Thanks to Turtle Rock Studios and 2K we got the opportunity to test the highly anticipated first-person-shooter EVOLVE. Is this game a huge monster that eats all other games or is it a small hunter that tries to get recognition in the games world? We will find out.

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Because of the the asymmetric gameplay, it takes a lot of time to test a game like Evolve.

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It is a new, exciting, risky and funny experience when four hunters start to chase a big lurking monster that eats and evolves on the game’s large maps. We had a lot of fun with Evolve. THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT TO US. The fact that most publishers are trying to make more money with DLCs and the fact that there are some problems with the pre orders do not matter to us as much as the fact that: THIS GAME IS FUN.

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It is known that online-games undergo constant development, updates or patches to improve the game. Fixing bugs or adding new stuff happens often. We have been waiting for some of those new features but now it is time to stop and publish our rating.

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First we would like to talk about the story. The short version: Twelve elite hunters were sent to a distant colony planet to hunt a monstrous threat and save the colonists. This is the story of their evacuation and there is nothing more. We think that is enough for a game like Evolve. We know this kind of short background stories from games like Unreal Tournament and other similar ones. It is nothing new and we noticed that the developers wanted to lay focus on the gameplay and the multiplayer part. So you will not find a singleplayer campaign as for example in Call of Duty.

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Before we want to go any further with the gameplay mechanics and graphics, we would like to emphasize, that we played the standard pre-order-version of this game. We would also like to say that we do not want to take part in the controversy with the DLCs and other arguments. That is a player vs publisher thing. We want to focus this review on the game’s current state.

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The asymmetric gameplay is nothing new and has been realised in other games before. We thing Turtle Rock integrated this feature very smoothly as others did before. We noticed quickly, that in Evolve their focus is on this kind of gameplay. Briefly speaking: A Team of four online players is fighting against one player in this game. That is the reason why we needed all of our experience with the shooter genre to test this game.

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The four vs one battles are really fun and they are the base of Evolve. We think it was finally time to release something new in contrast to all these Call of Duty, Battlefield and CS:GO games. Please do not get us wrong. We like these games but the differences considering the gameplay are huge. It does not matter if you play on- or offline. You are playing with four other player or bots in every single mode. As we said before, there is no classic single player. You also cannot play with only two hunters or other combinations. There always is a monster, an assault, a medic, a supporter and a trapper in every single match. It is also not possible to play for example with three assaults and one supporter, there is always only this standard combination.

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You cannot change the equipment of the hunter you choose. Every hunter class has three hunters you can select and every hunter has four weapons or gadgets that are fixed. For example you pick the assault-class “Makarov” (Image left). Here is his equipment: The lightning gun, the assault rifle, some arc mines and his personal shield. We think that it is great to have the opportunity to choose between the classes. After you played the three hunters available you realize that every hunter has his own significant strategy. We also understand that you need the different hunters to win against the monster this balances the game. It would be great if we could decide between different skins. That would increase the possibilities during the preparation for battle.

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We love that it is so different to play a monster in contrast to playing a hunter. When you play the monster you should run away at the beginning of the match. Players have to catch and eat some of the wild life to get the power to evolve. This reinforces your health, your shield and the power of your attacks. It is also possible to fight the hunters, escape and reinforce again. When a monster evolves to phase three the hunt gets really dangerous. This is the time the monster gets his full power. Now the monster has the normal attack and in addition to that four special tackles. For example, the Goliath has his fire breath which allows him to spit fire, the leap smash which is a jump attack, his rock throw which allows him to throw big rocks on his enemies and the charge attack that allows him to run his enemies over while causing damage. We had mixed feelings playing the monster. At the beginning of the match we were under pressure. But after we had the chance to evolve to phase three, we just smashed the hunters down.

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Because of the role swap we were not bored in any moment. Especially the fights were really exciting. There were moments when hunters overestimated the danger and got smashed by the monster. As long one hunter stays alive there is the hope to reinforce the hunters and dominate the monster. The killed hunters must wait a few minutes until they can spawn again. That keeps the result of the match uncertain and enjoyable until it is over.

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The basic version of the game includes three monsters and as we said three different hunters for the four different classes. You may think that the game has not got a lot of content but during the test we realized that it is definitely enough because every character has his own significant strategy.

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Players can fight on 16 maps while four of them are especially for the evacuation mode. All of the maps are large with many possible routes to take. They also include verticality and a lot of  Flora and Fauna to hide yourself from players as a monster. Unfortunately we have to say that the maps all seem alike. So it is hard to differentiate between the layouts of maps.We would have liked it if the developers could have been more creative when designing the maps. However this is not a big let down. We did not have problems to play Evolve and we never lost our orientation on those huge maps while testing.  We also cannot say, how important knowledge about the maps is to win the game until today.

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The evacuation mode is a series of five consecutive rounds. The first round that is called “day”, begins with the hunt. As the name indicates, you have to hunt the monster. The second round is the “nest”-mode. In this round the Monsters’ player is protecting his brood, randomly scattered all over the map, while the Hunters are out to scramble some alien eggs. In round three, the rescue mode, hunters have to help colonists which are placed randomly on the map trying to escape from the Monster. The last round is the defend day. In this round hunters are the last stand against the monster. We love this mode. It keeps us playing for about an hour and motivates us because a large XP-Bonus waits at the end of the whole match. We had a lot of fun with every single round, day, match or how ever they call it.

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The game is programmed on the latest CryEngine of german developer Crytek. We are happy that after a long time Turtle Beach and 2K released a game that looks beautiful because of the powerful engine. We also like to point out that the game runs very well and still looks pretty good on mediocre video options on an average PC. Unfortunately, the maps could be more diverse but they are looking lovely and feel alive. The avatars are designed with a lot of detail and every single hunter matches his character. The animations, especially the monsters special attacks, are looking impressive. The monsters textures fit their bodies extremely well and help to hide themselves.

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Okay, maybe there is one little thing we can pick out that is not great. We noticed that the handling is more made for gamepads but the controls with keyboard and mouse are running very well, too. We needed a little bit of time to feel comfortable with the HUD-Elements. We would prefer the classic health and shield display in the corner. Nevertheless you can find something to complain about in every game?

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Anyway, we hope we could give you a great impression of Evolve. Evolve kept us entertained and did not get boring for hours. This game has a few design elements that are questionable. You also  have be persistent but you will be rewarded for it after a while. This game really is a lot of fun. Turtle rock has managed to release a great and impressive game. However best thing is, they accomplished to balance asymmetrical 4 vs 1 gameplay in a videogame. WELL DONE TURTLE ROCK! Thank you.

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Tested and written by Lias Kudla & Marcel Krafczyk

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