off. Great voice overs add to the character of the game, and make most of the cast at least somewhat memorable and quotable. Minions, especially, have great voices, and happily scream out phrases like "for the Overlord!" as they collect things. Even though they repeat a few phrases over and over, they still remain adorable in their own evil and charming way. A nice touch is how the Overlord's accompanying minions will respond to NPCs in the cutscenes that are interspersed throughout the adventure. Though each color minion makes a few distinct sounds, it's unfortunate that the main voices for all of them is the same. Other than a few extra minion voices, there is little more to ask of the game in terms of audio. The destruction of barrels, crates, pots, chest, and the like sounds excellent, and combat is accompanied by the viscerally satisfying sounds of clanging weapons, pierced flesh, and a variety of death throes. The attention to detail is obvious, and is even evident in the distinctive sounds of the Overlord's footsteps over different types of terrain.

I don't know if I've done my best to properly explain just how enjoyable Overlord is. A great sense of accomplishment accompanies the completion of quests, discovery of objects, and reconstruction of the castle, and commanding an army of wild and wicked imps who obliterate everything in their path never gets old. I may be sadistic, but this game and all its mischief slapped a smile on my face for most of the 30+ hours it spun inside my Xbox 360. The graphics and sound are very pleasing, and the game offers great value for the money. Multiple play-throughs may be in order.

Not So Grim To Me -- GrimGrimoire Review

Newcomer Vanillaware is making a habit of creating very unique and interesting games. First they brought us the side-scrolling beat-em-up RPG, Odin Sphere. It featured wildly captivating visuals, but didn't deliver upon all of it's ideas as well as it could have. This time around, they have developed a story-driven, two-dimensional, side-scrolling, vertically-oriented RTS for the PS2, and have come up with a winning formula. It's a strange-sounding formula, I know, but a winner none-the-less. The game features a toned-down version of Odin Sphere's graphical style, while offering innovative gameplay coupled with an entertaining storyline.

The game is composed of story and mission sections, each of which offers its own unique appeal. The story is one of the game's strongest points, with a cast of colorful and interesting characters who all are revealed to be more and more complex as the story goes on. There is a serpentine devil, a studious man-lion, a dominatrix instructor, an alchemical homunculus, and a girl who carries a frog on her head, just for fun. The protagonist, Lillet Blan, is a young girl who decides to attend the Magic Academy at Silver Star Tower, where students learn to use grimoires - the various tomes of magic. On the fifth day of her schooling, things go horribly wrong at the school, and she is somehow thrust back in time to relive those five days once again. This happens a handful of times throughout the course of the game, and with each run-through Lillet retains all of the knowledge and talents that she acquired the previous time. On paper this design sounds intriguing, but in practice...well...it actually is.

When it comes to the mission sections, GrimGrimoire takes the traditional RTS formula of gathering resources (mana) in order to build base units (runes), which in turn pump out troops (familiars) to do the player's bidding. Most of the units have a few levels of upgrades that increase their functionality and afford the player more options in carrying out their strategies. The difference is that in GrimGrimoire, the basic RTS has literally been turned on its side, and into a visual feast. Everything is laid out vertically, and viewed from the side, with fog of war covering the areas that have yet to be explored. Using the 12 grimoires in four categories of magic, Lillet will control a whole horde of familiars who all have different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and use them to complete various mission objectives. Destroying all of the enemy's runes or outlasting an assault are the most usual of these goals.

Making a console RTS always poses an immediate problem to any developer. Controls for the genre are usually cumbersome and unwieldy with traditional dual-analog pads. Being so unique in it's presentation - 2D side-scrolling - GrimGrimoire manages to quell a bit of the angst that normally plagues the genre. Yes, the controls are difficult at first, but they become more manageable as time goes on. The square button is used for selection of units - either one at a time, or by dragging over many of the same unit type. Commands for each unit are cycled with the R1 and L1 buttons, and then executed with the X button. The default action is always "move." While the left analog stick moves the on-screen pointer, the right stick is used to scroll the entire viewable area more quickly, which will become most players' primary method of navigation. There is also a mini map that can be called up with the circle button, so players can click on any point and instantly focus on that area. One last touch that greatly helps to reduce the aforementioned console RTS effect is that upon selection of any unit, the game pauses. This allows players to set up a plan, or simply to stop and gather their wits in the midst of an onslaught.

Graphically, the game takes all but a few pages out of Odin Sphere's book, resulting in a visual treat throughout the game. Character art in particular was obviously created with much care. Although the portraits aren't quite as awe-inspiring as Odin Sphere's highly caricatured drawings, they are still very detailed and add a great deal of character to the game. These works of art even breathe, blink, change expression, and move dynamically as their dialog is delivered. What's more is that the backgrounds they perform on are always moving and changing in one way or another. Glowing particles are often found floating through the scene, and there are smoke and cloud effects, too. My personal favorite ADD-invokers are the constellations, whose stars are connected and then outlined and animated, all as the characters exchange words. Altogether, the combination of effects is greatly effective at drawing the player into the game.

Within the mission sections of the game, there are strong and not-so-strong points. The sprites for the familiars are all beautifully animated, and they display the same dynamic characteristics of the illustrations in the story section. Additionally, the runes that are scattered across the halls of the academy are especially attractive. Each one gives off a glow that is like a sheer veil of light emanating from the floor. Within these glowing spaces are small animations that are displayed constantly throughout the battle. For example, the Hades Gate rune depicts a group of tortured souls, half engulfed by the ground, flailing about with arms outstretched. Each is unique and each is awesome. On the other hand, the stages themselves are very attractive, but almost all identical. Being set in the magic academy, the game has an excuse, but it is still unfortunate that there weren't more creative backdrops for the battles.

The music of GrimGrimoire is very good. Although it is not as epic as a game like Odin Sphere, all of the music is orchestrated and aurally appealing. The tone is generally more lighthearted, but is never turned into a joke. It matches the art style very well. The voice-overs for Lillet's familiars are not only good, but stay in memory long after putting the game down. If you still recite, "Yes, me'lord," from Warcraft, "I swear by my soul" may become your new tagline after playing GrimGrimoire - not to mention that the voices of the fairies are just downright adorable. The game's full-fledged voice acting is top-notch, as well. The dialog and its dramatic delivery further animate the already appealing characters. The cast becomes more authentic with every line.

GrimGrimoire is a refreshingly original take on a genre whose games have historically been primarily cookie-cutter offerings. Of course, a 2D, side-scrolling, vertically-oriented console RTS may take a moment to wrap one's head around, but Vanillaware has made it work. The game features a bright cast of characters that drive its Groundhog's Day -esque plot, and presents them in an attractive and inviting artistic style, with the audio to match. While the gameplay is not as seamless as the PC would allow, GrimGrimoire certainly does the best with what it has, and is worthy of recommendation to most gamers. The most glaring issue this game has is that it comes to an end rather quickly, clocking in at around 10 hours. If that bars it from a purchase, do yourself a favor and give it a rent, you won't be disappointed.

Monkey See, Monkey Do -- The Adventures Of Darwin Review

From Vingt-et-un Systems and D3, The Adventures of Darwin is a strategy/simulation that borrows ideas from Nintendo's Pikmin, and then applies a good deal of its own gameplay elements to round out the experience. While this game is just another title that will likely fly well below the radar of most gamers, it is actually not that bad, and many gamers will find that they can have some fun with it.

The Adventures of Darwin begins when Darwin the monkey has a prophetic dream about an apocalyptic future event. He urges his tribe to help him as he tries to discover ways to evolve, and hopefully survive. He begins with four followers, and they set out to gather food, resources, and evolutionary items from the surrounding territory. The force expands, of course, but only by collecting the yellow stars that are scattered about, and often guarded by nasty creatures.

The gameplay is very similar to Pikmin, where the player controls one character who, in turn, controls the others. Darwin can interact with most any item, animal, or structure he encounters, ordering his troops to perform the appropriate action in each case. These loyal followers will align themselves into various formations to fight hostiles, collect resources, and blaze paths for their fearless leader, as long as there are enough of them to meet the tasks' minimum manpower requirements. Rather than sending them to return items to the village on their own, though, Darwin must accompany his minions all the time. These frequent trips back to the village become slightly annoying, as they really break up the action, and slow the pace of the entire game.

The game is divided into two separate portions. There is the real-time hunting, gathering, and exploring phase, where all of the action occurs, and there is the village area, where Darwin can visit the various buildings that pop up as wood, stone, and iron are gathered. Each time items are brought back from the field, the entire village progresses toward reaching the next level. When that happens, usually a new building or two will pop up, offering a mix of useful and useless services and information. Some upgrades include a weapon shop, a mess hall to restore health, and resource houses that focus the civilization on one of the three building materials. The unfortunate part is that as the town gains experience, there is no clear indicator of just what is in the works at any given time - until it shows up.

Because the primary goal of the game is to evolve Darwin's society, it stands to reason that the most important part of the game is acquiring specific evolution items. These tools are guarded by each level's boss character, who is usually and excellent monkey/caveman killer. Once he is defeated and the group secures the evolution item, the tribe advances to the next evolutionary level, learns a new formation, and gains a new ability. These abilities always help to unlock more territory for exploration, creating a chain of a events leading to the ultimate success of the civilization.

Visually, The Adventures of Darwin fails to impress. As a matter of fact, the first thing that many players will notice about the game is that its graphics are horrible. Really, it looks like the lovechild of first-generation N64 and PlayStation games. The same textures are repeated over and over, so different portions of each area look much the same. Everything is pretty blurry and detail-free, too, making it difficult to discern exactly what little Darwin and friends may come upon in their adventures. This is particularly troubling when you think an enemy is a rock, and instead of getting a valuable piece of building material to aide your community, you get a bitch-slap to your apish lips.

Much like the graphics, the game's audio is very rudimentary. The primal drum patterns and pleasant midi tunes aren't bad, and may even be sort of catchy, but there is really very little variety here. The best is when the track comes to the end, and there is a hiccup as it loops back to the beginning of the track. Besides that, the sound effects used for Darwin's tribe and its enemies are very generic, and possibly bothersome - depending on the player's tolerance for such things.

The Adventures of Darwin is a game that puts forth a good effort to be innovative, trying out some new twists on existing gameplay mechanics. The poor graphics and sound aside, it doesn't do a terrible job at delivering a somewhat enjoyable experience. A couple of tweaks, and this game could've been very solid. Not bad for 20 bucks.