“Three, two, one… Ready or not, here I come.”
Turtle Rock Studios’ new first-person action game Evolve plays like a strange version of hide-and-seek in emphasizing its asymmetrical, four-on-one gameplay.
is that a group of the galaxy’s best hunters have banded together to protect human colonists on the planet Shear from the dangerous creatures inhabiting it. The game resolves the plot through a series of objective-based matches in which four players engage with a single player who is the monster.
The four players form a team of hunters and each hunter has its own job within the team. The Assault class are the team’s primary damage dealers, capable of dishing out punishment and shielding themselves in a pinch. Medics are responsible for keeping the team healthy. The Support Class does a bit of everything, ranging from damaging the monster to cloaking their companions. Trappers track the monster, caging it when it’s within range and littering the map with traps (as their name implies).
In the other corner is the monster. The player who controls the monster begins as a lowly creature with a few special abilities. However, the monsters gain strength while killing and eating the surrounding wildlife in the level, causing them to — you guessed it — evolve.
A monster evolves in three distinct stages. At Stage 1 it is small and can be easily picked apart by the hunters. By the time it hits Stage 3, however, itap a near-indestructible killing machine. Getting to that point proves difficult as the monster’s movements and actions (such as the scattering of birds) can tip off hunters to its location.
Monsters come in four varieties. The Goliath is the standard quadrupedal beast that can stand on its hind legs, breathe fire, hurl rocks, etc. The Kraken is a flying monster that hurls lighting at its enemies. The Wraith, a deadly mixture of stealth and fury, is capable of teleporting around the map. Finally, the Behemoth is a slow, stony juggernaut that can ball itself up and roll on the ground.
The game is ostensibly a first-person shooter, but one thing shooter junkies will notice right away is that Evolve has a much different pacing than its brethren. Whereas most FPSs are all about action, getting players in and out of the fray quickly, Evolve is all about pacing.
Markov, an assualt fighter, uses his deadly lightning gun to damage a monster (Provided by Turtle Rock Studios)
Players controlling the hunters will find themselves repeatedly running out of jet-pack fuel in pursuing an infinitely quicker beast. The game’s slower pace provides the perfect tension for the hunt and makes the suspense of locating and engaging with the monster all the more thrilling. But thatap a double-edge sword. as sometimes playing as the monster gets a little boring.
One of the things Evolve does really well is customization. Like the monsters, each hunter class comes with three characters, all with their own unique abilities. One of the medics — named Lazarus, for obvious reasons — can bring allies back from the dead. Bucket, a robot who acts as a support character, can detach his head and use it as a surveillance drone.
The downside to this is the way in which new characters are unlocked. Evolve requires players to use all the abilities of the previous character or monster a certain number of times before gaining new characters. While perks and upgrades for repeated use is nothing new to shooting games, it seems to conflict with the natural flow of a game in which each character uses certain abilities as needed.
That said, being able to customize teams adds to the overall sense of strategy as different teams excel in different game modes.
Evolve features five game modes: Hunt, Rescue, Nest, Defend and Extraction, which is really just the other four modes played through a series of five matches. Hunt is the game’s standard where hunters track the monster. In Rescue, the hunters attempt to evacuate five survivors while the monster attempts to kill the survivors. In Nest, hunters are out to destroy monster eggs while the monster protects said eggs and hatches them to gain minions. Defend pits a Stage 3 monster and a host of minions against hunters as the monsters attempt to destroy three strongholds which the hunters must protect.
A lone hunter tries his luck against a mighty (Provided by Turtle Rock Studios)
Defend is the only gametype that truly breaks away from the from the “hide and seek” feel of Evolve, while the other two gametypes feel like Hunt, with some minor changes.
Evacuation is basically the game’s story mode told over five matches. Gamers will play through a variety of Hunt, Rescue and Nest missions for the first four rounds and play through Defend on the last round. Apart from introducing cool advantages to either the monster player or the hunter players for single and consecutive wins, Evacuation is barely divergent from other gametypes. Itap fun for a while, but that feeling doesn’t last long.
Which brings up Evolve’s Achilles heel: longevity. While there’s no doubt the game brings something refreshing and unique to the table, the feeling disappears too quickly. In the past, Turtle Rock Studios has worked with developer Valve to bring gamers fantastic titles that remained fun despite simple premises (Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead come to mind).
Sadly, thatap not the case with Evolve. In an age in which games cost $60 a pop, excluding future downloadable content (which Evolve ) getting value for a game has never been more important. Bottom line, when you’re essentially playing the same multiplayer matches over and over again with either real people (online) or bots (in single player), itap hard to justify shelling out full price.
GAME ON SCORE: 2.75
4 stars = Get On It!
3 stars = Nice Job
2 stars = Meh
1 star = Avoid It
0 stars = Nooooo!!!
