Evolve has well and truly been hard to miss, through its rather intense marketing campaign. It was on every site and game orientated media imaginable. It is almost too easy to get swept up away in the media “HYPE”. Many gamers have concerns over the controversial amount of DLC (mainly only skin packs however). If you scrap all the concerns away and play it for what it is you may just find you really like it. However with 2015 off to a bang and 4V1 titles becoming ever increasingly more frequent, has Turtle Rock done enough to separate itself and become the Goliath of 4V1 co-operative fun.
The core aspect and gameplay of Evolve is based around four player controlled Hunter in a battle of wit and ultimately overpowering your opponent, the player controlled Monster. As a Hunter it is your role to track down the Monster, by following its footprints or by using the trappers other skills. Both the Monster and the Hunters have to work to their strengths to exploit the opponents weaknesses. The Monster is initially weaker than the collective group of Hunters, so as the Monster it is your job to become more powerful. You find yourself wanting to get to your final stage as soon as possible (by devouring wildlife), while avoiding detection. This quickly becomes a game of hide and seek as you often will be torn between exposing yourself for a quick hit to the opponent or biding your time to grow in power and reach Stage 3. At no given time is either of them options the best option but it is intense and adrenaline infused, I believe Turtle Rock have done this intentionally to allow you to feel vulnerable and powerful at the same time.
As the Hunters, this may come as no surprise but, teamwork is key, if you want any hope in hell of defeating the demonic Monsters. There are four class types, each of them will have to play to the strengths of their character class to make an impact. The damage dealing, guns ho Assault class, as you’d expect deals the heaviest damage to Monster. As the Assault it is important to keep laying down the lead and keep up the pressure, your team relies on you, so make yourself useful and cause havoc. The Medic is the next instrumental part of the team, as you’d of guessed, it is their duty to keep the team spritely. The Medic often becomes the crucial being that can make or break your match. If your Medic dies first then be sure to retreat and re-assess the situation (at least until the drop ship deploys your Medic again).
The Support class offers much needed assistance to the team in various ways such as offering protection to limit damage taken by a comrade. Last but certainly not least the Trapper. The Trapper is vital in ensuring you can control the Monster (to some degree anyway). The Trapper can set up the dome which means as long as its up or the Trappers alive it cannot escape beyond reach. Maggie and Daisy the trapjaw are undeniably invaluable early on in the game.
However, not much is done to explain who these people are either, apart from the occasional drab conversation between one another before deployment. The conversation quickly dries up and you are left none the wiser.
So if you’re wondering, yes these classes do work well together and you could almost goes as far to stay it adds a layer of depth and immersion. This would be the case if it wasn’t for the fact that it almost appears impossible to find players with the same level of common sense and general gaming know how. I am not claiming to be any better than the average gamer, however everyone knows in a game like this, you need your mic in and teamwork cranked to the max. It is a shame that the concept of what it should be is simply let down by those who play it. Without the right players, or your own friends, there are certainly periods of boredom while you feel you are hopelessly chasing the Monster too. So my advice is, if you can gather your best and brightest if you want to come out on top. If you can’t make sure you mark locations while on the hunt, as this is the next best thing without verbal communication.
Handling these Hunters is simple and familiar too, if you are use to first person shooters such as Titanfall and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare then you will feel right at home. The jetpack is standard for every Hunter and allows you to cover ground quickly and reach normally unreachable vantage points. Oddly there is no melee option which is peculiar but obviously intentional.
The Monster is used in third person mode which reflects the size of the beast and allows you to observe your surroundings somewhat. The core gameplay is the same though, which is handy. Abilities have cool downs which promotes less spamming and more careful gameplay tactics. The Monster can go into a crouched stealth mode which stops the Hunters from seeing tracks, which helps you gain the upper hand.
The game does make a good point of easing you into roles with helpful tutorials, so you never feel completely clueless with your character, be it Hunter or Monster. As each different Hunter or Monster have their own play styles and abilities it is useful to know the difference between your close up brutes and your stealth focused damage dealers.
All of Evolve’s game modes revolve around hunting down the Monster, despite there being a bit of variation I don’t feel like any stand out enough for people to play anything other than the standard hunt. Rescue pits the four Hunters with reviving and evacuating five different survivors, that’s before the Monster comes along and fancies some Survivor satay sticks. The next game mode, Nest, requires the Monster to protect its offspring from the Hunters. One interesting factor is that the Monster can choose to hatch an egg prematurely to spawn an additional AI minion, but at the cost of one of an egg.
Lastly Defend mode pitches the Hunters in defend mode to keep their transport ship’s power source on for a set amount of time.
These game modes are implemented into Evolve’s “Evacuation” mode, which is comprised of five separate missions where the previous games results affect the ongoing “dynamic” campaign. One example would be that if the Hunters win a round, turrets will deploy next time ramping up the pressure for the Monster. Despite there being cut scenes to accompany the mode, it didn’t immerse me enough to care… At all. I unfortunately even felt like Titanfall had more back story to it, which is quite a statement. However I’m proved wrong maybe more will be told later down the line.
Character progression appears to be slow to begin with but, feels rewarding once you start to gain new characters and mastery levels. I would of liked to of seen more variation however as it does not allow you to deviate from any set class or loadout as such you never really get to experiment or build tactical set ups.
People always ask about replayability, and it is subjective to each individual, how patient are you?, and what are your expectations. For instance Evolve quickly becomes a frustrating and tedious game to play, if matched up with careless players. If you cannot build a team or have a group of friends in mind then this could become an issue, unless you dedicate more time into the Monster.
In conclusion, Evolve has all the great ingredients for a truly unforgettable experience, they just haven’t been served in the way some had hoped. Few games require this much teamwork and it is truly a brofist in the air moment when you win, but these moments feel so few and far between in random plays that it becomes just plain tedious. The game looks absolutely gorgeous due to the amazing art style and awesome character design. The game has so much potential to expand the universe in another installment and I hope they do. Overall if you can put the time and commitment in with a couple of friends go for it, it’ll be a blast, I just cant guarantee the same for soloists.
Let us know what you think of Evolve in the comments below, or hit the forums.
^Jack, @Jack_XboxMAD
Jack contributed 16 articles to ICXM between 2014–2015, covering game reviews, and Xbox news with a focus on hands-on impressions and verified-source reporting. Their bylines on the site span the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming. They post on X as @Jack_XboxMAD.