Seventh Cross: Evolution

Seventh Cross: Evolution

North American Dreamcast cover art
Developer(s) Atypical Alchemists Associate
Publisher(s)
Platform(s) Dreamcast
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Life simulation
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution 1 GD-ROM

Seventh Cross: Evolution, known in Japan as simply Seventh Cross (セブンスクロス), is a video game for the Sega Dreamcast video game console. It was released in Japan on December 23, 1998. A sequel titled Ninth Will was announced shortly after the game's North American release,[2] but it was apparently cancelled.

Gameplay

The theme of Seventh Cross is evolution. The player begins with a protist, and through eating and consuming, progresses through two other stages until it becomes an animal. The game begins in a lagoon, where the player's organism must avoid predators while nourishing itself. If the creature dies, it is returned to its lowest form unless it has successfully evolved into its 'origin' stage, in which case the creature regresses to that instead. After death, any parts gained by evolution are kept, but any gathered food is lost.

Seventh Cross contains six stages, each with a boss. The stages take place in different biomes, ranging from the pond to a barren future.

Evolving

The creature gains parts by touching the monolith in each level. Six colors, chosen at the beginning by the player, are mapped to six attributes: offense, defense, psi power, intelligence, dexterity, and healing. By creating patterns with these colors on a 10×10 grid, and possessing the required amount of EVP, the creature may gain a new part it may add to its head, body, legs, or arms. The logic behind what patterns yield what parts, however, remains unclear.

These parts may be "equipped" any time, but each require specific amounts of nutrients found in certain foods, among which are protein and fiber. After a while, the player may add enough parts to the organism to fend off and even kill other creatures, fight the stage's boss creature and advance to the next stage. Each part has different attributes that enhance particular areas like movement speed and attack strength. These parts may be added ala carte; that is, a lynx's head may be placed upon an organism with crab's body and frog's legs. This may result in odd combinations of creatures akin to Microsoft's Impossible Creatures.

Reception

IGN and GameSpot found the game's overall gameplay mechanics too simple and too abstract respectively. Moreover, both websites found the game's graphics to be dull and its sound mediocre.[3][4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Seventh Cross Evolution Release Information for Dreamcast - GameFAQs". GameFAQs.com. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
  2. ↑ Calderman, Dan (December 30, 1999). "Seventh Cross: Evolution Sequel". RPGamer. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  3. ↑ Matt White (January 7, 2000). "Seventh Cross". IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-01-28. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  4. ↑ Bartholow, Peter (January 14, 1999). "Seventh Cross Evolution for Dreamcast Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2008-10-27.

See also