For a game that came free with a Kid's Meal, it does everything it's supposed to. It might have some appeal for kids.
GAMEPLAY (4.5/10):
There aren't actually any real games in the Mini-CD; they're just mini-games. If you're expecting a high quality game with these discs, you will be disappointed. In total, there are three mini-games and one quiz.
The first mini-game is called Ion Neutralizer, where you play as either Nightcrawler or Cyclops. However, it does not matter what character you play as in any of these games, so that kind of takes away from the fun. The different characters are just there so you can play as your favorite X-Men: Evolution character.
In this game, you are on a elevator-like platform that allows you to move up and down. You stand in the middle of the screen, while there are four rows of buttons on each side of you. Each button has a moving ion beneath it. Therefore, there are eight ions in total. The ions all move at once, coming from the far ends (left and right) of the screen, moving towards your in the middle. This is basically a game of speed, where you move up and down and left and right to hit the buttons that correspond with the ions to prevent them from advancing on you. Just think of a lame version of those carnival games where you bash the gophers that pop out of the holes with that foam hammer, and you'll have a basic idea of what you need to do in the game.
In my opinion, this isn't even that fun for a mini-game. It is actually challenging though, as each level gets harder to stop the ions and the ions move faster. That is really all I can say about this. The controls are very, very simple, though not too quick are responsive, which doesn't help with the gaming experience.
The second mini-game is called Gridsweeper. Well that's original. Anyways, you play as either Quicksilver or Toad in a more entertaining puzzle game. You move across grids in a square to collect a token object. It sounds easy, but it is pretty difficult. Some grids are traps created by the X-Men to kill you, and if you cross the same grid more than three times, you will die. There is one portal that lets you cross the entire grid back and forth in order to avoid stepping on too many grids to reach your checkpoint object. This game requires you to use your memory and puzzle-solving skills. That's really all I can say about this game, too.
The last mini-game is The Labyrinth. It is a maze that the X-Men have to go through in order to defeat the enemies (story is not the game's strongest suit). You play as either Wolverine or Rogue. You use your mouse like you would use a pencil to solve a maze in a newspaper. You mouse through the maze to find the end. However, this is also easier said than done. You can't really see too much of the maze at once, as it is in the dark, and you can only see the area close to you. There are points in the maze which appear as static. You can choose to go in the circle of static. The static can end up becoming your enemy, which sends you back to the beginning of the maze and costs you extra seconds; your ally, which will trim your time while accomplishing your objective of finding all your allies before reaching the end of the maze. If you mouse out of line, you will be sent back.
Overall, these games are not that fun to play. Your attention doesn't last long. I played it to try to get some high scores and to challenge myself, but these are not games I would want to play. There is no multiplayer, the controls are average, and the characters do not have any unique abilities, erasing the point of having different characters to play as.
Lastly, there is a Superhero Compatibility Quiz you can take to see which superhero you are most similar to by answering about five questions. This quiz failed. Hard. It must have taken the developers about five minutes to create this. The first few questions are just cover-ups. They ask you typical personality questions, but you find out in the last question that the other questions are meaningless. The last question asks you which super power you would like the most. The answer you give completes the quiz, and the "answer" to the quiz becomes whatever superhero that corresponds with the superpower you like. So basically, you just waste a couple minutes of your time to find out that the superhero that corresponds with you is the one whose superpower you like the most. Wow, thanks. That was enlightening. It's a complete waste of time.
Overall, the gameplay of the X-Men: Evolution Mini-CD PC game is lame.
GRAPHICS (6.0/10):
The graphics of the games were not too great, but not bad. They were cartoons, and looked like your typical mini-game. The characters looked just like from the television series. However, the animations were pretty bad. The characters moving would just look like the character in one place, then suddenly in the place you moved the character to. Also, the environments were horrible. They never changed through the levels, and were obviously put together without too much thought.
I wasn't distracted with the graphics, nor did I think they were particularly good. So overall, the graphics met my expectations, but did nothing more whatsoever.
SOUND (5.5/10):
The sounds were not too good. The music was kind of repetitive with the "extreme" guitar music and the "spooky" song. As with the graphics, it wasn't distracting, but it wasn't anything special. The sound effects, however, were pretty bad. The sounds of hitting the buttons in Ion Neutralizer sounded like lasers being fired, which makes sense if you play as Cyclops, but is way out of place if you play as Nightcrawler. The other sound effects just don't sound like anything from real life, but they work with the game.
Overall, I don't have too many complaints about the sounds of the game. I thought it was alright, and I didn't get irritated at the music, thankfully.
VALUE (6.5/10):
I think that the best thing about this game is its value. Thankfully, the game was free with a meal, so there isn't too much to complain about if it sucks (which it does). A free game obviously is a bonus to its value, and helps it very much. I think that for a free game, this game wasn't horrible or embarrassing. I was a little disappointed, but the mini-games are pretty fun and challenging.
As for replayability, I wouldn't pop the game in my laptop a second time. That is definitely not a good thing. The games are fun, but they are the type of things you would expect to get on an iPhone: easily accessible and playable on the road, not something that is time-consuming and can only be played on a computer at home. I know this game is about seven and a half years old, but they could have made it this game a lot more fun than it is.
However, there are a lot of bonus features for the disc, which made me happier with the quality of the games. I got a nice wallpaper for my laptop, the comic was short but interesting, and the episode clip is also short but appealing. You can also print out a bookmark of your favorite X-Men characters.
Overall, although the games are not too exciting to play more than once, the value is nice since it came for free. There are plenty of things to do other than just the mini-games, so the replayability is kind of there.
TILT (5.5/10):
Overall, this game was not at all entertaining or fun, but it did its job. It was supposed to be a game that entertained little kids, and I think it is fun enough for kids to enjoy. It isn't a great game, but it was free, so there isn't too much to say about the quality of the game. The graphics and sound aren't bad, and the mini-games are alright. I think it does everything it was meant to do, but nothing more. If you don't own the discs already, don't bother looking for them. But if you somehow still own this thing, try it out and see how you like all the different features on the disc.