Evolve alpha: The hunter becomes the hunted

There are currently two monsters that have been revealed, the Kraken and the Goliath

The number of first person shooters available that offer a truly unique multiplayer experience is small, with finessing of existing genres the most common tactic employed by developers.

Turtle Rock are trying to bring back some originality to the genre with Evolve, a 4 vs 1 shooter that sees you control a member of a team hunting a monster, or playing as the monster itself.

Each member of the team has a specific role that they have to play correctly to succeed; there is a trapper, a medic, support and assault. Each hunter has skills they must employ to defeat the monster, for example the trapper can deploy traps and a ‘virtual net’ to trap the monster. The monster on the other hand must feed on wildlife to enable it to evolve into a stronger iteration.

There are currently two monsters that have been revealed, the Kraken and the Goliath each with their own unique abilities. There are also AI creatures roaming the levels which attack both hunters and monster but who, once defeated can drop upgrades.

To make the game run quickly and smoothly you rate your desire to play each class on a scale of 1-5 so that you can be entered into a game playing your second or third choice if your first choice isn’t available and this limits waiting around.

The levels that were available in the alpha were enjoyable and big enough where chasing the monster felt like a proper hunt. The ability to use your jetpack and climb the environment also gives a strong verticality to the levels and makes the long traversals less of a chore.

The short time I had with the game allowed me to get a feel for the mechanics and it really highlighted how important it is to play your role properly. Each of the hunters has skills that all have to be employed to defeat the monster; this means that you cannot run off alone and are forced to work together to win.

With only a short period of time with the game so far, many of the people I encountered playing as the monster had not mastered the best techniques to survive. This resulted in quite a few games where the monster was defeated virtually within our first encounter. Hopefully when the game gets a full release in February 2015 there will be more guidance on how to properly play as the monster, which will not only add variation, but make matches more tense and exciting.