EvolutionMultiplayer is a Windows Phone game that tosses you in the middle of an online sci-fi battle. There isn't much to this first person shooter beyond searching the battle arena for other players to take out. You do have some character advancement as your number of kills increase but for the most part, think of it as a virtual game of paint ball but in a sci-fi setting.
The game is from the developer who brought us Masked Shooters, which is another online multiplayer shooter but less sci-fi and more military combat in mood. We received a few tips on the game and decided to see how this installment of this gaming series shook out.
EvolutionMultiplayer isn't a terrible game but, as we saw with Masked Shooters, the graphic quality really holds this game back. There is also occasional lagginess with gaming controls. EvolutionMultiplayer has potential but does need a little polishing before it can shine.
When you first launch EvolutionMultiplayer, you will need to create a screen name that will identify you during online play. Once created, the game will take you to its main menu.
The main menu for EvolutionMultiplayer has a host of options that include:
- Jumping into game play
- Viewing your current mission and any progress towards completion
- Viewing the online leaderboard
- Tap into the game's options
- View the About screen
- Log out of the game
Options for EvolutionMultiplayer include sound and screen sensitivity levels and graphics quality settings. Graphics are decent but I had a difficult time identifying targets because they blended too much with the background. It's not that the enemy soldiers are camouflaged but rather there isn't enough contrast to separate the enemy with the backdrop.
Tapping the Play button on the main menu will pull up a room menu where you can jump into an existing room to fight it out or create your own battle room to host. When you create your own room you can set the number of players allowed, choose the environment and the weapons. Personal favorite - arm everyone with rocket launchers.
While you will have missions (typically taking out a specific number of enemies) to strive towards for the most part, the goal of EvolutionMultiplayer is to shoot anything that moves. There are team competitions where you have teammates (no need to shoot them) who are trying to eliminate the enemy team.
Weapons range from assault rifles to rocket launchers. On-screen controls include a movement joystick, weapons fire button, an aiming button (pulls up a weapons sight view) and a jump button. Your movement direction or field of view can change by swiping at the screen. As far as I can tell, there are no limits on ammo.
Game controls were responsive for the most part but I did experience lagginess with the moving joystick. It felt as if my character was walking through mud and the slowness in movement made him vulnerable to attack. This could be attributed to a bug in the programming or an issue with the network connection.
Should you get killed during game play, EvolutionMultiplayer will re-spawn your player after a few seconds. Re-spawning will randomly place you in the battle arena and all too often, you will find yourself directly in front of an enemy player making you a sitting duck.
Overall Impression
As with Masked Shooters, I liked the concept behind EvolutionMultiplayer. Being able to jump into game play and compete with others online can be entertaining and a fun way to pass the time.
EvolutionMultiplayer gives you a sci-fi environment to do battle in but with less than stellar graphics and sporadic gaming controls, the game can be more frustrating at times than entertaining. If the developer could find a way to make the other players stand out a little more and tighten up the controls, I can see EvolutionMultiplayer having more appeal. As is though, the game is worth trying just don't get your hopes up too much.
At last check, EvolutionMultiplayer is pulling down a 4.5 star rating in the Windows Phone Store. With all the graphics and control issues, we'd dial the rating back to the neighborhood of a 3-3.5 star rating.
