Evolve Review: Will you be the Hunter or the Hunted?

Turtle Rock Studio’s have worked hard to produce an excellent team based shooter with Evolve. A great game, but not without some problems.
 
Set in the far distant future on a planet named Sheer, located in the ‘far arm’ of space that humanity has traveled too and colonized. The colonies that are in this area of space are considered to be some of the most valuable in the area.
 
So this is obviously to be some concern when giant Monsters hell-bent on killing and eating everyone in the colonies arrive and do just that.
 
A former planet tamer name Cabot is called from retirement to try to help eradicate Sheer of this Monster threat. To do this Cabot assembles an elite team of hunters. That is where you come in.
 
As far as story goes that’s about it for Evolve. It is not a story driven game, you basically get given the gist and then let out into the battlefield of Sheer to hone your craft.
 
In a similar way to Titanfall, Evolve does not really have a singleplayer. You can play the same multiplayer modes but with AI controlled team mates, or try to take out an enemy team of AI as the Monster.
 
Evolve has four classes of hunter to choose from; Assault, Medic, Support and Trapper. Each class has 3 characters.
 
Assault is the damage dealing class. Markov, Hyde and Parnell all have suitable weapons for taking out the Monster. Some weapons work better for different monsters. For example I do not find Hyde’s flame thrower too great for taking down the Wraith.
 
It is critical your team mates (especially your medic) keep your assault alive. Not to worry too much, as the assault does have a shield which allows him to go invulnerable for a certain amount of time. Making the Assault the most deadly class in Evolve if you know how to use him right.
 
Support is also an important class. The name is pretty self-explanatory. You must support your team. Hank, Bucket and Cabot all have the tools to help the team defeat the monster. My Personal favourite is Hank, as his Orbital Strike can be deadly if used correctly. All support classes have the ability to go invisible which can be an excellent tool for picking up fallen comrades.
 
Medic is my personal favourite. There is just something about the thrill of trying to keep your team mates alive long enough to destroy the monster that I enjoy. Val, Lazarus and Caira are all very different but effective in their own way. Val has a healing cannon so is great at staying out of the fight and healing from distance. Lazarus has his Lazarus effect, which will allow you to revive a player without he or she losing any health and Caira has the healing grenades which again are good from far. Caira also has a speed boost ability which is great when your chasing down the monster.
 
Trapper is one of the most important classes in the game if you want to stand a fighting chance at taking down the monster. The Trapper’s key shared ability is the mobile arena, which allows you to trap the monster inside a dome and with the rest of your squad deal a lot of damage to the monster. Maggie, Griffin and Abe all have the mobile arena. Maggie would be my prefered choice as trapper as she also has Daisy, an alien dog who will sniff out the monster.
 
The Monster is also great fun to play. With 3 monsters at launch and a 4th (the behemoth) coming soon. All three monsters are very different and you will have to come up with different strategies for each one. Once you get the hang of using the monster, there is nothing more satisfying than taking out a whole team of player controlled hunters.
 
Each monster has different abilities. My personal favourite is the Goliath, who has Rock Throw, Leap Smash, Fire Breath and Charge attack abilities. If used correctly they can do incredible amounts of damage. You must try to sneakily traverse the map eating wildlife on your way. The wildlife will build up your armor. Once you have enough energy you will be able to Evolve. To gain energy you must eat wildlife or attack the hunters. Each monster has three stages of evolution, with the third being the most powerful incarnation of the monster.
 
Next page for the rest of our thoughts and our final verdict.