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Brophy Roundup

The Student News Site of Brophy College Preparatory

Brophy Roundup

The Student News Site of Brophy College Preparatory

Brophy Roundup

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‘Evolve’ offers a multiplayer experience like no other

“Evolve”- Turtle Rock Studios
Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC
8 out of 10

By Joseph Valencia ’17
THE ROUNDUP

“Evolve” was toted as Turtle Rock’s greatest masterpiece since its release of the critically acclaimed “Left 4 Dead” back in 2008.

Turtle Rock has been developing “Evolve” since 2008, shortly after “Left 4 Dead” debuted. Those efforts are shown in the detail and design in the game.

“Evolve” is an asymmetrical multiplayer game consisting of five players. Four players take the roles of hunters, which include four classes, while the fifth player takes the role of a gargantuan monster.

The hunter classes are assault, trapper, support and medic.

Assault is the main damage dealer of the team, focusing only on destroying anything in his path.

The trapper is used for tracking and hindering the monster, and is equipped with motion trackers and harpoons.

The support class provides boons to his teammates, deploying shields and providing cover fire.

The medic class focuses on keeping the hunters at full health, and tranquilizing the monster to slow it down.

The monster receives a minute head start as the ship carrying the hunters prepares to drop them onto Shear, the planet where the game takes place.

The monster’s goal is to evolve from stage one to stage three by eating wildlife on Shear.

The monster gains armor and becomes closer to evolution every time it eats a wildlife organism. Once the monster is ready to evolve, it must find a safe, secluded spot to do so because the monster is completely vulnerable for about 10 seconds. Evolution increases the monster’s size, strength and health meter, but also causes the monster to shed its armor until it can eat more wildlife.

Evolve’s story is very minimal, with some playful banter between the hunters to give the game some context. The game is multiplayer focused, but solo play is available with the use of AI controlled players.

The quality of matches varies greatly due to the experience or inexperience of players.

One match I played lasted only two minutes due to an inexperienced player controlling the monster and giving the hunters an easy win.

Due to the heavy emphasis placed on teamwork, Evolve tends to suffer when the quality of the players is low.

Another issue with the game was the large amount of downloadable content offered.

After spending nearly seven years creating and developing “Evolve,” the game was swamped at launch with over $60 worth of downloadable content for sale.

The downloadable content includes extra characters and cosmetic skins for the characters and their weapons. It should be noted that the downloadable content doesn’t benefit the player in any way, as it is purely cosmetic.

At its heart, “Evolve” is a unique experience that can’t be found in any other game, but the vast difference in quality between matches causes the game to suffer.

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