Evolve Review

To really put this review into perspective I have to go back to my first year after leaving the Navy. I officially left the military in early 2009, coming back to my small home town, and sleeping on my cousin's couch for a few months before I was able to move on with my life. During this brief time with little responsibility, and a bit of money saved up, I had quite a bit of free time on my hands. I filled a good bit of this with Left 4 Dead, a game which had come out the previous year. My favorite thing about the game was the multiplayer versus mode, allowing you to play on a team of special infected against the survivors. During this time I had a number of friends on Steam who played, and one in particular who went by the name LaggyFish invited me to join a clan he was a part of. If you listen to the podcast then you may have heard me mention TAW (The Art of Warfare) clan before, and how the semi-competitive clan gave me a chance to really learn the game, and play with a group of people who were as passionate about the game as I was. They helped me to learn the maps, what the best routes were to take as the survivors, which areas were best to pull survivors as a smoker to get an instant kill, which areas to pounce from as a hunter for the greatest damage. The comradery and shared passion helped to really make that game for me. Evolve however, has not recaptured that experience for me.

I was so very hyped for Evolve, thinking I would get to relive those moments of knocking someone off of a building as the Tank in L4D, or blasting a Hunter out of mid-air while they were pouncing. While I certainly had a few moments, it wasn't the same experience by any means. Evolve's biggest flaw in my opinion is that your experience depends entirely on the skill of the hunters versus the skill of the monster. Matches tend to go one of two ways, either the hunters find the monster very early and kill it off at stage one, or the hunters barely catch glimpse of the monster until stage three, and then it takes the hunters down without much effort. There are other variables of course. If the hunter doesn't put their dome ability down at the right time, then it's very difficult to corner the monster. If the assault isn't in position to keep a line of fire on the monster then you won't get enough damage during the fight. If the support doesn't know who to shield and when, you'll not get the buff when needed, not to mention if they keep using that darn bombardment at the wrong times, they're more likely to hurt their team as opposed to the monster (or at least send them flying out of position). When you do find those rare moments of both teams being equally skilled is where the game shines though. It turns from a one sided slaughter fest into a game of cat and mouse, both sides stalking the other back and forth as momentum shifts back and forth. These moments are the exception however, not the rule.

One of the bigger problems though is the games progression system. You get experience for your multiple abilities depending on how often you use them, and once you've developed those abilities just so far, you end up getting a small bonus. This causes some problems though, as people will use the weapon they're trying to build experience for, rather than using what is tactical for the situation. Even when you've raised the item to the next level, the bonus given is negligible and not really worth the effort. If you want to unlock the alternate characters for the classes though, you have to force yourself to take the time to do these things anyways though, much to the detriment of your team mates.

The only other major issue I have with the game is balance with one monster in particular. From what I have played so far, all of the hunters are relatively balanced and have their own minor pros and cons to using the alternate versions. The Kraken and Goliath monsters also offer enjoyable and very fun experiences for both sides involved. The Wraith on the other hand, in my humble opinion, is one of the most frustrating things to deal with I have found in gaming. While it does have lower health and armor than the other two monsters available, its speed, decoy ability, and rapid attacks more than make up for that weakness. Its abduction ability, combined with the supernova buff often makes for a near instant incap on one unsuspecting hunter, even more so if it recently let off the decoy ability so both can double team that hunter. On the other hand I feel the Kraken is probably the most balanced and fun to play against as a hunter. I haven't won every match against a Kraken player, but I have had the best time against it. Unlike the Goliath and Wraith it specializes in ranged attacks. This makes it not want to jump right in your face where you can't see what is going on, and gives it ample room to run when the going gets tough.

All in all, Evolve was a bit disappointing, compounded by the fact that I see so much potential within its asymmetrical multiplayer. It came close to hitting the mark, but the lack of polish really shows. This isn't even getting into the controversy over the DLC policies, or the quality and variation of maps, but those are minor enough gripes that I feel it would take away from the bigger points to get into those. So, if you've got enough friends who are also going to be getting the game, Evolve might be worth looking into. If like me however, you not many people you know are going to be getting the game, you may be better off taking a pass this time around. In the mean time, we will have to see if they address any of these concerns, and maybe go back to play some more Left 4 Dead.

-Trey