Evolve started development under THQ in 2011. However, THQ went out of business and the rights to the game were subsequently picked up by 2K Games. Of course, many have been reluctant to pre-order the game as they fear the transfer of development may have caused issues. Thankfully, we can say that Evolve has turned out to be a fun game!
Evolve has next to no story content. A group of specialist hunters have been assembled in order to battle and destroy a monster which has begun attacking a terraformed planet called “Shear”. Apart from that, the game is pure gameplay. The characters don’t have any dialogue apart from witty jokes and digs. Also, these become very repetitive over time as the recorded dialogue seems to be limited.
Thankfully, Evolve features excellent gameplay. The modes available immediately are Hunt, Defend, Nest and Rescue. Hunt is the headline mode in Evolve, featuring a team of four human players taking on a human-controller monster. There is also an option available to take on an AI controlled monster. The mode is very fun, but does feature some balancing issues. It seems the human team generally have the advantage in play, however, this is something which may be fixed with time. In Defend, as the name suggests, the players attempt to protect some objective on the map while the monster attempts to destroy it.
Nest, on the other hand, tasks the monster with defending a nest of eggs from the human players. There are a few other subtleties to this particular mode, however, we will leave you to discover them yourself. Last but not least, Rescue involves the players trying to save injured humans from being devoured by the monster. Overall, while there are not very many gamemodes, the modes that are there are each quite fun and enjoyable, so, you should take the time to explore all of them.
However, the most fun one can have in Evolve comes from playing the Evacuation game mode. Evacuation is game mode which has five matches between humans and the monster over the course of five days, however, the environment reacts to the events of the previous day in each game. The win or loss of a match can significantly assist or hinder in the subsequent match. This game mode gives the game a continued freshness, as no Evacuation game is quite the same as the last. Without this mode, the game would lose its value with time.
The control scheme used in Evolve is a little unorthodox (such as triangle often being used for main weapon on the PS4 version), however, after playing a few matches you will adapt to the scheme without issue. Other than that, weapon mechanics and behaviour is normal in the game and there are no other complaints.
Graphically, Evolve performs excellently. The design of the monster is perfect and the settings are great. Each map has its own unique theme and atmosphere with a fantastic design which adds to the immersion effect which the game has. Clearly however, Evolve is no single-player game. If you do not plan to play Evolve online with friends or other players, I do not recommend that you purchase the game. The offline mode has very little replayability as the games become boring and stale. To get fun and value from Evolve, playing online is essential.
Overall, Evolve is a fun game with a fair bit of content to offer. Between unlockable and upgradable characters, weapons and abilities and the promise of incoming free maps, Evolve has enough to offer to make it a good purchase. If you enjoy online co-operative mutliplayer, Evolve is the game for you!