Evolve – Review

I’ve always had an inherent fascination with monster movies, regardless if they happen to be a b-movie drenched in low budget cheese or the next big hollywood blockbuster. The visual of a towering monster tearing through cities and its occupants whilst mankind struggles in vain to quell the goliath makes for brilliant entertainment despite its simplicity. The childish satisfaction that accompany such moments echoed with me constantly as I played match after match of Evolve, the new team based multiplayer shooter from Turtle Rock Studios. Evolve however puts you in the position of both the man and the monster, emphasising how they are both a formidable adversary when utilised correctly. Brawn and brain are equally important when faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, whether this be a highly skilled team of hunters or a fire breathing goliath.

You can choose to play as a selection of hunters, each with skills and equipment vital to victory in any given situation. The execution of each skill and piece of kit blend seamlessly into creating a team dynamic that feels fantastic when your team knows exactly what to do, but can lead to boring frustration otherwise. Whether you play as assault, medic, support or even the divisive trapper; every role counts and contributes to your team either winning or losing. This team dynamic is also where Evolve’s biggest fault lies, as an uncooperative team can turn what is usually a joyous game of cat and mouse into an arduous and abrupt mauling at the hands of a monster. Instances such as this are infrequent if you mainly go hunting with friends, but a common occurrence when you delve into a random game or the bot populated solo mode. This ruins the asymmetrical multiplayer experience Evolve is all about, hindering the tense momentum each match thrives on to remain entertaining.

With 4 classes and 3 playable characters within each to unlock there are a total of 12 hunters to choose from as you rank up and progress. They all feel and play differently enough that it felt rewarding to master the unique traits of each character. Granted the conventions of all the hunters in a single class are basically the same, but their personalities and equipment make donning more than one worthwhile. You unlock them as each sequential hunter receives upgrades, so your progression feels relatively natural and rewarding even if you aren’t the most skilled player. The most interesting class for me is the Trapper. Armed with a sub-machine gun, trap launcher and a device which is used to confine the monster in a mobile arena; this particular hunter is a vital component to victory. The very first trapper you play, Maggie, is joined by an alien canine named Daisy. This strange creature prances across the map in search of your enemy, highlighting footprints to make the search easier for you and your teammates. Small yet noticeable nuances make every class a joy to play, and players will quickly find a favourite they latch onto. Prior to matchmaking you are able to confirm your personal preferences, so you aren’t hurled into the shoes of a hunter you are unfamiliar with or simply don’t enjoy.

Playing as one of the three monsters is a whole different ball game entirely. You can choose between the brute force of the Goliath, the lightning fueled Kraken or the teleporting Wraith, all of which are devastating in their own way. As the monster you have three stages of evolution, each morphing you into a more powerful and formidable force, vital to wiping out the squad of hunters so determined to see you dead. Your first instinct regardless of which monster you control is to swarm into the vast expanse of your surroundings in search of wildlife to feast on. Doing so allows you to evolve both your appearance and customise your abilities to your liking, concentrating on certain facets of your monster depending on the situation at hand. The process of evolving doesn’t alternate with each monster, and the task of taking down hunters often comes down to spamming your most effective attacks and fleeing at the appropriate time. Returning when your shields are back up to deliver the finishing blow. This lightweight approach to strategy can make many encounters feel underwhelming. Some matches I found myself being picked off by hunters in the first few minutes, robbed of the opportunity to prepare for the fight in any meaningful way. As a result some matches feel unbalanced and anticlimactic. Whether this be a detriment to the initially complicated map design or my own skill is anyone’s guess, but the frequency of which I found myself dying early whilst playing as the monster became far too common to ignore.

Evolve launches with twelve individual maps, each with variants such as environmental effects that differ slightly depending on the game mode that is being played. The multi-layered nature of each map makes traversing them a thrill as both hunter and monster, with plenty of opportunities to flank and outmaneuver enemies by gaining the upper or lower ground. The plentiful variants of wildlife spread throughout gives each map a sense of atmosphere and place. You never know when a creature may sprint past you in fear or launch an unprovoked attack, posing as much threat as the monster you are perilously hunting. One such creature camouflages itself into the environment, swallowing you whole the second you stumble across it. The unpredictable AI of the planet’s wildlife alleviates the stretches of boredom that often arise as you search for the monster, lending each match an aura of unpredictability that can change things up at a moments notice.

Unfortunately many of the maps often bleed into one another, becoming a homogenous lump of grey jungles and industrial facilities that fail to have a lasting impact. This isn’t helped by the laughable attempts at story exposition that are spewed out by the hunters when you arrive at certain locations on each map. You can clearly tell the developers have tried to string together a cohesive narrative despite Evolve’s simplistic premise. Ideas of evacuating colonists and the purpose for eradicating the monsters in the first place are touched upon but never feels substantial enough that you will even want to care. I mean the fact the creatures are generically referred to as “monsters” should give you an indication of what to expect here in terms of narrative and world building. The personality of each hunter fills them with charm and likeability, but they are little more than cardboard foundations for the classes each of them represent.

A handful of game modes round out the package, ensuring that monster hunting isn’t the only thing you and your crew will be doing. The highlight of these is a mode called “Defend” tasking your team with defending a series a of generators from a player controlled monster and his smaller collection of minions. This mode places strategy at the forefront, forcing you to approach your objective in a certain way so you don’t bite the dust immediately. It’s challenging, and somewhat frustrating.Thought it forces the player to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of each character and combat them accordingly. Other modes such as the disappointing “Nest” tasks you with either destroying or protecting monster eggs across the map, which are essentially just irritating bullet sponges. The jig is up once all the hunters are defeated or all eggs are destroyed. To be honest the game modes had me feeling disenchanted with the whole affair, with the saving grace being a playlist titled “Evacuation”. This mode has players partaking in a series of 4 matches, with each victory granting either the hunters or monster an advantage in the subsequent match. This could be anything from electrified fences to automated turrets. Once again players are forced to acknowledge that brute force isn’t the best solution, and combining the talents of each hunter is often the ideal way to approach the majority of conflicts. Evacuation also gives your actions a weak but nifty narrative context. You are tasked with the evacuation of colonists off the planet, culminating with a tensely bombastic final stand with a Level 3 Monster and his beastly comrades. Playing through an entire stretch of this mode with a group of friends is an absolutely delight; easily the best way, or even the way Evolve should be played.

Evolve is an experience that innovates as much as it relies on the tired cliches and conventions of the genre it occupies. The constantly changing dynamic between hunter and monster has massive potential, but feels underutilised by the design that surrounds it, and far too often succumbs to issues of imbalance and repetition. Despite its faults however, when Evolve flies it absolutely soars, delivering an abundance of tense moments of well-earned satisfaction. When played with a willing party of friends all of Evolve’s tedious little niggles are washed away when the cohesion of teamwork evolves into an experience that is equal parts fun as it is rewarding.