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Written by the L4D guys. This time your four man/woman crew have to hunt down one monster, which will evolve the longer it hides. While you track it, you have to tackle the local wildlife and fauna. All of which are deadly. Great graphics and atmospheric effects.
Have a look and say what you think: http://store.steampowered.com/app/273350/
Two quick reviews/game descriptions from Steam:
1)
Evolve is a 4v1 multiplayer only game of fetch/hide and seek.
It's a 1st person shooter if you're one of the hunters and 3rd person if you're the Monster.
The 4 hunters try to find and kill the Monster by following footsteps, sounds, and other signs of life.
The Monster tries to run/sneak away from the hunters while killing and eating NPC animals around him to get its evolution-bar full. Once it's full, it can search for a safe spot and evolve, getting new and better abilities. It can evolve twice, each time being more and more able to defeat the hunters in a fight. If the hunters let the Monster reach its final form without getting a lot of its permanent health down, they're dead.
Content
HUNTERS:
There are 4 hunter classes (Assault, Medic, Trappper, Support) with 4 loadout slots each.
Each of the 4 classes has 2 loadouts, the second one being unlocked after you've played enough of that class.
Although there are only 8 total loadouts, each of them has a very unique playstyle and the difference in playstyle between
the classes is equivalent to the difference in playstyle between the loadouts.
MONSTER:
The Monster obviously plays very differently from the hunters, but its customisability works in the same way. The Monster is more like a 5th class in that sense.
The Monster also has a 2nd loadout, which is also unlocked with continued play of that class, each loadout also has 4 loadout slots, and both loadouts also play very differently.
Both as a hunter and as the Monster you get an additional 'Perk', of which you have more to choose from the more you play. They do not change the playstyle of your loadout, but can compliment them greatly.
2)
Played as Jumanji replica of Van Pelt named; "Griffin," jumped out of dropship, was hot on monsters trail the moment I hit the ground, shot cool wildlife while character shouted what a badass he was, Medic stepped on venus human trap and no one noticed, got eaten, huge toad monster played with Assault; then ate him, Support fought random animal instead of flying past it. Caught up to monster, monster cimbed rock face and got his face 1 inch away from mine, breathed fire, slammed me against ground and threw me at rockface fifty meters away, ♥♥♥♥♥ slapped Support and downed him. Breathed fire on us. Slammed me back into rockface when I lit him up and downed me, Monster beat support to death and wondered why the game wasn't over. Saw Daisy licking me and reviving me. Monster euthanized her with a boulder.
11/10 Should've stuck to hunting Robin Williams. (R.I.P. You fantastic F***ing actor.)
Evolve is a Sci Fi shooter trying to surpass the cooperation concept of the Left 4 Dead franchise. Following a Merc-Hunter crew that chases huge monsters and underlines the "Hunters become the hunted."
CHARACTERS/ROLES: Something that must be said, is that this game is very brutal and unforgiving for newcomers, if you are one of those competitive people who stuff video games into their life, prepare for a red forehead from facepalming and a lot of leadership and teaching (and raging), microphone is a must. Being that its a role based team of hunters, when new players pick a role that is crucial, such as Trapper or Medic, they will sabotage your game and pull you down with them. In order of importance, in MY opinion, it goes like this.
Trapper > Medic > Assault > Support
Trapper is the most important because skilled monster players will avoid you like ninjas, tracking has a sharp learning curve and involves more then just chasing big blue footprints; Daisy cuts you some slack if you are new to the role and will let you contribute to the team, without contributing to the team; meaning if you suck and cant track a poodle. Daisy will at least revive teammates on your behalf.
Medic is more than just self explanatory; Val, the tier one medic, has a crucial ability of tranqing the monster, allowing the medic to make up for a mediocre trapper. And of course is crucial to keeping the crew alive.
Assault is the main damage dealer, but is more forgiving because a badass Trapper or a good Support can compensate for him.
Support is the least important, but still essential to the team, aerial strikes and counteracting monster rushes on the Medic and Trapper so the team can keep up the good fight. And catching the team when they are losing makes the Support essentially a fallback role.
There is some witty banter and situational shout outs which make the characters interesting and alive, you won't hunt the monster in absolute silence, tactical callouts and jokes from superb voice actors make the crew likeable. The character tier system in the game make it self explanatory that Tier 2 characters require a much better skill level to play the second character effectively. Tier one maximizes team cohesion and support with selfless abilities. Tier 2 maximizes damage and self preservation.
GAMEPLAY: The maps are very big and very life like, wildlife will hunt and flee as well as feed and migrate, the game is visually stunning and very immersive and alive. Gunplay is fun and satisfying. Good Monster players can make the Monster role seem insanely easy. Noobs will get caught by hostile wildlife and ignore you when it catches you after you free them. Noobs will also successfully trap a whole four players; all of them your teammates! Playing your role effectively will give you tense moments of action and fun, adreniboners will be common in this game, there is an obvious balancing issue that needs to be addressed with the Tier 2 monster the Kraken, or "Cthulu" as he is called by the community. The Monster is the most important player in the game being that unskilled players won't even make it fun for the Hunters.
The Alpha version of this game is the most polished Alpha I have ever seen. I have only experienced two bugs, both not gameplay related. My level was reset for no apparent reason from 21 back to 1, my characters, stats, and combat bonuses were also reset which eliminated me unlocking Elite Griffin. My cursor refused to disappear even when in action, Alt Tabbing usually fixed that in other games, but not in this one.
9/10
+ Characters well written with superb voice actors
+ World well designed with a living environment
+ Core concept of Teamwork surpasses Left 4 Dead
+ Monster gameplay is tense and fun
+ Satisfying gunplay and action
+ PVE rewards Hunters and Monsters
- Unforgiving for new players (Brief 2 minute tutorial, no chance to practice)
- Matchmaking matches new players against veteran monsters and sabotages Hunter veterans
- Balancing issues
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