Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
Summary
Game Type - Euro Game
Play Time: 60-90 minutes
Number of Players: 3-5
Mechanics - Auction/Bidding, Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling
Difficulty - Moderate (Can be learned in 10-20 minutes & a play or two)
Components - Very Good
Release - 2001
Designer - <PERSON>( Olympos, Small World, Vinci)
Overview & Theme
Evo puts its players in control of a species of dinosaurs that are trying to survive as best they can. Threats abound in the form of a volatile climate, other dinosaur species and inevitably a marauding meteor that is hurtling towards their island at great pace.
The dinosaurs know that their time is numbered…but that won’t stop them from evolving and trying to climb atop the evolutionary ladder before their time is up!
That pretty much sums up the objective of the players – evolve, populate and earn Mutation Points (victory points) to at least have some chance of being remembered as a once great species.
It is also worth highlighting the humour at the heart of Evo. The dinosaurs are referred to as Dinos and even the subtitle of ‘The Last Gasp of the Dinosaurs’ gives the impression that this is meant to be good family fun. It makes the game just that little bit more engaging and suits the game’s light-medium weight well.
This is in no way a super serious euro, although underneath its family friendly veneer is a deceptively wicked engine. It certainly has meaningful mechanics that create the need for careful choices, but the artwork, general tone of the rulebook and the titles of the cards all have a ‘humorous smirk’ about them that I like.
The Components
The components of Evo are certainly nice to look at without being spectacular. Wood is the order of the day for the components and the player boards are a good size without being excessive.
Boards – Evo uses 2 one-fold boards to create the island on which the Dinos find themselves. The boards offer different sized island segments (on each side) that allow variable sized islands to be created based on the number of players taking part.
The islands themselves are made up of segments that come in four colours to represent the four terrains (beach, plains, hills, mountains) and matching climates of the region. The borders define each territory well and small white stars in the ocean denote the starting locations of each species.
The board also has a small but nice flourish in the form of a double border that depicts little Dino and terrain images. 299
The sea zones around the island also get illustrations of Nautilus and other prehistoric sea life. All of these features are purely embellishments but they are appreciated.
A cursory glance gives the impression that Evo’s boards are functional without being over the top or overproduced. I had almost forgotten that a game could look modest based on today’s modern designs.
The larger of the possible maps - Image Courtesy of eranel
Information Board – This rather unimaginative title denotes a board that is used to track 3 key pieces of information.
A climate section in the center of the board is provided to track the island’s changing climate and temperature. A blue border surrounds 4 different coloured zones, which match the 4 terrain types on the main Dino board. A series of numbers and arrows are scattered all over the place to help show the possible changes in weather. It looks a little busy to be honest, but it is functional and makes total sense in 5 minutes or so.
The blue outer border of this template serves to track the progress of the Meteor, allowing players to plan for their Dino’s terminal fate.
Finally, 5 numbered circles are located at the bottom of the board and are used to help display the Initiative Order of the players for each turn.
Image Courtesy of Tycho
Bidding Board/Scoreboard – A slightly larger board serves as both the score track and the bidding board, used to acquire new mutations. This is a rather bland tan coloured board littered with numbers of various size. But it is functional, does the job and allows the more colorful island board to dominate the player’s attention.
Image Courtesy of Tycho
Dino Portrait Boards – Each player receives a good sized board that depicts a pretty gimpy looking Dino. It only has 1 leg, a single bit of fur, 1 egg and a parasol. This board is required to track the mutations and evolutionary changes that each species undergo as the game develops. 84