Evolve Review - A Tense Fight for Survival Between Human and Beast is A Thrilling Time With Friends

Written by Andrew Gonzalez  on February 24, 2015

Reviews: Evolve is a game FPS fans should play and is such a different experience and one that is welcome in the gaming community.

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2015 started out with a bang in terms of video game releases and Evolve is continuing this trend. Evolve is strategic, smart, thrilling and original. We always like to see new ideas and fortunately Evolve is the type of game that accomplishes all of its goals. In order to get the most out of Evolve, playing with friends is a must.

While I enjoyed Evolve, one huge problem presented itself during my time with the game. Finding a game with random players is not always reliable and playing with teammates that you don’t know usually ends in failure. Many people don’t seem to talk during matches and that defeats one of the purposes of Evolve and that is communication. You can play the game with humans or with bots, but it’s recommended that you try and find a game with actual players.

Bots are competent enough to complete a match, but playing with a group of player controlled characters is where Evolve truly becomes a game that you should play. Matches of Evolve can be short and sweet or long and intense. Hunt, Evolve’s main mode of gameplay, consists of a group of four hunters tracking down and killing the monster. There are also four classes that are used in each match. There is the Assault class that deals heavy damage, the Healer which can resurrect fallen players (depending on which healer character used) and replenish health, the Support class which uses buffs to strengthen teammates and the Trapper who uses their equipment to contain the beast and level the playing field for Hunter advantage.



Team play is key to survival in Evolve. Without coordination, the hunters will most likely fail in their mission. Each class benefits from the support that another class can bring to the fight. It may take time to find your groove in Evolve. I started playing Assault, but realized I actually preferred to play as a Trapper. This actually surprised me because that’s not my style of play, but this shows how accessible Evolve is. Anybody can just pick up the game and learn a class. Whether or not something seems ideal from the start, you’ll always learn a new trick after a few matches.

Evolve separates itself from other shooters because of the monster. Players start out with the Goliath, but can unlock the Wraith and the Kraken down the road. There is also the Behemoth (For people who preordered the game) but I did not have access to that monster. Each monster plays differently, but the objective is the same. We must kill the hunters. Turtle Rock Studios developed the monsters to perfection. Upon first glance, someone could assume that the monsters are overpowered compared to the hunters, but that is not the case. At the start of each match of Hunt, the monster must run, hide and devour prey to become stronger. Once they become stronger, the monster can evolve. A player can evolve up to a third level but they must do this while trying to avoid the hunters.

Even though hunters are a big threat against the monster, the world is an obstacle as well. The playing field has mountains that could prove to be annoying during your escape and there are wildlife scattered around that will fight back. Killing wildlife has its advantage for both hunters and the monster. As a hunter, killing wildlife could prevent the monster from growing, but both sides can kill albino creatures which will drop a buff for the team. This ranges from faster speed, more jetpack fuel, damage reduction and much more.



While the game is fun, one of Evolve’s features is absolutely terrible. The progression system is horrible and actually ruins some of Evolve’s fun. With this progression system, the player must completely level out a character in one class before unlocking the next character. While this doesn’t sound too unreasonable, each of the characters have different abilities that must be utilized to progress. Sometimes it will be impossible to even use some equipment in a match. One character, Lazarus, needs to use his resurrection device to revive fallen teammates. The problem is, I have played matches where the hunters never died and took the monster out with no problem at all. There are times where progression won’t happen and it’s very frustrating. Having to be stalled because people have played the game well should not be happening.

There is also a matchmaking option called Evacuation which consists of five connected matches that offer up different game types. The familiar Hunt mode is there with other modes called Defend, Nest and Rescue. Unlike Hunt, these three game types are more objective based and require completely different strategies. Personally, I prefer to constantly play Hunt, but the other modes are just as thrilling.

The visuals in Evolve are wonderful, but they are hard to truly appreciate. There is so much detail put into the maps in Evolve, but with all of the constant movement, fighting, scavenging and chaos, you will not have time to really look at the hard work the developers put into the visual flair. The audio is spectacular and also essential to playing the game. Walking through forests hearing the vibrations of the Goliath’s feet, hearing the wildlife walk through grass like Jurassic Park’s raptors is also a nice touch.

The characters in Evolve are also a pleasant surprise. I’m not even talking about their play styles. The character highlights revolve around the banter between the hunters. Not only do we get to know our characters, but we also get to hear how they interact with one another. While dialogue repeats after a while, it is never stale and always amusing.



The biggest negative experience that I encountered during my time with Evolve was the fact that it was actually pretty hard to find games at times. This forced me to play on a team with bots against one player as the monster. This concerns me because Evolve is the type of game that really needs to be played online and if there is trouble finding players, there will be trouble playing the game. With the game recently being released, I wonder how long the community will stick around. I hope the game finds an audience because Evolve is a fun game.

Evolve is a game FPS fans should play. It’s such a different experience and one that is welcome in the gaming community. Strong gameplay mechanics, fun characters, intense battles and teamwork shine in this Sci-Fi shooter. With the exception of a terrible progression system and some unreliable matchmaking issues, Evolve should be a welcome addition to your video game collection. It’s hunting season, are you ready to fight?