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Preview: Evolve

In the time since I first played Evolvenearly a year ago — to today, there have been some big changes. First of all, there were only four hunters and one monster when I played. Back in my day we never had no fancy Krakens, Wraiths or Behemoths. We had Goliath and that’s all we needed. You kids and your new fandangled monsters and hunters! Get off my lawn!

But seriously, that’s all I needed. My initial impressions still stand; I remember playing forfive or six hours with only one map and 5 characters to choose from and not once losing interest of suffering from boredom.  Recently, I had the opportunity to spend another five hours with Evolve, only this time there were twelve hunters and three monsters. While three monsters (or four if you include Behemoth) may not sound like many, no two games of Evolve I’ve played have ever been alike. Of course, the systems, gameplay mechanics and general atmosphere remain the same, but nothing ever happens the same way twice. That’s the beauty of it. It’s pure, unadulterated chaos.

This seems to be a strength for developer Turtle Rock. Just take a look at Left 4 Dead. With only four playable characters and 16 maps, they were able to wring out an almost unlimited number of scenarios, moments and pure fun. Evolve runs with this notion and goes one step further. It’s much more free-form, more improvisational, far less structured and in turn (potentially) a hell of a lot more chaotic. Whereas in L4D, players knew they had to get from point to point, survive intermittent waves of infected and the occasional special infected, the objectives in Evolve are less restrictive.

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Standard Hunt matches see the hunters trying to kill the monster and vice versa. Upon staging up to level 3 the monster is given an objective, but can still emerge victorious by simply eating all of the hunters. As the monster stages up the game slowly reverses itself, becoming a case of the hunter(s) becoming the hunted. It’s free-flowing and surprisingly open-ended. Skilled monster players can choose to immediately go on the offensive in their (relatively) weak Stage 1 form or choose to bide their time, eating, growing and evolving before making their move. Or they can do a combination of both, or something else entirely. That’s the beauty of Evolve; it lets players play however they see fit.

While playing at the recent preview event a representative from 2K (who has no doubt spent a huge number of hours with Evolve) boasted that they were undefeated as the Kraken. Ten seconds into our first match against them and we (the hunters) understood why. This Kraken did not run and hide and try to stage up. It was on us the second we hit the ground. We were pummelled from above by electricity, lightning and wave after wave of damage. It was the hunters who had to flee rather than the small Stage 1 monster. Its gameplay opportunities like this that truly demonstrates the emergent nature of Evolve. Anything can and will happen. It’s up to the players to make it happen.

New modes, hunters and monsters were available to play; those who played the beta on Xbox One had the chance to see those in action in Evolve’s campaign-esque Evacuation mode. Evacuation’s basic premise is that the colonists of Shear are being murdered and eaten in droves by some strange mega fauna and it’s up to the hunters to rescue as many as they can. Evacuation always begins with Hunt mode and finishes with Defend. It also includes Nest and Rescue on a map by map basis. After the first Hunt match, players are given two maps options to vote for and they will be either Hunt, Nest or Rescue.

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Nest populates the map with monster eggs. The hunters win by destroying all of the eggs while the monster wins by killing the hunters. Simple enough, however if the monster finds an egg it can hatch it and unleash a Stage 1 Goliath that goes straight for the hunters. The monster can only hatch one Goliath at a time, but a skilled monster player teaming up with an AI Goliath can do some serious damage to the hunters rather quickly. Rescue is almost the reverse of Nest. Downed colonists are scattered across the map and the hunters need to revive them and rescue them by getting them to a drop zone uneaten. The monster has to kill the colonists. Whoever saves or kills the most wins the match.

After playing through four maps and matches the game shifts to Defend. Here the monster player starts at Stage 3 and must destroy three power generators in sequence to win while the hunters simply have to survive a countdown. The monster is accompanied by two regularly respawning Stage 1 Goliaths and while the hunters can put up a brave fight every match I played saw the monster getting through to the final generator. It becomes the ultimate showdown as the hunters also have unlimited respawns and the monster can only win by destroying the generator. Evolve is never more tense than in the final stages of Defend. What ups the ante even further are the huge number of variables that are applied as players win or lose matches. For example on one match of Rescue the opening cinematic showed a captured Wraith. Upon winning the match as the monster the Wraith was set free and in the next match the hunters had to contend with a player controlled monster and a marauding Wraith. This is but one of 800,000 potential variables, furthering the principle that in Evolve, nothing is certain.

Way back in February 2014 when I first played Evolve and spoke to the team at Turtle Rock, balance was a big thing and very important to the team, but most of all importantly, required for the game to play properly and fairly. They told me that balance was the “Turtle Rock ‘X factor’. We’ve been working on the game now for three years and it took that long to get the balance right. It is balanced at any stage.” In February last year Evolve felt “balanced on a knife edge” as I described it at the time. A year later, the addition of the new hunters, monsters and modes and that all important balance doesn’t seem as perfect as it once did. Nest and Rescue modes both feel unfairly weighted towards a win for the hunters. In the matches I played, the monster never even came close to a win. The inverse is true of Defend. Even though the hunters can infinitely respawn, it was always the monster who emerged victorious in the end.

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Maggie the Trapper is a prime example of this new imbalance. I personally love Daisy as a concept and a character, but functionally she’s a nightmare for monster players. It becomes far too easy for the hunters to quickly locate the monster by following Daisy, who will always know where it is. Having Maggie as the default Trapper is a mistake and could potentially put newbie monster players off with the ease they’re able to be located and killed. On the flipside, while the Wraith is undeniably well designed, visually arresting and mechanically interesting she is — to use an internet term – OP AS F*CK. While I wasn’t able to play as Behemoth, it looks like it will be very powerful and very hard to defeat, so let’s hope some serious testing is carried out before it’s added to the game. I’m confident Turtle Rock will continue to nail down the balance with tweaks and updates once the game is released, but it’s a shame that what was once perfect is now not so.

That brings me to my largest overall concern with Evolve. Whenever I have played (aside from the beta) I’ve been in a room with four other players. It’s fantastic. The old school LAN party vibe totally works in Evolve’s favour. Being able to stick it to your mates after a win as the monster or mock the monster player after you’ve destroyed them as a team is a huge part of Evolve’s appeal. Playing online just doesn’t have the same flavour. It’s still the same game, but part of what makes playing it so much fun is dead when you’re in a room on your own. Playing the beta, I never once had as good a time as I’d had when I was playing “couch co-op” style. I’m sure many players won’t have a problem with playing solely online, but as someone who’s not really into MP at the best of times I know that unless I’m playing locally, Evolve’s appeal (for me) is limited.

Turtle Rock undeniably has a hit on their hand with Evolve. It’s a brilliant premise, dressed up inside a gritty sci-fi suit (the best kind of sci-fi) and it’s exclusive to current-gen. That in and of itself is a win in my book. It’s obvious from spending time with the guys from Turtle Rock that Evolve is a labour of love and they truly believe in what they’ve created. They’re going to support the hell out of this thing and the hardcore who keep playing long after launch are going to be well rewarded for their dedication.

Evolve will be available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One 10 February.

Stevivor was flown as a guest of 2K to Sydney to play Evolve. Opinions are the writer’s own.


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DeltaPhoenix08