Evolve

Turtle Rock Studios' brand of Asymmetrical Multiplayer in Evolve is right up there with the very best that we've seen, with a complimentary presentation to match. For anyone looking for a reprieve from military shooters, Evolve can be an exhilarating change of pace.

Evolve is the most fun and unique multiplayer game that I have played.

Evolve stands as a testament to Turtle Rock's unique approach to online multiplayer, and is one of the most enjoyable competitive and cooperative experiences we've had so far this generation.

Evolve accomplished what it set out to do, and I am having a blast learning all the concepts it delivers. As long as I have friends to play with, it will continue to be in my rotation of games to play. My only concern is fatigue setting in with some players, and the base dwindling. This will kill the game, as playing solo is simply not the route to go.

At long last, the final game is here, and remains true to what we've seen before; Evolve is a concentrated and highly replayable experience, if you can accept the limitations of its unique format.

Designing a multiplayer game with inherent asymmetry is quite ambitious. To make it a white knuckle action title geared towards seriously competitive players could be considered lunacy. Yet, this is what Turtle Rock attempted, and, for the most part, made work.

Content-wise, it is anything but exceptional, and survives only thanks to the variety of its gameplay. The fineness of the game mechanics and the quality of the experience with friends, however, are so high that we find it difficult not reward it.

Evolve is exactly as satisfying as the people you're playing with. It serves a concept that is so precise that anything less than perfect unison between participants results in a confused mess. But when it all comes together, when your fellow players are all singing from the same hymn sheet, there’ are few more striking multiplayer experiences to be had.

The main Hunt gametype is an exceptional experience that, although featuring some familiar mechanics, feels unlike anything else in the genre. The matches have huge diversity, and all create some thrilling rhythm from the mix of hunting and chasing and fighting.

A good asymmetrical game that fails to deliver a complete experience due to its lack of variety on game modes and a player progression that doesn't hit the right trigger. Evolve is not a game that you are going to remember because of its variety, but it's pretty damn fun.

Evolve has some of the best ingredients to make a good multiplayer experience, but it's up to the community to make this a game that's constantly in rotation.

When Evolve is at its best, it is one of the greatest co-op experiences ever crafted. Few games require so much teamwork and are as satisfying when everything falls into place. Conversely, it can be a complete mess when played with hunters that are incompetent or not playing their position.

Like Left 4 Dead before it, Evolve is a game that feels slightly under-nourished at times, but which takes the crummy old co-op FPS wheel and totally re-invents it.

Evolve is a good multiplayer game, but combat suffers due to the design focus on the evolution aspect of the monster. Monsters are forced to flee during 15 minutes and Hunters to chase marks on the screen rather than to hunt it down with the help of their skills and the environment. There is only so much joy you can derive from playing Evolve; it rapidly reaches a plateau and loses the thrill of the hunt.

Evolve deserves its time in consumer hands and is a game that should not be so easily forgotten, but it does need some work to regain momentum.

Evolve isn’t perfect, but it is fun. I haven’t decided if it has enough content to justify its full retail price tag, so it’ll be interesting to see how long the community sticks with it.

Still, despite my issues with the hunter role outside of battle, I can’t deny I’ve had some fun with Evolve. It’s certainly a memorable experience, more so with a group of friends working together, but still enjoyable with random online players in tow.

Evolve challenges every kind of player and tries to remind us how important and fun playing co-op in video games can be. It also helps us move on from the single player scenario thanks to the online mode. Gather your friends, build your team and get ready for a hunt. Try to survive as long as you can.

Engaging and unique, but with a lot of issues both on the design and the technical side. It deserves your attention but it could have been so much better.

Evolve is a a Kraken [sorry] game when it all comes together. But most matches won't have the perfect setup - and it's not always worth sitting through them to get to the good ones. [Apr 2015, p.73]

If you're looking for a game to expressly play with your online friends, Evolve will please you with an innovative multiplayer experience. But its pretty generic and forgettable maps and overall lack of edge could tire you and your friends pretty quickly.

Evolve is a novel take on the cooperative and competitive multiplayer genre. The game is packed with interesting ideas but some work better than others. The fact that characters are locked at the beginning weighs it down by a wide margin and the erratic matchmaking also puts a damper on the whole thing.

Evolve is brilliant in the right circumstances and with the right people, but it’s hard to unreservedly recommend to everyone. Those with dedicated teams will get the most out of the game while those in matchmaking will find mixed results. Still, Turtle Rock deserves recognition for attempting - and almost nailing - such an ambitious project.

In a world of overcrowded shooters, I've grown to enjoy Evolve and the uniqueness it brings to the table. One item that should be noted, though, is the shakiness of the game's shooting mechanics. While I mostly embraced the Assault class for a chunk of the review, that only made the iffy physics surrounding aiming and firing that much more apparent. Aiming doesn't get much easier with the monsters and when Goliath's arsenal contains a "rock throw" ability, not being able to reliably aim is a killer.

While it’s high points are among the most fun I’ve had in recent memory, it’s problems and low points ultimately win out. If you have a solid group of five you can count on to play with at all times, Evolve might be worth a look. With some balancing, I could even see Evolve becoming quite popular among the hardcore e-sports types. For the rest of us who just want to jump in and have some fun, I’d recommend looking elsewhere.

What could have been an underground smash as a budget download has been spread thin to justify a AAA price, leading to grave concerns about its glacial progression, value, longevity and DLC strategy. Though still utterly fantastic under optimal conditions, Evolve asks far too much for an inconsistently enjoyable experience.

Evolve is a great, but sadly unreliable, experience.

A great idea in theory, but in practise the novelty wears out extremely quickly, with a serious lack of variety in game modes, maps, and tactics.

Beautiful as Evolve is, looks alone can’t make a game. The skeleton of a better game is visible just beneath the surface, but numerous glaring imbalances and questionable design choices ensure that there’s sadly little meat left on these bones. The thrill of the hunt is mitigated in the best of matches, and rendered altogether pointless in the worst.