Great family game for all ages, Evo is a great concept for simple fun.
Written: Dec 16 '05 (Updated Dec 16 '05)
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Pros: Original idea, simple to set up and play, easy to teach new players.
Cons: Can be somewhat boring for younger kids, sometimes gets repetitive if played with 3 players.
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for something different in a board game, give Evo a chance. It's quirky, fun, and like nothing you've ever played. Can you Evolve in time?
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| openroad's Full Review: Evo: The Last Gasp of the Dinosaurs |
----- What's this Evo all about? -----
Thanks to my good friend Matt I've been introduced to more new games in the past 3 years than any other time in my life. Throughout most of my younger years and teens I was a strict Yahtzee-Monopoly-Sorry gamer. If it wasn't made by Milton Bradley or Parker Brothers I'd never heard of it.
In the past 5 years or so there has been a massive influx of imported games with intriguing ideas and totally addictive replay value. Several of these games include Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Blokus, and of course Evo. When I was first introduced to Evo I couldn't figure out what was up with this game. It didn't look fun from the board and pieces on the table but I was a good sport and played anyway. Once you figure out how to play you'll have a great time and so will everyone else around the table.
The Story and Goal: The game of Evo puts you in control of a species called simply 'Dinos'. They require your constant attention in order to keep them alive. You'll need to move them to warmer or cooler climates depending on the global temperature, select the right mutant genes that evolve your Dinos to fit the changing world, and take over the territory of those Dinos that will soon learn the meaning of extinct. To make it exciting you can't simply pick those evolutionary genes off the ground, you need to bid against other players using your mutation points. Beware spending all your points on the most hotly contested gene only to find you've de-evolved into an outdated species. When the big meteor strikes the world at the end of the game, your Dinos will only win if you've planned ahead, bid your mutation points carefully, and pushed your way to the top of the food chain.
----- How do you play? -----
First of all you decide which side of the board you'll be playing with, the smaller 3 player board or the larger 4-5 player side. To choose you simply flip the board to the correct side and begin. The island (yep, it's "The Island" formerly known as Isla Nublar) is made up of many differnt terrain hexes. Each hex is one of 4 different temperature zones ranging from desert (very hot) to mountains (very cold). This temperature range is what decideds who lives and dies as time (and turns) march along. I'll discuss this more in a bit.
Each player has a maximum of 10 playable 'Dinos' for the entire game, your goal is to have all of them on the board when the final turn is scored. For now you only get one of your Dinos out there. You also receive 10 mutation points which are used for bidding later in the game. For the sake of simplicity you should just consider points like money in any other game. You also have a gene development chart that covers your entire 'herd' of Dinos. At the game start you have one each of the following genes; Parasol, Fur Collar, Egg, and Foot. Other genes you don't start with are Horn, Tail, Event Card, and Mutant Gene. Okay, I know I've got you confused so I'll explain now.
The Genes (and I don't mean Levis)
Fur Collar: Fur collars will keep one of your active herd alive on a temperature zone one notch colder than the current climate.
Parasol: A Parasol will keep one of your active herd alive on a temperature zone one notch hotter than the current climate.
Egg: Each egg allows you to birth one new Dino each turn. This is necessary to increase the population of your herd.
Foot: Every foot gene you possess allows you move one of your active Dinos one map hex (space).
Event Card: Purchasing this card allows you to take one Event Card and add it to your hand.
Horn: Horns equal the fighting strength of your herd and are necesary if you're close to another herd and expect combat to ensue.
Tail: Ah, the tail. Possibly the most important Gene, the tail is what decides turn order for all players. The player with the longest tail goes first in each phase of a turn.
Mutant Gene: This Gene is a nasty little bugger, each Gene awards a discount of 1 mutation point during the bidding phase for his owner.
Game Phases
Each game lasts between 9 and 13 turns, this varies with the number of players and when the meteor strikes the planet. Yep, even the winners are going to die... actually all the Dinos are wiped out at impact, but at least the winner has the most points! :)
The turns are broken down into 6 distinct phases:
(1) Initiative: This phase is determined by which player has the longest tail (most tail Genes). In the beginning players must roll to decide since all players have the same length tail.
(2) Climate Adjustment: Climate adjustment is what Evo is all about and how you decide what your actions will be for the remaining phases of the turn. The climate chart has four temperature levels listed: Hot, Warm, Cool, & Cold. Wherever the climate token is located is the current safe zone for the island. For example, if the climate token is on Cool (brown space) this zone is safe and all Dinos on brown automatically survive. However, one zone colder or hotter and you'll need to make sure your Dinos can move onto a safe zone or that you have enough Parasols and Fur Collars to keep them alive.
The climate phase is begun by rolling a single die to see if the temperature follows the chart and moves normally. A roll of either 3, 4, 5, or 6 will move the token forward one space. A roll of 2 will leave the climate in the current position. Lastly, a roll of 1 will move the token back one space. What makes this interesting is that some herds will put all their points into buying Genes for warmer or cooler weather only to see the climate token move back twice (as unlikely as that is, I've seen it happen). This leaves most of the herd out there baking or freezing and rapidly turning into petroleum for someone's car 10,000 years from now.
(3) Movement & Combat: The movement phase is very important since after seeing the results of the climate phase no doubt you'll need to get your Dinos to safe zones. This is very difficult if you only have your original starting leg gene, more legs are essential if you want to survive with a large herd in the later stages of the game.
(4) Births: The direct result of how many Egg genes you have, births are the only way to positively affect the size of your herd. While passive methods such as keeping your herd alive and attacking other herds are somewhat effective for a short time, new births are the only sure way to keep your herd growing. Remember however, every land hex can only hold one dino and you've got to keep these new babies alive in the ever-changing climate.
(5) Survival & Mutation: While appropriate chronologically, it's quite jarring to new players to see death come so quickly after birth. After the births are placed by each player then the carnage begins. Only Dinos on the 'safe' temperature zones of the current turn and those protected by the appropriate genes (Fur Collar or Parasol) will survive. All surviving players receive one mutation point for each surviving Dino in their herd.
(6) Meteor Movement & Evolution: It's the end of the world as we know it... okay, it will be in 12 turns or less. First the meteor token moves one space closer to doomsday unless it rests on a space marked with dice. These spaces appear near the end of the meteor path and require you to roll the die to advance the token. After meteor movement Evolutionary Gene bidding begins.
A number of new Gene tiles equal to the number of players (or one less if using the official variant) are taken from the gene pouch and lined up on the Auction Block. Which genes are drawn is completely random which makes each auction very important. Bidding order is determined by initiative order (back to the tail genes again) and decends down the line by which player has the next shorter tail. The first bidder must place his token next to the Gene he wishes to bid for, on a number between 1 and 6. This number shows how many of his mutation points he will spend to win that gene. Players may outbid each other or go for cheaper and less fought-over genes.
This bidding system is easy to understand and learn, but brutal to watch. Many a game has been lost early from one too many bidding wars over just one more leg or egg when a cheaper gene would have been equally useful.
That's all folks...
Once bidding is complete, players place their new genes on their gene card, figure out the new initiative order if any tail genes were auctioned off, and start a new turn. Each turn follows the same formula until the meteor token reaches the end and a big chunk-o-rock comes and wipes out your herd.
----- Bottom Line -----
I hope I've described this game well enough to pique your interest, it's a little hard to put down on paper (actually on pixels I guess) how a game flows and plays. This is really one of those it's-easier-to-watch-and-learn type games. I've seen at least 6 new players feel right at home their 2nd game, I mean there isn't a whole lot to learn really.
Now don't get me wrong, a simple game is by no means a bad game. There is a distinctly addictive quality to Evo that calls you back for one more game... just one more game. It's my experience this is best played with 5 players, the world is better when crowded and the bidding is much better with 5 players. I'm looking forward to the next time I can get 4 friends together, break out 'The Island', and put our Genes on. If you don't mind trying something new you really should pick this game up. I think you'll like it as much as I do, if not maybe you should go pick up a couple Fun Genes at the store and try playing again.
---( Other game reviews that might interest you: )---
Axis & Allies Pacific
Axis & Allies Europe
Axis & Allies Classic
Axis & Allies Revised Edition
History of the World
The American Civil War Board Game
Settlers of Catan
Cities and Knights of Catan
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.
Openroad
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40.00
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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