Evolve will feature 4 on 1 battles as its primary gameplay mode. Players will take control of a character from one of four classes, and each class will feature a different character with different weapons and abilities that can be used in combat. Likewise, there are a couple of different monsters already revealed that include the Kraken and Goliath, each of which have different strengths, abilities and evolved forms. Turtle Rock Studios proved they knew how to build a fantastic cooperative shooter with the Left 4 Dead series, and Evolve appears to be following that same mold, though gameplay in the upcoming game is more akin to a Tank battle in the popular zombie game.
The E3 2014 demo for Evolve showed that the game has a nice collection of characters that each come with unique weapons and abilities and can all deal a lot of damage when working together against a monster. Though there are the four different classes of Assault, Trapper, Medic and Support, each class also has two unique characters that are different enough to make each game feel different even when playing in the same class. The monsters currently available only include the Goliath and Kraken, but they tend to be overpowered early in the game when they aren't able to kill NPCs in the area to level up and evolve to a stronger form. As players become more experienced with both hunters and monsters, the quality and length of matches should continue to get better as well.
During our time with the game, we were able to try out Maggie of the Trapper class. The character obviously came equipped with traps that helped in taking down the enemy monster. The Mobile Arena could be deployed to create a mobile arena that traps the monster and hunters in a close quartered area where neither could escape. This was only useful after deploying Maggie's animal companion, which was capable of tracking down the monster to attempt to kill it in the first place. The character comes equipped with machine pistol and harpoon traps, which aren't the most powerful guns in the game, so working together with teammates is important when playing with this class and character. Some of the other cool characters and features we noted during the session was an assault character equipped with a flamethrower and a support character that could deploy a UAV to track the monster and turrets to deal some defensive damage. We had a lot of fun while playing Evolve, so there is a good chance Evolve will end up being one of the best games of 2014 when all is said and done.
Evolve is now available for preorder from most major retailers for the MSRP of $59.99 and is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 21, 2014. Evolve is not yet rated. For more information on the game, check out the official Evolve website.
Game Features:
- Online Multiplayer 1-5
- Cooperative 4vs1 Gameplay
- From the Creators of Left 4 Dead
- DLC Support
- Trophy/Achievement Support
Game Information:
Developer: Turtle Rock Studios
Publisher: 2K Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (previewed), Xbox One & PC
Release Date: October 21, 2014