Evolve

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.