For those of you who pay attention to advertising/news in the gaming industry, you've probably heard of a game called Evolve. It gained a lot of attention and praise at E3, and recently I was selected to participate in the alpha on the XB1. Here are the details and my thoughts!
The premise: 4v1 online multiplayer (so far). Four players assume the roles of Hunters who are tasked with tracking and eliminating the Monster. The monster is tasked with evading and/or killing the Hunters while trying to destroy a target building (usually a power station).
Dramatis personae: There are four hunters available, each with a weapon and equipment set that is suited to their role in the team: Assault, Support, Tracker, and Medic. Assault is your damage dealer - he has the best offensive weaponry in terms of raw damage dealing ability. Support can shield and cloak the team as well as call in an air strike. The Tracker has a pet... creature that can follow the Monster's trail, can deploy a football field sized bubble shield (called a mobile arena) to trap the Monster and force it into combat, as well as a harpoon gun to hinder Monster movement (the Monster is much faster and more agile than the Hunters, and can outrun them with ease). Lastly, the Medic heals the team, has a tranquilizer gun to slow down the Monster, and a sniper rifle to punch through its armor (leaving highlighted weak spots that other Hunters can hit for critical damage). All hunters are equipped with a jetpack that allows short bursts of flight time before a recharge is necessary.
The fifth player of every match plays the Monster, a creature that has humble beginnings but, as the title suggests, can evolve. You begin fairly small and weak, but by killing and consuming other wildlife present on the map, you fill up a progress bar towards the next 'stage' in your evolution. At each stage, you assign points to the four attacks you have in your repertoire. In the final game, there will be many monsters available, but in the alpha you play as the Goliath, who relies on speed, brutal strength, and... oh yeah, fire breathing, to fend off the Hunters who attack.
Impressions: The best thing: it's not Call of Booty. The best matches don't consists of ten minutes of mindlessly running around firing your gun until something dies. There's a clear sense of tactics, there's a progression of gameplay phases and associated strategy as the round plays out, and even though most of the players in the alpha session didn't play that way, I can tell there's a lot of potential for highly sophisticated play once the game is released and consistent teams (like the SWS hint hint cough cough?) can learn to coordinate and work on team strategy. The game begins as a big (and let me emphasize big - the maps are enormous, but this is perfectly appropriate for the gameplay) game of cat and mouse: the Hunters must work together to track and trap the Monster in grounds that work to the Hunters' favor, while the Monster is actively evading conflict until it can evolve to Stage 3, at which point it is strong enough to have a fighting chance against the Hunters). Once the hide and seek stage of the game is over and combat is engaged, then the mechanic design of the game really shines. There are many variables to the attack/defense choices that arise in 4v1 combat (Hunter loadout, which weapon/equipment to use, positioning, as well as Monster type and Monster strategy, such as which Hunter to engage at what time), which gives players a lot of ways to work the balance of combat styles to work to their strengths. I can imagine that a Hunter team of four people who really learn the intricacies of their own play style as well as those of their teammates would have a lot of fun engaging a rotating cast of enemy Monster players online. And conversely, a well trained Monster player would enjoy seeing how his strategy works against new Hunter teams. 2K and Turtlerock did a good job, in my opinion, of diversifying the loadouts of the Hunters so that every player will have have an experience that matches their style.
I also have some criticism to level against the game (let it be noted that in the alpha, only one game mode, two monsters, three [I think] maps, and four hunters were made available to the players - more of each are expected with the final release in February). My biggest complaint is that the offered maps don't really offer a lot to the gameplay. The Monster's target structure usually has a nice staging ground that proves a good battleground, but the rest of each map is just... terrain. Yes, there are distinguishing characteristics and features of each map (although they're always at night for some reason?), but they don't impact the dynamics of the game in a meaningful or memorable way (the way that Firing Range and Nuketown do in COD). If the rest of the maps are along the same lines, then that could make the game seem a bit dull. The rest of my complaints will hopefully be addressed by the availability of new content with the full game, so I'll leave them out of this writeup.
I'm also curious to see if there's a campaign or any storyline that's introduced, or if they're following in Titanfall's footsteps a la multiplayer only with a little bit of story thrown in. It'd be nice to be able to relate to the characters, the maps, or some other aspect of the game, but I have a feeling it's an online gameplay driven title, so we shouldn't hold our breaths.
Rating: Good INU
The premise: 4v1 online multiplayer (so far). Four players assume the roles of Hunters who are tasked with tracking and eliminating the Monster. The monster is tasked with evading and/or killing the Hunters while trying to destroy a target building (usually a power station).
Dramatis personae: There are four hunters available, each with a weapon and equipment set that is suited to their role in the team: Assault, Support, Tracker, and Medic. Assault is your damage dealer - he has the best offensive weaponry in terms of raw damage dealing ability. Support can shield and cloak the team as well as call in an air strike. The Tracker has a pet... creature that can follow the Monster's trail, can deploy a football field sized bubble shield (called a mobile arena) to trap the Monster and force it into combat, as well as a harpoon gun to hinder Monster movement (the Monster is much faster and more agile than the Hunters, and can outrun them with ease). Lastly, the Medic heals the team, has a tranquilizer gun to slow down the Monster, and a sniper rifle to punch through its armor (leaving highlighted weak spots that other Hunters can hit for critical damage). All hunters are equipped with a jetpack that allows short bursts of flight time before a recharge is necessary.
The fifth player of every match plays the Monster, a creature that has humble beginnings but, as the title suggests, can evolve. You begin fairly small and weak, but by killing and consuming other wildlife present on the map, you fill up a progress bar towards the next 'stage' in your evolution. At each stage, you assign points to the four attacks you have in your repertoire. In the final game, there will be many monsters available, but in the alpha you play as the Goliath, who relies on speed, brutal strength, and... oh yeah, fire breathing, to fend off the Hunters who attack.
Impressions: The best thing: it's not Call of Booty. The best matches don't consists of ten minutes of mindlessly running around firing your gun until something dies. There's a clear sense of tactics, there's a progression of gameplay phases and associated strategy as the round plays out, and even though most of the players in the alpha session didn't play that way, I can tell there's a lot of potential for highly sophisticated play once the game is released and consistent teams (like the SWS hint hint cough cough?) can learn to coordinate and work on team strategy. The game begins as a big (and let me emphasize big - the maps are enormous, but this is perfectly appropriate for the gameplay) game of cat and mouse: the Hunters must work together to track and trap the Monster in grounds that work to the Hunters' favor, while the Monster is actively evading conflict until it can evolve to Stage 3, at which point it is strong enough to have a fighting chance against the Hunters). Once the hide and seek stage of the game is over and combat is engaged, then the mechanic design of the game really shines. There are many variables to the attack/defense choices that arise in 4v1 combat (Hunter loadout, which weapon/equipment to use, positioning, as well as Monster type and Monster strategy, such as which Hunter to engage at what time), which gives players a lot of ways to work the balance of combat styles to work to their strengths. I can imagine that a Hunter team of four people who really learn the intricacies of their own play style as well as those of their teammates would have a lot of fun engaging a rotating cast of enemy Monster players online. And conversely, a well trained Monster player would enjoy seeing how his strategy works against new Hunter teams. 2K and Turtlerock did a good job, in my opinion, of diversifying the loadouts of the Hunters so that every player will have have an experience that matches their style.
I also have some criticism to level against the game (let it be noted that in the alpha, only one game mode, two monsters, three [I think] maps, and four hunters were made available to the players - more of each are expected with the final release in February). My biggest complaint is that the offered maps don't really offer a lot to the gameplay. The Monster's target structure usually has a nice staging ground that proves a good battleground, but the rest of each map is just... terrain. Yes, there are distinguishing characteristics and features of each map (although they're always at night for some reason?), but they don't impact the dynamics of the game in a meaningful or memorable way (the way that Firing Range and Nuketown do in COD). If the rest of the maps are along the same lines, then that could make the game seem a bit dull. The rest of my complaints will hopefully be addressed by the availability of new content with the full game, so I'll leave them out of this writeup.
I'm also curious to see if there's a campaign or any storyline that's introduced, or if they're following in Titanfall's footsteps a la multiplayer only with a little bit of story thrown in. It'd be nice to be able to relate to the characters, the maps, or some other aspect of the game, but I have a feeling it's an online gameplay driven title, so we shouldn't hold our breaths.
Rating: Good INU
