Evolve
Overview -
Turtle Rock Studios formed in 2002 and has focused almost exclusively on first-person shooters. They are probably most famous for 'Left 4 Dead', a popular co-op FPS set in the early days of a zombie apocalypse. With the backing of 2K Games, Turtle Rock has been working on 'Evolve' (previously known as 'Wild') since 2011, and unlike 'Left 4 Dead,' 'Evolve's focus is asymmetrical multiplayer. Four hunters. One monster. 'Evolve' went through a series of progressively public playable alpha and beta tests (including this semi-public alpha), as well as a very public delay from 2014 to 2015.
Video Review
'Evolve' looks very nice with its fancy CryEngine. The environments are very alien and beautiful, with lots of eerie flora and fauna populating them. Visual effects are strong, from fire and water to the lighting. The game design lends itself to a mix of dense tropics, full of creatures of varying danger, to large open areas that effectively carry an "emerging from the woods" feeling. The only issue I noticed was some odd shadowing in the foreground, but this was rare and didn’t affect gameplay. The framerate stays solid even in pitched battles.
Audio Review
As in 'Left 4 Dead', sound effects provide a great deal of information to the player. Nearby wildlife can be identified by their calls - some of these are a mere nuisance for a monster, but can severely disrupt the hunter team if they’re not paying attention. The characters provide intel as well through their observations and exclamations, and the voice acting is good. Hank, however, is very naggy.
The previous limited releases of 'Evolve' have allowed Turtle Rock and 2K to fine-tune the server performance and gameplay. Everything hums along nicely now except for the occasional matchmaking drop, and the 4v1 cat-and-mouse formula works very well. Playing as a hunter is fun and playing as the monster is fun. There are some issues with repetitiveness, but this is one of the best asymmetrical multiplayer shooters in recent memory.
