Playing Evolve feels like dealing with some kind of split personality. You can pick to play either a Monster or a Hunter in a 1v4 game. And after a few hours with the first-person shooter, I still cannot decide which is more fun.
Monsters are savage, have cool abilities and can eat other animals to evolve, while Hunters play cooperatively and rely on good teamwork and coordination to bring down a monster. No lone hero in the group can save the Hunters by himself or herself.
Evolve is clearly made for multiplayer gaming. The solo campaign, known as Evacuation, simply pits Hunters against a Monster on five different maps, revolving around a non-story of defending, rescuing or destroying.
Winning or losing will affect how the next map plays out. For example, if the Hunters win by successfully killing the Monster and prevent a weather control tower from being destroyed, the Hunters will be at an advantage on the next map by gaining better visibility of the Monster in clear weather.
Before the start of each map, you can boost certain abilities for both Monster and Hunter by adding points and selecting some perks for your favourite abilities.
That helps offer some replayability, but I find myself always picking the same perks for my favourite moves. For the Goliath, I like the ability to climb faster in order to escape from the Hunters and the Fire Breath attack rather than the slower Rock Throw.
Playing the Monster
At the start of the map, Monsters get a 30-second head start over the Hunters to evade them and seek food in the form of wildlife. Once you have eaten enough, you can evolve from a lowly Stage 1 beast up to a powerful Stage 3 version, giving you a boost in your abilities. Being attacked by a team of Hunters at Stage 1 is a sure way to end the game early.
In the plain vanilla version of Evolve (without the downloadable add-ons), there are three different types of Monsters. You get the Goliath that is your typical slashing and pounding Godzilla in a bad mood, the electrifying and hovering Kraken, and the teleporting and sneaking xenomorphic Wraith.
The first Monster you can access is the Goliath, and as you gain points through playing solo or multiplayer games, you can unlock the Kraken and the Wraith progressively. Playing a Monster is difficult but challenging, and offers a refreshing gameplay over the regular shoot-’em-ups.
Playing the Hunter
You can choose to play four classes of Hunters – Assault, Trapper, Medic and Support. As you play more, you can unlock new characters in these classes with different abilities. Hunters, together with Daisy, the dog-like alien hound, work cooperatively to track, hunt and kill the Monster.
Playing Assault is straightforward – you use weapons and mines to deal as much damage as possible to Monsters. For this, the Trapper has skills to slow or trap the Monster, like by using harpoon cables, and by using her pet Daisy.
The Medic, to me, is the most fun and also has the most important role in the team not just because of the ability to heal teammates and Daisy, but also being able to shoot using a Sniper rifle. Unfortunately, the Medic is also the most targeted Hunter by the Monster.
Support is my least liked, despite having a mix of offensive and defensive skills, such as rocket launchers as well as shielding and cloaking abilities. Playing Hunters is fun because you can try different yet familiar roles in team-based shooters.
Game design
Evolve is definitely a great looking game with beautiful scenery, weather effects and atmospheric lighting, as well as impressively designed Monsters that are clearly created with love.
The maps are closed in and claustrophobic, but with good reason especially for the evasive Monster to hide and evolve. Steep rocky columns that can be scaled by Monsters, thick jungles and narrow gullies make for good spots for the Monster to ambush and feed on wildlife, or launch a surprise attack on Hunters.
While Monsters have amazing climbing, hovering or teleporting abilities, the environment design helps in making the game more immersive.
tl;dr
Evolve is great fun for those who enjoying playing with (or against) friends in multiplayer mode, but if you are looking for a game with a more fleshed out single player campaign, you will need to look elsewhere.
If you are a jaded multiplayer FPS veteran, playing a Monster in Evolve will be a refreshing and challenging experience. However, I found it a drag to have to keep playing the game and accumulating enough points in order to unlock the Kraken and Wraith, as well as new Hunter characters.
At least there are four Hunters that I can access now and rotate if I get bored but there is only the Monster Goliath to play with until enough points are gained to unlock the Kraken, and even more to get the Wraith. This can feel like a chore.
The pricing controversy
At its launch, Evolve was criticised for being expensive. It will set you back S$61 to download the PC version from Steam, or to buy it for S$61.90 at the store. Console gamers typically pay more, as usual, with the Xbox One and Playstation version each costing S$74.90.
It doesn’t help that the game has not included all the playable Monsters and Hunters, and having the Monsters “each sold separately” via downloadable add-ons.
The next Monster in line is the Behemoth in the Monster Expansion Pack. For four additional Hunters, the Hunter Season Pass costs S$24.99 on Steam.
For the record, here is what you will get on the initial basic release:
- 12 Unique Maps – each with a variety of modifiers that can drastically affect each match
- 12 Hunters (Abe, Bucket, Cabot, Caira, Griffin, Hank, Hyde, Lazarus, Maggie, Markov, Parnell and Val)
- 3 Monsters (Goliath, Kraken and Wraith)
- 4 Game Modes (Defend, Hunt, Nest and Rescue)
- Evacuation campaign
- Full offline solo-play
