My Experience With Evolve So Far
It's 3 weeks until the release for Evolve, one that we're all looking forward to in eager anticipation at SMP. So far Evolve has impressed me. I really like the idea of asymmetrical gameplay, and I've spoken endlessly about how much I enjoy a tight team based experience, but these 2 core concepts are the heart of Evolve. 4 hunters, who each have their own role to play, face off against a monster who can feed on local fauna in order to replenish health and store energy in order to evolve up to a maximum level of 3. At this point, if the match lasts this long, the hunters have to defend a power generator from the monster. Hunters can respawn, as long as at least one of them is still alive in the match, but only 3 times. If all the hunters are killed before any can respawn, or if all the hunters are killed 3 times, or if the power generator is destroyed, the monster wins, however, all the hunters have to do is kill the monster. It all sounds so simple on paper.
I've sunk a fair few hours into Evolve now, through playing it at MCM in May and October, at EGX, to playing it at home during the Big Alpha, on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. After the PS4 firmware update caused mayhem with the Alpha, I didn't get as long on the PS4 as I had hoped, so I spent way longer on the Xbox One version, but for the recent Open Beta for Xbox One and the Technical Test for PlayStation 4 I experienced alot of frustration trying to download the Open Beta for my Xbox One. My plan was, again, to put in a similar amount of time with both consoles so I could draw fair comparisons, and the Xbox One Open Beta promised exclusive features and game modes over the PS4s Technical Test, and similarly, any Xbox One progress accumulated carries over to the full game when it releases, but the PlayStation 4 does not. I easily found the Open Beta on the Store page under Demos, but I had no option to download it, instead only a greyed out Bundle Only option, or the option to pre-order the full game. I searched online and various people claimed they had fixed this issue, by various means such as using SmartGlass, or by Bing searching, or repeatedly quitting the store, or by repeatedly restarting the console, the latter of which was frequently recommended to many users experiencing this problem from the Evolve Twitter feed. No matter what I tried, right up to the Beta shutting down, I was completely unable to download it.
I was however, thankfully, able to access the PlayStation 4 Technical Test after receiving an invite. It was a closed Beta, with a smaller scope, starting 2 days after the Open Beta and lacking some features on the Xbox One, but as I had registered when I played the Big Alpha on PlayStation 4 I got an invite, and so I spent the weekend only on the PlayStation 4, so unfortunately I didn't get to experience Evacuation mode, nor will my progress carry over the the final game.
Turtle Rock have been up front in wanting players to stress servers, and to get as many people online at the same time as possible, and that part of the game seemed stable enough. It's needed for a game like this, a game that thrives on its online play.
So that's the technical junk out the way, onto actually playing the game.
The Technical Test and Open Beta featured all 12 maps that support the games core Hunt mode, a whopping 8 more than the Big Alpha in October. I've often expressed frustration when playing Betas and only getting to experience 1 map. I realise that a Beta is supposed to be a test to gather vital information and eliminate any issues before release, but these days, what most companies pedal as Betas, are so polished that they aren't really Betas at all, and they often merely serve to stress servers ahead of launch, and also serve as a bit of a demo, allowing people to try the game ahead of its launch and maybe peak the interest of a few people for whom otherwise it may well have passed by. Turtle Rock told us before the Open Beta and Technical test that we could expect to see faster matchmaking and improved balance, amongst other improvements, and were up front that the purpose of these tests were to stress test the servers. I really like how open Turtle Rock have been throughout the development process. They put themselves out there, they communicated with players, replied to messages from those suffering issues and wanted people to record and share their experiences with the game.
The full game will support an offline mode, although this was not supported, as the purpose of the Open Beta and Technical Test was to stress servers. But unlike the Big Alpha which simply showed a video quickly explaining a few key features the first time you select any of the classes before thrusting players into online immediately, a tutorial mission explains key aspects of gameplay to Monster players, before moving onto a tutorial for the Assault class. Oddly, there is no tutorial for any other classes, instead, retaining the short tutorial video from the Big Alpha. Perhaps Turtle Rock were acting on feedback that these roles were most in need of an active tutorial, but it was a welcome introduction, especially for the Monster.
I felt that playing Evolve at Expos and through the Big Alpha, that it was harder to be a good Monster player, than to be a good hunter, but after this tutorial, I immediately felt more comfortable playing as the Monster. I've read comments from people who've disagreed, but I feel that if everyone on the Hunter team does their job right, the Hunters would win. I feel that helping people understand how to play as the Monster through this tutorial evened the field.
Before getting into a match, you can select a preference to what role you want to play. Matchmaking will then take this into account when selecting games to join, although you can select no preference. My preference was:
1. Assault.
2. Trapper.
3. Support.
4. Medic.
5. Monster.
I'd played probably the least with the support class so I wanted to sink some time into that role, and I felt I was a pretty poor Trapper, so I wanted to play more of those roles. Not to say I didn't switch it up, and I even got a Monster role in my second match even though it was my 5th choice preference.
Quite literally everything on the map wants to kill you. It makes it tense. What if I'm ambushed by the Monster while I'm fighting one of these weird tentacle-faced-horse-things? What if my team need me and I get trapped in a carnivorous plant? What if I waste a life by getting killed by a giant crab-spider-thing, or a sloth? Or leap into the water to escape the Monster while on low health only to get attacked by a big water-beast-creature? One wrong move will cost you the game, and you'll obsess over it. Moving through the environment is the tensest experience of my life. You need to be quick enough to catch up to a Monster if you've found tracks, or if the Monster has given its location away by scaring birds, but you need to be careful enough that you don't die before you get there, and so you don't get ambushed. You can afford to be a little more brazen as the Hunters, but time is the ally of the Monster, and levelling up to a maximum level 3 evolution means they're now effectively a tank. It's not impossible to beat a level 3 Monster but it's certainly not easy.
Evolve, really, is a game built around epic moments made by players. In the same way that players make the epic moments in an open world game. It's immensely strategic and entire games can hinge on one move. Setting a mobile arena with precision timing, preventing the Monster from escaping, or wasting it and allowing the Monster to escape to feed and level up. A perfectly timed strike from a bombardment, or one that misses, baiting a Monster onto mines and other traps, or being outsmarted and being ambushed yourself. The cooldown on abilities means that using them is victory or certain death depending on whether it lands. It's far and away the most tense game I've played in ages and I've loved every minute of it. I love tactical, team based games. I love asymmetrical gameplay. It's just a shame that I can't offer any comments on the different consoles, and I hope that there's no such problems with the full launch. I did notice that the Technical Test did seem more balanced to me, and did seem to have better matchmaking that the Big Alpha. Bring on launch day.
What were your impressions on Evolve so far? Get in touch with us on Twitter @supermegapod
Evolve is released on the 10th February for Xbox one and PlayStation 4.
