Player Preview - Evolve

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the multiplayer shooter, Evolve, developed by Turtle Rock Studios, the same guys behind the left 4 dead franchise. Evolve offers 2 unique play styles with Hunters providing a first person shooter element and the Monsters providing a third person brawling element all in a highly competitive atmosphere that is just as enjoyable to watch as it is to play.

Evolves is one of if the not the first times we have ever seen a multiplayer game with 1 person versing a team of other players in the triple a market. This new kind of gameplay has caused quite a lot of interest to the game and rightfully so. Pitting 4 human hunters against a massive monster is fantastic fun and requires skilful play from both sides to be successful.  

With only the one game mode available during the beta on PC and what I imagine to be the main competitive game mode, Skirmish, has 4 hunters trying to track down and stop the monster before it reaches level 3 and starts whaling on the power core. The cat and mouse gameplay creates tense situations with global arenas only just missing, monsters employing misdirection tactics and more. The hunters are composed of 4 classes, an Assualt, Trapper, Support and Medic. Each bringing their own unique equipment to suit their roles. During the beta weekend 3 variants of these classes were available to play and will be available as defaults for when the game releases. While these variants are still tasked with the same job of trapping the monster or healing teammates, they actually do play quite differently. Comparing 2 of the medics, Val and Lazarus, they both have the task of keeping their team mates alive however Val plays with the team providing constant heals that slowly bring characters health back to full while Lazarus players will always be hiding in the background waiting to quick revive fallen team mates, boosting them to full health almost instantly. These different types of play are most noticeable with the medic and support classes were as the trappers and assaults are more cemented into their roles and only have some small mechanical changes. While the game could have completely ditched roles it does create more balance in the game in exchange for hunter uniqueness.

On the monster side of things, well this is where the developer’s creativity really shines, no longer tied down by human capabilities and their roles. While the first available monster, the Goliath, is somewhat standard with its physical attacks, it’s the others like Kraken and Wraith that really shine. Whether it be lining up that perfect Kraken lightning strike or abducting the hunters healer as Wraith, these unique abilities look awesome and make you feel like a bad-ass when they hit. Unsurprisingly some hunters work better against certain monsters and some monsters work better on certain maps. A good example is the wraith, this monster excels on open area maps due to the fact it can fly and due to the same fact it makes land based utilities like ground harpoons, mines and turrets almost useless. What will be interesting is how the game deals with competitive games. Will the monster be selected first and shown to the hunters to counter pick? Or will it remain a total blind pick?

Having a vast selection of monsters and hunters will keep evolve interesting to play for a very long time however I think there are some ways the business model could be improved. The game will cost 60 to 70 dollars on release and will contain the first monster DLC, behemoth, free at least for the pre-orders. Additional content for the game will be priced around the $20+ mark for hunter packs and single monster packs, a price tag that is quite off putting when you combine the original games cost. Turtle Rock has been wise enough to offer additional maps free of charge so as to prevent community splitting that is evident in other games like Battlefield and Call of Duty were map DLC is prevalent, but perhaps not wise enough or perhaps not confident enough in their product to see it’s potential as a growing E-Sports title. This could also be a problem with 2K games involvement with the company and if it is, it begs the question why Turtle Rock studios abandoned Valve as their publisher especially considering Valves success in the E-Sports market with Dota 2.

 While these expensive price tags will earn the company a profit in a much shorter time it will also cut out quite a chunk of potential players, as is already evident on social media with people deciding to turn away from the game until it receives a considerable price drop or all of the games DLC is available in one purchase. I also think more of the development teams time should be spent on creating more monsters because at the moment you have 12 hunters to 3 monsters and due to hunters only being able to deviate from their roles ever so slightly, monsters provide a place to be unique and can change how hunters play without having to add more hunters. But that might just be the Moba player in me expressing itself.

As for extra features in the game there are worldwide leader boards available divided into the separate characters and roles so you can compete with others for the top spot as Bucket or as the Kraken if you want and compare multiple different statistics. As you play more games you will start gaining achievements, or accolades as their called in this game, that will in turn unlock new badge icons for you to use and customize yourself with. These badges are only shown in the lobby at the moment however I wouldn’t be surprised if you could place them on your hunters armour or embed them in your monsters skin later on. 

Evolve is incredibly fun with almost every game coming down to the wire. This sort of nature to the game makes it just as fun to watch as to play. Unfortunately there is a massive wall to the entrance of the game in the form of a $70 price tag and $20+ DLC costs. Even with this wall in place I think the game will do great early on but the future of the game, say 6 months to a year after release is still up in the air and will come down to future decisions from Turtle Rock Studios and 2K Games.

That’s been my player preview for Evolve, the game will be officially releasing February 10th. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you guys next time.

Official Website: http://bit.ly/1BNYPs9
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1E8el30