Hands-on with Evolve’s monsters and heroes [Preview]

I’ll be completely honest with you from the start. You have probably heard it already but I will say it again: Evolve is simply amazing.

Yes, the game is from the creators of Left 4 Dead and is a 4-on-1 game, but here is where it gets a bit more interesting than just that. How the group I was in determined who played what during this hands-on demo was just as intriguing as the game’s concept. As we formed up in front of the room to get to know the classes a bit more, we were all handed bracelets with different classes on them. Since most of the people in front of me got to choose who they wanted to play, I got the leftover and played the Medic — which is fine because most of the time when I am playing a game I prefer playing a female anyways.

Once we watched a four to five minute introductory video, we had to wait in yet another another set of character lines that matched what we had on our bracelets, setting up our play session. So, as we waited we got to see other people playing and what some of them were doing. One team were talking the whole time. The other didn’t say much. I will leave it up to you and your imagination to figure out which team won.

Finally, it was my group’s turn to to get to play. Truthfully, I was starting to get a bit nervous on what kind of teammates I will have during the match. There were two coaches that helped guide us during the demo, one was for the monster and one for the hunters. They helped quite a lot, but I think the rest of the team used them as individual crutches and didn’t really communicate. Two of my teammates decided to do what they wanted to do and not really follow the “pet” to track down the monster.

There were a few times where I had to step in and give some orders to get everyone together on the monster’s track. At times I felt like I was somewhat overstepping my authority, but if we wanted to kill it I had to do something. That was the frustrating part of the whole experience, because getting four complete strangers together and doing something as complex as classed teamwork can be difficult. It was especially more so when we acquired the monster trap: there was no direction on what to do, because everyone else was all about the run-and-gun and trying to take down the beast as fast as they could. For us, we got to him too late, as he evolved high enough to take us down easily. A good indication on how well I did is illustrated by the picture above. I found myself getting targeted really fast when we encountered him for the last time.

The control felt great, especially on the Xbox One game pad, and mind you that I am strictly a PC gamer when it comes to First-Person Shooters so this is a high compliment. Button placement felt good and it was easy to get to your special abilities when you are really need it during that intensive fight.

As I went down, the coach told me that I would have to sit out for two minutes to respawn, but he thought that I wouldn’t have to worry because the demo would be over soon any way. And he was right, because I (the Medic) went down first the rest of the team could not stay alive long enough to take down the monster. Again: communication was key and we didn’t have it, and I might be partly to blame for trying to force people on the path when they didn’t want to.

But that’s maybe the magic of Evolve. I had a frustrating (in a fun way) time playing the demo, and the team from Turtle Rock Studios did a bang up job capturing that intense feel throughout the experience. Every moment I had, I was looking around to make sure that the monster was not sneaking up behind us. The game is pivotal on the teamwork we have (or didn’t have) and it made me feel like wanting to play again just to do better with my squad. I had a high level of satisfaction even in losing. In fact, it wasn’t about just winning, but about winning together.

Evolve is scheduled to be released on October 21, 2014 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.