E3 2014 - Evolve Hand-On Preview

Evolve has been making waves since E3, and after a look at the game, it’s entirely unsurprising. 2K’s sci-fi shooter presents one of the most interesting reinventions of multiplayer since developers introduced online co-op: the concept of asymmetrical combat. Eschewing the usual style of four-versus-four gameplay, players are instead pitted against each other in four-versus-one combat, where the roles of predator and prey are constantly shifting.

The premise is simple but brilliant: four hunters are dropped on a hostile alien world to trap and kill a massive, evolving monster—only this time, players can take on the role of the hunters or the monster. Regardless of species, the goal is simple: take out the other side before they take you out first. Each monster is unique, designed specifically for its environment and capable of going through three stages of evolution during a match—thus, the name of the game. Monsters can feed on the local fauna to fill up their evolve meter, triggering the next stage of evolution, and use a number of dangerous abilities to get the upper hand. The hunters on the other hand come in a range of four classes—trapper, medic, support and assault—each with their own tricks up their sleeve that range from shields to a resurrection gun to a tracking dog (alien…thing…).

The E3 demo of Evolve also introduced four new hunters: Maggie the trapper and her loyal hound Daisy, Lazarus the medic, the support robot Bucket and Hyde the assault class. After watching the game’s E3 trailer and a video rundown of the classes, we lined up for our particular character, selected through that most noble and ancient of methods: a rubber wristband handed to us at the door. After ending up with the medic (and coincidentally a new wristband), I was worried that hands-on preview would be a little dull, as I’ve never been one for playing clerics or support. It turns out, however, that being a medic in Evolve can be pretty dang hard.

Our new formed team was pitted against the player-controlled monster Kraken, which looks like something out of a Lovecraft story, only with bigger claws. Kraken, we’d been informed, can not only camouflage to move through the jungle terrain almost undetected, but also fly. Great. Loading into the game, our team of hunters suit up on a drop ship, giving us a good view of the dense jungle landscape, before base-jumping down to a man-made facility below. This is made less deadly by the hunters’ jetpacks, which allow them to fly (mostly upwards) for short bursts. Almost immediately, our trapper’s dogbeast Daisy picks up Kraken’s trail, and off we run into the wild.

When the developers describe the planet Shear as a hostile environment, they mean it quite literally; in Evolve, the flora and fauna are just as likely to get you as the monster itself. Aside from giving you the opportunity for some embarrassing deaths (getting eaten by a plant will never be anything less than that), the map’s ambient hostility keeps gameplay interesting during the long stretches of tracking, which can often involve following the monster for several minutes, depending on how cagey your opponent is. Our own team has some minor run-ins with the wildlife while following Daisy, although they don’t do much more than give everyone a chase to cement the combat controls in their heads.

The game is played in the standard first-person for a shooter and as Lazarus, I’m equipped with a sniper rifle and my resurrection gun--although I get very few chances to use the former--and I’m able to revive players the quickest out of any of the classes. For the most part, the beginning of our match is uneventful, and I spend it trailing at the back of the group. Evolve has clearly not skimped in the landscape department: the terrain is carefully crafted, and alternates perfectly between the dense jungle floor and stretches of more open, rocky ground broken up with bodies of murky green-brown water. It’s easy to imagine being eaten alive by extra-terrestrial mosquitoes.

The alien terrain also keeps us guessing: what at first seems like an innocuous oversized flower grabs hold of one of my teammates, and I get the first chance to use my sniper rifle “convincing” the plant to let him go. Unsurprisingly, as the medic I’m not specced out for combat, and it quickly becomes clear that aggressive pruning is about the extent of my offensive abilities when one of the local wildlife decides to give me a few nibbles. Luckily, our Hyde manages to dissuade it and Lazarus is ultimately none the worse for wear.

Evolve can at times be relatively slow paced, especially near the beginning of a match when the hunters are busily tracking. The game however, manages to make it an interesting sort of slow, and it’s easy to get caught up in the tension of knowing your “boss” battle may start with a surprise attack at any moment. Ours does, as Kraken comes out of camouflage already at evolution stage two, throwing our party into chaos. As the medic, I fall back out of the action, and my job becomes the thankless task of sneaking in under the monster’s radar to resurrect teammates, or throw out an area-of-effect style blanket heal to keep the other players in action.

Unfortunately, this makes me something of a target. Unlike a traditional boss battle, Kraken is of course player controlled, and long-standing tactics like aggro-managing quickly become obsolete when your opponent knows what you’re doing. Our team manages to chase-slash-lead Kraken back to the poured-concrete base we landed at, which is made of several levels of buildings and gives the opportunity for more vertical gameplay.

The hunters’ jetpacks are essential here, allowing more clever players to move swiftly in and out of combat by changing levels. Unfortunately for us, Kraken has wings, which give it a greater verticality and more manoeuvrability than our jetpacks. Making use of this, our Kraken quickly develops the habit of flying swiftly out of range and into the jungle to feast on the local wildlife, which not only help it evolve but also restore some of the armour our assault and support have been so diligently hacking away at.

Blindsiding us, Kraken evolves to stage three, which now gives it the additional objective of taking out the base’s generators. It also manages to take out our noble, amazing, self-sacrificing medic and the team’s support, closely followed by our assault and trapper. To put it politely, it looks like our little party is done for and Kraken will live to feast another day. Only, that’s not entirely true. The unofficial fifth member of our party, Daisy—who until now had basically been good for leading us to our deaths—breaks out a nifty new ability: the chance to resurrect our trapper, and thus bringing us back into the game.

As our trapper beats a hasty retreat, the rest of our team waits the requisite two minutes to return on a drop ship, and we regroup to make our second assault. Which, unfortunately, goes about as well as our first; Kraken, it seems, has caught wise to our more stealthy ways and manages to make a meal of the four of us in short order, and this time no rescue comes from Daisy. The match, alas, goes to Kraken.

Evolve is by far the most exciting game I saw at E3. Its unique combat style brings new blood (and guts) to the all too often stagnant arena of FPS-based multiplayer. The game’s class system feels robust and heavily specialised, although I do wonder if it’s not too specialised; while I can see the obvious potential for players to develop a preferred class, I can’t help but wonder that Evolve’s class design might limit individuals’ ability to experiment with alternative strategies. But on the other hand, I only had the opportunity to experience one level as one particular class, and I may have an unfairly limited picture of the class system.

Regardless, Evolve feels like a game with a lot of potential, and one that’s set to deliver on most, if not all, of its hype—a rare thing indeed. It’s definitely one I’m already in the process of convincing my friends to pick up for some good old monster-hunting fun. Evolve is destined for new-gen consoles and PC on October 21.