The problem lies in the skill tree implemented. While in any metroidvania the developers know with complete certainty that when they reach an obstacle the players will have the necessary power to overcome it, the developers of Evil Genome can not coun
t on it. For example, if they decided to make an insurmountable obstacle except for a double jump if a player arrives there without having unlocked
that skill he would be forced to grind until he reaches the levels necessary to have unlocked the ability. So instead of eating the jar thinking how to balance this system, perhaps making certain improvements are mandatory or have variations in the different paths of the tree,The world is full of invisible
walls and arbitrarily closed doors that will prevent you from progressing. In addition, as we advance in the game will become more co
nfusing navigation to have more names of places to memorize and therefore more chance of making mistakes when deciding where to teleport. Sometimes it will take a good ten minutes to get back to where we wanted to go after an error.
At least that game world has enough visual variety so that the areas to be navigated are recognizable without requiring the map. We w
ill pass through desert and industrial areas and … little more but each one is slightly different from the other. If you want to get an idea of the artistic style of the title you just have to imagine Nier Automata with one
hundredth of the budget. Not that they are especially ugly graphics, but they lack any kind of charm or originality. All scenarios
are generic and within the expected, except for a very brief level towards the end of the game that does not stand out for its design. On the other hand, the designs of the characters and enemies are somewhat better, but they lack that extra touch, that polish that good games exhibit.
Combat little pointer
The combat is of the best aspects of the game, without getting too far from the mediocrity of the rest . Lachesis, the protagonist, has an enviable arsenal with which to subdue her enemies. We will start the game with some standard m
ovements in 2D action, being able to dodge enemy attacks, attack melee, jump and shoot from a distance. Later we will unlock improvement
s for these movements, as well as completely new abilities (create clones of the protagonist, put traps, etc.). There are three skill paths to unlock and allow you to customize your combat experience as you wish.
Unfortunately, the combat does not work as it should. While it is true that the variety of skills to use is wide and in hand-to-hand combat with a single enemy we can enjoy and run very long combos, just add one or two additional enemies
to the formula so that everything goes to galeThe different groups of enemies with which the game confronts us are in general extremely annoying. Most games try to organize the attacks of your opponents in such a way that not all attack at the same time. Although it may be somewhat ridiculous, this title shows perfectly because it is
usually done that way. The attacks come from all sides and the options we have to avoid them are almost nil. We have a dash but it can not be used in the air and has only four uses before having to wait for it to regenerate. At the same time, most of the skills tha
t we can use in combat consume EPs that can not be recharged except waiting. These two mechanics make that the most effective way to fight in Evil Genome is little by little, with patience and care, unsatisfactory in a game of this style.
But most of the game does not consist, unfortunately, of fighting against small enemies that although annoying are easily surmountable. No, Crystal Depths must have confused their game with a “soulslike” and left it loaded with bad endings. Approximately
every ten, fifteen minutes of play there is one. The bad ídeas are good, especially two bionic sisters that we will meet later, but their execution is not. If someone wanted to create a game with many bad endings
in Evil Genome would have perfect examples of how not to make them.Virtually any possible error in the creation of a final bad is h
ere. We have the bad guy whose attacks can not be dodged in time; the bad guy with a practically inescapable attack that kills you from zero to
a hundred; the one that invokes so many minions that you never have time to give to him … There are many, several are repeated and none is well designed.
Not only the encounters themselves are poorly designed, but everything that frames these fights has been poorly executed. Many time
s we will find bad endings in unexpected areas, without saving before or being able to buy supplies. Sometimes the game generates a save point just before the fight, but sometimes not and we will have to defeat four or five enemies each time we want to tr
y our luck. Once the final bad is defeated, sometimes the game keeps that you have done it and other times not. I recommen
d going quickly to the nearest save point after a victory, several times I had to repeat a fight for thinking that there would be a save point shortly after there were miles left for the next one.
A frustrating experience
The point where this game lost us definitively was during a fight against a helicopter and I think it perfectly explains the problems of the title. Before that helicopter, you have to break through two groups of enemies. Both groups have a main enemy that will ta
ke a minute or two of sablazos to eliminate and multiple smaller robotic units. The fact is that it is four or five minutes to repeat befor
e each attempt to fight the helicopter. Once you get to the helicopter you find another of those fights in which being
successful by a single attack will lead to your immediate death. Nice. So after half an hour of at
tempts I decided to raise my level a little. Two hours later and ten levels above I was able to overcome the bad guy at the first attempt.What in other games would have been a satisfying moment in Evil Genome gave a sense of
fulfilled work . To finish talking about the combat system, I wanted to mention that the basis of the whole system is the potions. Since th
ere is no natural way to regenerate our life in combat, we will depend on the objects that we bought before the fight. Since most attacks are very difficult or impossible to avoid depending on the situation, these encounters are decided by your n
umber of potions more than your abilities. Then if you do not have potions, you better go and kill enemies until you have money to buy them or you
will not be able to win that bad end that harasses you. In short, the combat in this game has bad fundamentals and execution.
The history of the title is … incomprehensible. The translation from Chinese to English (the game is not available in our language) is one of the worst I’ve seen in my life, really reaching the level of Resident Evil 1 on the PSX. If there is any redeeming fac
tor in this game, it is translation and dubbing, both bad enough to imagine people obsessed with them in the future.The voice actors are probably Erasmus partners of some developer of the game because, except for the protagonist who is decent the others do not seem to have been in front of a microphone in their life.
Frankly the game got us a couple of good laughs with its combination of terrible voices and poor translation, but there are its virtues. If what you are looking for is a game with a good story, get away from it because if there was a logical story in the Chinese vers
ion it has completely disappeared in its passage to the West. It is worth mentioning that the main enemy, leader of a group armed with extremist ideas is called Adolf. It is not a joke.
