Review: Evolimit

Shiranui Yoshikazu and Ichijou Shizuku wake up after a hundred years in cold sleep to find the world they left behind changed beyond all recognition by the twin factors of the genocidal robots known as the Barbaroi and the mysterious stones known as 'patch' that grant humans superpowers that allow them to survive in the violent place Mars became in the wake of the loss of technological culture.

Upon awakening, their memories of their life before going into cold sleep have for the most part returned, but upon being told that their expedition, the first colonization and development effort to Mars, was wiped out, they realize that their memories are as of yet incomplete. They then begin to search for clues as to just what happened to the rest of the colonization team known as the 'Calamity Monkeys'.


Plot 9/10: Considering the other review I read on this game, I was at first worried that this would turn out to be a 'miss', but I soon came to realize that it was nothing of the sort. This eroge is unbelievably funny, with the protagonist's antics making up much of the story's amusement value, and the addition of the various other characters simply enhancing his spectacularly comical actions. At the same time, when the story gets down to the drama, its very powerful, so much so that I spent much of the game either laughing until my throat began to hurt or crying so hard my nose completely stopped up. The game's true antagonist has a lot of impact, if only because he is so coldly sane, despite the insanity of his actions. The lesser antagonists are strong as well, their individual personalities well-defined, despite the fact that they are really little more than pawns. The action scenes, while not as detailed as Ayakashibito's (also by Propeller), are nonetheless more than well done enough to be worth reading.

Visuals 8/10: The character design in this game differs a bit from the norm in eroges, but that actually makes it easier to enjoy it, as you get deeper into the story, that very difference, subtle as it was, making it easier to distinguish them from the characters of other such eroges. The CGs are both plentiful and fun to look at, with a rather large number of comical chibi CG's aiding the game in one of its three primary goals, which seem to consist of making you love the characters, love the story, and laugh until you feel like your head is going to split open.

Sound 9/10: The music in this game doesn't fall into the trap of reusing slightly rearranged generic tracks from a dozen other eroges, and most of the tracks are very well-chosen, enhancing the drama and the comedy appropriately, thus making the overall experience more powerful. In particular, this game does tragic songs very well... In addition, the character voices - especially the protagonist's - are very well-suited to the characters, seeming tailor-made for their personalities.

Overall 9/10: In my current mood, I was likely to give this game a ten out of ten, but I felt that I should be honest and say that the game isn't perfect, by any means. However, despite its small imperfections, the game is definitely one of the best eroge I've ever played, even taking the euphoria from having just finished out of the equation. If you want an eroge that will fill your existence with tears and laughter (mostly laughter) then this is a good choice... better yet, its not so dark that fluffy fans will hate it, and it isn't so light that fans of story-focused eroges will dislike it. It walks the tightrope of light and dark extremely well, and thus its appeal is something I can recommend to just about everyone.