A disappointing attempt at artificial intelligence
In an interesting play on words, this game about evolution is based in a laboratory named after the island change on which Darwin first formulated his theory of evolution. The basic premise of the game sounds like it could be a fun and interesting experience, but the execution leaves me wondering why Electronic Arts published this game instead of porting its hard-hitting line of successful sports games.
The futuristic setting of this game is a bit to fantastic to believe. Mendel, the character you control, is a small robot that evolves based on what it sees and experiences. 
This form of "evolution" is a bit extreme, and strays away from Darwin's Natural Selection. The moving, floating, and often dangerous blocks that Mendel sometimes uses as his transportation seem a bit out of place in a research laboratory, or anywhere for that matter, even in the future. If given the opportunity to float from place to place on a platform, I'd choose a recliner over a glowing pyramid anyway.
The Galapagos research laboratory also seems to have a gravitational field of its own - Mendel's floating blocks often turn over on their side before letting him off, and what would have been a wall from the original perspective has become a floor in the new perspective, creating a lot of confusion about which way is up and down, while making it easier to get lost. Unfortunately, if Mendel steps off one of his platforms and doesn't land on a solid surface, the full gravitational force of earth is restored, and he plunges to his death.
In this game, dying is a good thing in a sense. As part of his evolutionary process, Mendel learns from his mistakes - particularly the ones that result in him being shattered into tiny pieces. But how does this one-of-a-kind evolving robot benefit from death? Apparantly the game designers pondered this same question unsuccessfully, because his mind stays intact while his body rematerializes back at the beginning of the level; not terribly effective.
The guidance of Mendel is perhaps the greatest hole in this game. You must direct Mendel through a research laboratory in order for him to escape. The "hand" you use to guide him looks remarkably similar to the black arrow I use to navigate the Finder, not a special graphic as you would expect for your mode of interaction with the game. You are allowed to move it around freely, without regard to the positioning of Mendel. This gives you more of a God-like perspective than the perspective of someone who is merely aiding Mendel in his escape from the laboratory.
Unlike most games, you are unable to alter the perspective of the game - it is automatic, meaning that you have no say when the game flips views or changes angles. 
Unfortunately, this creates a lot of confusion as the camera perspective rotates and you forget which way you're supposed to be going. It can also cause you to die if a button you need to activate disappears off the screen, since you obviously only can click on items that are on the screen.
The confusion of Galapagos is added to by the lack of knowledge as to what your clicks will do. In one situation, clicking on the ground may do nothing, while in another it can cause Mendel to jump. Some buttons give no indication of their function even after you click them, so you are left wondering if you should click it, or if you will have to come back later and unclick it to get past an obstacle that it may place in your path.
Some may see this game as a breakthrough in artificial intelligence since Mendel controls himself and you only facilitate his progress. For Galapagos, the developers created a new form of artificial intelligence called Non-stationary Entropic Reduction Mapping, or NERM. This allows Mendel to adapt to his surroundings and develop a personality of his own -- his own personal reactins to different stimuli. With further development, this could theoretically be expanded limitlessly. Futurists may predict computers with personalities that could even carry on a conversation, but this is realistically decades away if it ever occurs and NERM barely represents the first step in this direction.
Despite its break-through technology, Galapagos lacks the fun factor that invariably determines the success of a game. It is a slow, complex, frustrating game that will leave you begging for real life - even if you can't watch a bug evolve before your very own eyes.
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 SRP: $19.99 |