If I’m perfectly honest, online multiplayer isn’t my favourite element of modern gaming. You might imagine that this would push me away from Evolve, but its asymmetric nature was different enough to peak my interest. The soldier versus monster concept has been touched upon by some developers in the past, but Evolve really takes it further than anyone else has before.
While the game’s class system for soldiers isn’t all that unique in general, Teflon did highlight the Trapper in his review. The Trapper’s ability to “pinpoint where the monster is and then to restrict its movement” is fairly different to what most games offer players. He also highlighted the way that individual characters within actually bring distinct abilities to the party, rather than just serving as a simple reskin.
However, it’s obviously the monsters that are the main attraction in Evolve. Making them playable characters rather than a threat for players to fight against is what really sets Evolve apart, and Teflon praised the way you “simply feel big and powerful” when playing as these hulking beasts. Again he highlighted the way the game differentiates the different monsters enough to cater to “a broad set of play styles”.
In terms of game modes, while most of them actually did enough to impress Tef, the Hunt mode left him somewhat disappointed. While he did feel that it sets things up in such a way that the “monster always has something to do right from the off”, the humans attempting to combat it are often left “following footprints and guessing where the monster might be heading”. While this can lower the game’s tension somewhat, Teflon did not that it’s “endlessly reminiscent of Godzilla or King Kong”.
The game’s cutscenes were where things really started to fall down for Tef, particularly because they’re unskippable. The fact that these are forced upon you every round really dragged things down, particularly due to their “banal conversation” and “generic, bland” feeling.
The “tutorial cutscenes for each character and mode” didn’t make things any better either, further compounded by the “game’s lacklustre unlock system”. The fact that you feel like “you’re being forced into playing in a certain way just to get the next character” is surely a significant failing for the game, particularly as these requirements “often fly in the face of how the game plays out in the heat of battle”.
These sort of problems really let the game down in Tef’s opinion, leaving him to rate is as a 7/10. Here’s what he had to say in conclusion:
At its simplest, Evolve is one of the best new ideas to be turned into a game of recent times, invoking so many monster and alien films along the way. Its attention grabbing hook can only take it so far, though, and Evolve needs you to persevere through the first few hours as you get to grips with the hunt and learn how to play the game. Admittedly, it can be hit and miss when paired up with AI players through matchmaking, but as with so many games, it can be pure gold when played with friends.
So it’s now time to ask you just what you thought of the game. Were there enough positives in the game to overcome the failings that Tef found, or did it fall a little flat for you too? Regardless of whether you enjoyed stomping around as a monster or felt they didn’t work quite as well as you’d hoped, we’d love to hear from you. All you have to do is drop us a comment below, remembering to rate the game on the Buy It, Sale It, Plus It, Avoid It scale.
JustTaylorNow
My opinion is based on the beta which was enough to persuade me not to buy the full game.
Basically the idea on paper sounded brilliant & for the month to come it even sounded better & better. But then the when I played the beta, what a awful game, the graphics where poor, the whole game was just all over the place & not clear.
This game is one of those games where you need 4 dedicated friends rather than randoms cause randoms will do their own thing clearly
Don’t even get it for free
Lieutenant Fatman
I’ve played this with some friends and it was quite fun, chasing a monster down and calling out to each other where it is. Having said that, it’s not a game I would enjoy much teaming up with randoms as if people don’t work together properly you are pretty much doomed to fail.
So unless you have a group of gaming friends you can reliably team up with fairly often who all want this game I’d say it’s probably not worth buying.
Also worth mentioning, large parts of the game that are on the disc are cut out on release and are sold back to customers for a high price tag even though this a full price retail game. Something they labelled as being an aggressive dlc plan as I recall. So unless you buy this at a hugely discounted price, you are being ripped off big time. Not something I want to encourage. Shame as the core idea for the game is a good one.
Avoid.
Starman
What parts of the game are cut out and sold as dlc? As far as I know its only skins which are fairly useless in a fps anyway.
Lieutenant Fatman
To be honest I didn’t read enough into it as I lost interest quickly. I recall unique characters and monsters being mentioned as well as skins and unique abilities. This was all wrapped up in their ‘agressive dlc’ talk. Good way to put people off.
Lokidoki
There is no large part of the game cut out for DLC. There are some day one skins, a lot of which they are giving out free for challenges. No monsters, no hunters, no weapons, no abilities were cut out or locked in the disc.
I think their DLC prices are ludicrous, but there are no shenanigans involved here.
Severn2j
I just want to say that while I have the same feeling as the author regarding online multiplayer in general, it wasnt that, that put me off the game. It was all the extra “day one” DLC, so much of it, that I felt that I wasnt getting the full game, unless I paid for the super-monster-apocalypse version (or whatever it was called) that cost something like £70. In fact, Im not sure even that version had everything.
It seemed so obviously chopped up and sold back in pieces that it put me right off buying it at all. So much, that I doubt I’d even get it in a Steam sale.
I cant give a “score” because I didn’t buy it, but wanted to put an opinion anyway :)
bunimomike
Very good point, fella. Same here. Was looking forward to it and then realised that the execution of the game (and the delivery of it) put me off from buying it. Very rare that happens.
DirtyHabit
Evolve got a bit of a raw deal in the media IMO. There was a lot of DLC. But it was all skins, it had no bearing on the gameplay at all. I didn’t buy anything and I don’t feel I missed out. I think there were a couple of additional monsters planned down the line but I’ve stopped playing since.
Is a fun game, I hammered it for about a month. What put me off in the end was people not playing in character. People seemed to have no concept of what support or medic classes do other than run around watching other people die.
Starman
I was apprehensive over this due to all the day 1 dlc, however I got it in a sale when there wasn’t much else worth buying and have enjoyed it much more than expected.
Taking down the monster and winning really feels like a achievement, more so than your average online shooter. Using the different hunters and abilities is good as they do have a genuinely different role to play and it helps keep it fresh.
I’ll happily play a couple of games of evacuation which takes around 45 minutes each and cycles through all the modes.
Graphically it looks ok but is too dark sometimes.
It’s not something you’ll play for hours on end but it does draw me back every few days for a go.
Sale it.