October 2004
(Arcade)
November 16th, 2004 (
PS2)
December
2nd, 2004 (
PS2)
February 12th, 2005 (
PS2)
June 14th, 2005 (
Xbox)
June
16th, 2005 (
Xbox)
June
24th, 2005 ( Xbox)
My friends and I actually had some fun with Evolution,
for a while... it was something "different" to play at the time, at
least. Of course we spent a lot of time laughing at how bad the game is, but we
surprisingly ended up having some pretty entertaining matches.
While small, the character selection isn't terrible and there are some fun
match-ups to be had. The
gameplay is pretty solid in "2D fighting game terms"... but at the end
of the day, that doesn't save CFE from being a lazily-made piece of crap.
I don't hate everything about the game, though. My favorite things about Evolution would be parrying (with the few characters that
can parry), the endings, the epic character artwork & poster artwork by Shinkiro
(which you can find below), and a few of the music tracks. Sadly, everything else
about the game is lackluster. So what crawled
up into Capcom's ass and died? I actually have a theory....
Perhaps, someone at Capcom
thought it'd be a "brilliant" idea to purposely make the
game look cheap to mock the many people who ripped off their 2D fighting
games using emulators. I've seen a fair share of MUGEN games that shoved SFA,
SF3, and Darkstalkers sprites together... and they looked eerily
similar to this game.
Why would Capcom do such a thing? I don't know... to show they can
still make
money with minimal effort (not sure if that even worked)? Who knows the reason, but
the lazy effort behind CFE seems to make such a statement. ~TFG
Webmaster
REVIEW:
Known as Capcom Fighting Jam in
Japan, this 2D fighter
reunites an assortment
of Capcom characters from the likes of Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter Alpha,
Street
Fighter III: Third Strike, Darkstalkers and Red Earth. Capcom
also threw in a new character, Ingrid (from the canceled Capcom
Fighting All Stars). The game was released as Capcom Fighting Evolution
in North America.
The battles in Capcom Fighting Evolution are 2 VS 2 (team style, not tag) and each
character uses a super meter from their respective series. After each round, players
have the option to switch out their current character. While the premise of Capcom Fighting Evolution sounds like a novel idea on paper, a few key things went wrong with this fighting game
"effort" by Capcom... if you dare
call it that.
Well... where else can you
see Chun-Li VS a big-ass dinosaur?
The gameplay of Capcom Fighting Evolution feels very much like something we've played before,
which can be interpreted as both a good thing and a bad thing in this case. It
actually feels and plays most similar to that of Capcom VS SNK 2... which, ironically
enough, is the last 2D fighting game Capcom released before CFJ.
At first glance, Evolution gives off the same aura that the original Capcom VS SNK did
when it debuted... which can be summed up with a few overall points: Rushed
presentation, not enough characters, missing
key combos, and leaving much to be desired overall. The roster
should've been a lot more comprehensive, especially considering the quality of
character sprites we're getting... I mean,
where's Captain Commando, Strider Hiryu, or even Jin Saotome? Unfortunately, we're stuck with some very outdated 2D
sprites and characters (not to mention a measly 2 colors per character! Booooo!) If that
doesn't say lazy, I don't know what does.
Just to state the obvious,
Capcom Fighting Evolution's visuals are below average. For one, Demitri's sprite is
seriously too old to be in a 2004 fighting game
(10 years old to be exact)... and to top it off, his sprite looks particularly
crappy in this game (yes, his sprite actually looks better in Darkstalkers). They also
curiously edited Zangief's sprite (from
SFA2)... shrinking the original
sprite and changing his facial expression. Overall, he looks pretty terrible in
Evolution well.
As a matter of fact, for
a quick comparison you can always perform Zangief's taunt, which strangely
switches back to his old
sprite for a moment.
Are those characters in
the background supposed to be made of cardboard? :(
Some of the stages are
fairly decent-looking (and there are some catchy BGMs), but several backgrounds
feature cameos of other Capcom characters; and for some reason, these
characters closely
resemble 2D cardboard cutouts... seriously Capcom, what kind of drugs were you
on?!?
The animation in
general is sped up, which means the3rd Strike characters that appear
in Evolution don't animate as smoothly they do from their original game. 3rd
Strike characters also look noticeably "out of place" when fighting against
characters from Darkstalkers or SFA, since those character sprites
contain far less frames of animation.
You can sum up the graphics of this game in one world... "messy".
All of the sprites blended together from different games just gives me a headache.
One of the only good parts of the game visually, are the endings. All characters have endings this time
around.
The artwork for the endings are drawn by UDON Comics and are presented in a comic-panel-like sequence. Besides the spectacular ending artwork, this is definitely one of Capcom's worst 2D fighting games
to date, especially in the presentation category.
Overlooking the obvious
flaws, hardcore Capcom fighting game fans might be able to enjoy Evolution
for its nostalgia value and "classic" 2D gameplay. For one, certain characters can parry, which can
make for some fun match-ups,
even considering the dated animations. Most characters retain almost all of their special & super moves
(although a few are missing), but unfortunately, characters definitely don't play
"exactly like they do from
previous games" (which is funny, because the back of the box says different).
I happen to be a decent 3rd Strike Urien player myself, and most
of his (good) Aegis Reflector combos are NOWHERE to be found... disappointing
indeed. What's the use of having Urien from 3rd Strike if he plays nothing
like the real thing?! This case repeats itself with other characters... but on
the bright side, the SFA, SF2 and Darkstalkers characters
play closer to the originals (as far as I know). I'm sure most fighting gamers can find
a handful of characters/teams in CFE that they enjoy using, but in most cases,
those characters are far more fun to use in the original games that they are from.
This game could've been a lot better, Capcom.
)
PS2)
PS2)
While small, the character selection isn't terrible and there are some fun
match-ups to be had. The
gameplay is pretty solid in "2D fighting game terms"... but at the end
of the day, that doesn't save CFE from being a lazily-made piece of crap.
. 
If that
doesn't say lazy, I don't know what does.
The animation in
general is sped up, which means the 3rd Strike characters that appear
in Evolution don't animate as smoothly they do from their original game. 3rd
Strike characters also look noticeably "out of place" when fighting against
characters from Darkstalkers or SFA, since those character sprites
contain far less frames of animation. 
All of the sprites blended together from different games just gives me a headache.
One of the only good parts of the game visually, are the endings. All characters have endings this time
around.
The artwork for the endings are drawn by UDON Comics and are presented in a comic-panel-like sequence. Besides the spectacular ending artwork, this is definitely one of Capcom's worst 2D fighting games
to date, especially in the presentation category.
disappointing
indeed. What's the use of having Urien from 3rd Strike if he plays nothing
like the real thing?! This case repeats itself with other characters... but on
the bright side, the SFA, SF2 and Darkstalkers characters
play closer to the originals (as far as I know). I'm sure most fighting gamers can find
a handful of characters/teams in CFE that they enjoy using, but in most cases,
those characters are far more fun to use in the original games that they are from.
This game could've been a lot better, Capcom.
