Evolve is a difficult review for me, as I can’t help but view it through the prism of my own weighty expectations. For a long time, Evolve has looked like the game that was finally going to kick start the age of PS4 and XBone, using the grunt to power something different and innovative rather than something that’s the same but prettier. Regardless, any new franchise is always going to invoke adulation and derision in equal measure, either for finally being something different to the existing fare or for being too different to what we’re used to. Either way, it was very much a sense of anticipation that washed over me as the disc went into the Xbox and I sat back to see how it all panned out.
A very quick appraisal for those who’ve managed to dodge all the hype so far – Evolve take the form of a two-fold first person shooter/third person brawler game. You either play as one of four hunters; each with their own unique class and associated abilities or you play as a monster, frantically trying to evolve (ha! He said it!) through three stages to reach a size and strength that will allow you to kill the hunters or destroy a map relevant objective. Developed by Turtle Rock Studio’s (of Left 4 Dead fame) and published by 2K Games, there’s no shortage of pedigree on offer. Indeed there is a certain amount of Left 4 Dead-y feel about playing as the hunters, and the dialogue that floats between them. A truly lazy analogy would be to compare Evolve to a mash up between Left 4 Dead and Titanfall; bespoke four player co-op gameplay interspersed with larger scale presence on the same map.
The game drifts by and as far as I can tell there is little to no plot; occasional dialogue references to past present and future goings on float in and out at infrequent intervals without ever really tying themselves into a storyline. I have always been of the opinion that with a FPS title like COD/Battlefield there really isn’t a need for a storyline; it’s just a sequence of showpiece events and no one is pretending to care about how they are tied together. You kind of get the same feel with Evolve, as the game is very much a series of showpiece events, but unlike COD or Battlefield they haven’t tried to force a storyline onto it. It’s quite strange actually – you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything, but you can’t help but notice that it isn’t there.
Graphically the game is good if not great – it’s not up there with Far Cry 4 but it’s a world away from the nasty grey unrendered surfaces of Battlefield 4 or forced high resolution of Titanfall. The world of Shear is rendered in all the colours you would expect of a swamp planet or a giant aviary or wherever the hell you’ve landed; greeny brown and desolate. The flora and fauna of each world is relatively similar, with the same selection of animals to attack as the monster or be attacked by as the hunters. Again it’s a strange one as you kind of feel like you should be disappointed by the lack of graphical advancement on offer, but really and truthfully the game is so heavily focussed on the gameplay you don’t really notice it.
As I’ve kind of alluded to already, gameplay-wise Evolve is very strong. Each of the four classes and each of the monsters have their own tutorial level, breaking you in gently so that you can go out into the big wide world fully equipped and comfortable in your own skin. This is important, because once you’ve had your hand held through the tutorial you are thrown straight in at the deep end and only then do you see just how steep the difficulty curve is. Whatever class or monster type, you are in a genuine struggle to survive. Following both an Alpha (not an Alpha. Don’t get me started) and a Beta test Turtle Rock have been trying very hard to get a balance in the 4 vs 1 gameplay, and what they’ve come up with feels very authentic. I would say that it feels that the balance of power is slightly (but only slightly) tipped in favour of the monster, meaning that if the hunters don’t work together then they have little to no chance of winning.
And there really is the problem. It’s taken me a long time and a lot of games to actually work out what that feeling niggling in the back of my mind is about what’s not quite right with Evolve and I think I’ve finally got it – despite the variety in gameplay (hunter classes and monsters), game modes (Hunt being the core gameplay, but with horde modes, rescue modes and others there is variety available) and the open world environments to play in, I kind of feel like I’m being railroaded into how I should play it. Like I said earlier, if you are the hunters and you don’t work as a team, you have practically no chance of winning. That’s all very well if you have three mates who are ex-virtual marines and know each other’s games inside out, but you and I both know that you don’t have that. You’ve have two mates and between the three of you you’re pretty good, getting MVP’s and working as a team to hit objectives and whatnot. Unfortunately you also have Bobby McChubbyThumbs, the mate who is good fun in real life but not really suited to online gaming. The guy who always dies first, and usually on the way to an objective before the fighting even breaks out. The guy who would much rather be playing Gran Turismo than a squad based shooter. If you have a weak link in your team it irretrievably tips the balance in favour of the monster and you simply don’t have a chance of winning.
Don’t think it’s easier as the monster either. If you get caught by the hunters as a level 1, you’ve lost. No ifs or buts, its all over. You get shot, you take on damage, and whilst you can get away and regenerate your armour, your health stays ruined. As ridiculous as it sounds when you consider I’m talking about a monster hunting game on a fictional alien planet, it’s too near to simulation levels of difficulty. It’s too much a game for proper hardcore gamers, to the level of alienating the casual gamer who could well find the strict approach required for gameplay too much to stick with.
Like I said right at the start I have viewed Evolve through a filter of extreme expectation. I thought it would be great, I thought it would blow my mind, and in reality it has. It IS different to every other game on the market and it IS fun to play. It is what I thought it would be; a game that truly takes hold of our current consoles and gives the processing power a damn good thrashing. All the while though I just can’t help but feel that it’s a game aimed at someone else, someone who’s much better at gaming than I am.
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About Drew Pontikis
Drew Pontikis is an avid gamer and writer. A fan of racing sims and first person shooters, Drew is notable for talking almost exclusively using Futurama quotes.He's usually found in front of his Xbox or his laptop, follow him on Twitter as Gamertag: drewski060609
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