Evolve E3 2014 Preview: Still A Tremendous Amount of Fun

In Evolve, every match becomes a story to tell. Much like I did when I played the game last April at PAX East, I couldn't stop telling my fellow journalists and gamers a play-by-play of my time with the game. Those who hadn't played Evolve didn't much care, but those who had understood just how tremendously fun it was to track down and kill a dangerous human-controlled monster with three other players. It's a game you have to play to fully appreciate, but  I'll try my best to put into words how tremendously fun Evolve is one more time.

In Evolve, it's the job of player-controlled four hunters to track and kill a player-controlled creature before it transforms into its final form and becomes nigh unstoppable. During the demo at PAX East I tracked and successfully slayed Goliath, a hulking beast that spit flames, with three others. This time around Goliath was replaced by Kraken, a Cthulu-like monster capable of flight and dark magic spells.

Kraken's play style dramatically changed how the four hunters tracked and killed the beast.

I wanted to play as Kraken this time around, but I got drafted into the support role once again. Luckily, the E3 demo also introduces four new characters to play as in each role, so my abilities changed even though the role I played did not. I controlled quirky robot named Bucket with the ability to detach his head and use it to scout the location of Kraken. Bucket could also cloak the entire party, as well as deploy several turrets. 

Whether facing Goliath or Kraken, Evolve plays out in a somewhat predictable pattern. Track the monster through dense wilderness. Deploy a blue dome called the Mobile Arena and trap it. Fight until the monster flees. Rinse and repeat. That is until Kraken eats enough of the local wildlife to more than hold his own in a fight, and soon its the hunters turning tail to fight another day.

That's exactly what happened to my team when Kraken reached his final form. Our Trapper, Assaulter, and Medic all met their ends at the hands of Kraken's dark magic. Fortunately, I beat a hasty escape with Bucket's cloak ability and was able to hide behind some foliage while my teammates waited to respawn. You see, the Kraken must kill all four Hunters otherwise they'll all come back to fight again, and for a few moments my heart was in my throat as the beast unleashed orbs of magic in random directions. Kraken did find me eventually, but at that moment my teammates dropped in from a ship as Kraken finished me off.

Then it was my turn to wait while my teammates fought on. I learned that there are two ways Kraken can win. If Kraken is fully evolved, it can find and destroy a generator somewhere on the map. It flew there, much faster than my allies could keep up, and started on the generator. Since the Kraken was fully evolved, it made quick work of my allies—all but our Medic who fled—but the respawn timer in Evolve is universal, so when I came back so did the twice-fallen Assault and Trapper classes. With Kraken's attention on the nearly destroyed generator, my team began throwing everything we had at the beast. Flamethrowers, mobile turrets, rocket launchers—everything. Kraken fell, and my team let out a resounding cheer with high fives all around. 

Evolve feels like (if you'll forgive me for the pun) a natural evolution of cooperative shooters like Left 4 Dead. In fact, the developer behind Evolve, Turtle Rock Studios, was also responsible for the Left 4 Dead games. Both times I've played I left with a huge smile on my face and an almost irresistible urge to harass anyone who might listen with tell of how I helped take down a magic-wielding Cthulu monster. The studio clearly has a knack for creating unforgettable cooperative competitive multiplayer experiences. And with more classes and creatures to play as on the way, Evolve promises to be one of the most engaging and varied multiplayer experiences when it releases on October 21 this year.