AI

A I A I O

Thankfully the AI for friendly units is pretty darn good. The AI does an excellent job of making sure your companions stay out of trouble while accompanying you on your jaunts. Occasionally you have to take control of them individually to get across some difficult jumping scenario, but those instances are pretty rare.

Again? no...

Umm... gee... should I shoot that?

The AI shines especially bright when it comes to choice of behavior. When your partners need to fight they will. If they need to run they will. I didn't ever find myself complaining that my buddies were getting in my way. Occasionally they would in small cramped areas but then you can just switch to the one that is in front anyway. For the most part the computer-controlled units are helpful. If the AI control was done badly I would be screaming to no end.

In fact the computer AI looks out for the health of my units more than I do. I would occasionally resort to jumping off precarious ledges to save time rather than health. The computer-controlled units would rather maintain health and take a few extra moments to run to the bottom. Caution vs. impatience - the way I manage my units in Evolva is similar to how I manage my life. Case in point - I choose to speed to work even though my commute is only 5 miles. Hey if you can do it in 5 minutes instead of 7 and tempt the fates, why not.

Running tactics

Umm guys...

Enemy AI didn't seem to be as bright as friendly units though. There wasn't anything particularly stunning about it. There were just tons of them, massive hordes. Most of the time they would just attack if they saw you. I was a little saddened when I found I could simply run around backwards and lead them to their deaths many a time either by shooting them or running them into a patch of explosive plants. (oh yeah, the flora is rather dangerous on this planet)

Nevermind

Weee!

The Big Cheese

Evolva also brings back the concept of the level boss. Sure it pushes us back a little in terms of game play but they are fun to fight. These guys looked pretty cool; some of them were just massive. One of them looked like an enormous scorpion. Look for it in the pictures, that one you cannot miss. I only took one shot of him to not ruin too much of the game.