From the team that brought the world Left 4 Dead comes Evolve, a title that Turtle Rock Studios and 2K Games hopes will change the face off multiplayer shooters for the better.
This games pits four humans below four separate classes against a harsh environment and one massive monster. The monster and the humans are all controlled by human players. The environment that surrounds them is handled by the game’s AI.
I had a chance to go hands-on with Evolve at PAX East after waiting on line for at least an hour. The way the demo worked was that we each were assigned one class to play during the course of a single match. I was dealt the role of the monster, the position I’ve been most interested in since Evolve‘s announcement.
We only played one game within one mode on one map, so I can’t speak to the other classes, weaponry, locales or monsters. We also played a PC build of the game, though it’s also bound for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this fall.
As the monster, I had three simple directives. First, I had to feed. Killing and feeding on animals earned me evolutions, and evolutions earned me skill points. I was able to spend these skill points on moves and abilities, either acquiring them or leveling them up to a high point.
Next, I had to avoid the humans while in hunt mode. The monster in this mode has three stages of evolution. The first and second stages are rather weak, and the monster is pretty easy for the humans to take down. The third stage, though? Absolute beast mode. I was able to attain the third stage of evolution, and that made my third directive easy.
The third directive? It splinters two ways. Either kill all the humans at once, or destroy the generator in the center of the map.
During my demo, I was able to ramp my skills all the way up before mixing with the human hunters. That made me super strong for our contest, and I was able to wreak havoc on them without catching even a scratch in return.
The monster that I played, the Goliath, featured strong melee attacks, the ability to breathe fire, the ability to ground pound and the ability to grab rocks from the earth and throw them at enemies. He was more than formidable, especially when it came time to bring down the generator.
The only real issue I had with the game from the monster’s side of play was the way it felt. It was smooth, it looked nice and all of the mechanics and attacks played out well enough. It was just that swatting at humans as a monster didn’t feel nearly rewarding or physical enough for my liking. It didn’t feel like I was a humongous beast laying ruin to a group of humans. I felt thin, light and too airy.
It was fun, don’t get me wrong. There’s still a lot of time between now and release to iron the feel of play out, so let’s hope Turtle Rock gets there.
For now, get excited for Evolve. It’s an interesting take on competitive and cooperative multiplayer in the AAA shooter world.
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