Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

e- MACHINE; ATARI ST
PP. SUPPLIER: OCEAN
is. PRICE: E19•95
11,. VERSION TESTED: ATARI ST.
I.- REVIEWER; DAVID BISHOP
Ocean is not renown for its
thought provoking software but
their latest 1 6•bit release, ECO,
may well have you
contemplating life, the universe
and the price of ST software.
Designed and programmed by
Liverpool based Demon
Designs. ECO places you on the
bottom rung of the evolutionary
ladder, with one single aim
survival_
To begin with, the program
randomly generates a world.
complete with climate and
population a kind of
speeded up software version of
'the dawn of time'!
As a lowly and insignificant
baby insect, you are thrown
into this world, in search of
food and a mate.
The world is seen in 3D,
initially from behind your insect,
which is shown in beautifully
animated vectorgraphics, as is
the case with all other trees and
animals in the game. As you
move your insect, so new
creatures come into view: some
are walking, others gallop,
squirm, or hop, and still others
have perfected the art of flight.
To mate, you need to find
and approach another member
of your own species. If there's
one thing more frustrating than
being eaten just before you
manage to mate, it's seeing
your potential partner getting
squashed by some giant
dinosaur who wasn't looking
where he was going.
Successfully mating brings up
the 'gene design' screen, where
you can unlock, and move, one
of your genes to create
(hopefully) a more advanced
species. Every time you mate,
you can unlock another gene,
giving you still more possibilities
for evolution.
Each gene affects different
aspects of your make-up, but
many interact with each other
to bring about very complex
changes in the species. As you
slide genes into new
configurations, the new
creature these changes would
produce, is shown in windows
giving you three different views
- front, side, and plan.
Genes affect such things as
the number and size of limbs,
the occurrence of wings, body
size, whether the new creature
Sun sets on Ocean's evolutionary game_
"'Denton Designs bounce bock CM the Atari ST_
•is
V A bird flies over the land of Eco. V Forget Era if you does like spiders.
will walk upright or on all fours,
and numerous other
evolutionary factors. The trick
is to work Out which are the
more important genes and how
they interact.
Each time you succeed in
moving up the evolutionary
scale, there are more species
that you can kill and eat
(including all the species that
you have just evolved throughl,
and fewer animals that are a
direct threat to your existence.
However, this doesn't mean
that you can develop into a
horselike quadruped, or a
humanlike biped, and not worry
about being knocked off. Far
from it, because the
concentration of creatures,
above you on the evolutionary
scale, will always increase
enough to keep you on your
toes • or hoofs or claws!
Failure to feed and mate
before the timer, in the form of
a skull sinking into the flames,
runs out will result in your
species becoming extinct. The
same fate awaits you if you are
squashed or eaten by a superior
species.
Although it may not appeal to
hardened arcade freaks, ECO is
a beautifully conceived and
implemented piece of software,
that is not only fun to play, but
could also be used to illustrate
Darvvin's theories of evolution
in the biology classroom. Full
marks to Denton and Ocean.
GRAPHICS 8
IP- SOUND
M. VALUE 9
PIA YABILITY 8