Evolve

 By: Robert Murphy

Never have I played a game where I felt like a supreme badass hunter character, trudging across an unknown planet and environment filled with creatures, plants and animals that I’ve never seen, only to then be running around scared as hell at the 100 foot monster that is trying to murder me. This summed up my first round of Evolve, I was a lowly human tracking a huge beast that I assume is causing problems for a human colony or some nonsense, only to realize, I’m a human with a gun trying to take on this thing?! Running seemed like the good option to me but working with your teammates and taking down the beast, coupled with that adrenaline rush is all part of the fun. You just have to make sure the beast isn’t a super skilled player and that you and your team use your abilities right because you will have a big challenge to face. The game feels like a great way to destroy friendships as you can potential have your three friends playing hunters and another friend be the big boss monster creature and while that is potentially damaging to your future friendship, it is something that I loved, but does the game have to potential to keep that appeal going? Let’s dig in.

What Evolve boils down to is a four vs one multiplayer game where you and three friends or other online are playing hunters and have another friend or player being the big prize beast that you’re gunning to kill. There are of course other modes to choose from but the big market for the game had always seemed to be about the hunt so I’ll start there. Either side of this scenario, whether you’re the hunter or hunting has its fun and enjoyable aspects. You start off with one monster which is the Goliath and after using your abilities, earning points and killing hunters, you will eventually unlock the rest of the monster characters. The same goes for when you’re playing as a hunter. Every creature though doesn’t start out big, no, monsters get a brief head start before the hunters drop into the planet, giving you time to get some distant and start to feed. Every other creature you come across is up for grabs to basically beat down and devour to further your own strength and leading you to evolve to a second and third stage. Special and bigger beasts can be found across the worlds, special beasts giving you certain buffs like speed boosts and faster feeding time and bigger beasts just provide more energy for you.

Getting to the next stage is really the key to victory for the monster as it increases your strength and let’s you add points to your abilities, for the Goliath these are things like fire breathe and a boulder throw. Using each ability is important because it gets you to the other monsters, the Kraken is a giant floating monster that resembles Cthulhu and the Wraith which is serpent creature that can teleport and turns invisible…screw that noise. Putting in the time to unlock these beasts though may be something players will have to decide to do for themselves, doing specific things like using the rock throw and leap smash equally rather than just having fun smashing and killing your enemies. Who wants to plan all that out in the heat of the moment? Not me, I’m going to kill the way I want so it will be a few matches before I reach the final monster. Winning for the monster in Hunt mode involves either killing the whole team before they manage to respawn or destroying a power relay so your foes cannot escape.

When it comes to the human side of things, players can choose from four classes that give each player something important and vital to the team. Assault is the big lumbering kahuna who is responsible for drawing in the monsters attention by causing big damage and using his shield ability to make himself invincible for a brief period. He also comes with a secondary weapon and a unique weapon like mines or a flamethrower with his later characters. The grinding and specific weapon use continues here. The Trapper class is self explanatory as the list of character for this class allows you to contain the creature and also stun it, basically keep it from getting away and causing more damage to your team in a fight. The Medic characters mostly heal your team but can also be a little handy. Finally, Support is probably my favorite as they can buff your shields and also drop airstrikes on monsters along with some other enjoyable skills that come from later handy characters. Obviously, you will not want to be a lone wolf in Evolve though as a fully evolved creature and even a regular stealthy one can be deadly. I specifically bought a headset so I could talk to people on my team as good communication is the key to survival like any multiplayer game, just don’t have that one guy in your group be the hero or it’ll be game over for sure.

The bringing everyone together aspect though can prove to be the games biggest issue, in Hunt mode especially. Evolve is very much a game that requires all your team members to be working in the right way, if you get the lone wolf player or someone who doesn’t know how to play their role then you get a raw deal and will probably end up losing the match to a level 3 Goliath, now munching on your collective bones. Even with a mic, the game can prove to be frustrating for any player and really needs to be played with a group of friends for the best results. Also, when playing whatever creature you end up choosing and you decide to strike your enemies or they eventually catch up to you, everything just ends up in button mashing chaos. You spent all that time picking skills and planning out the attack when it really just comes down to a Hulk style smash routine and spamming your skills. Same goes for the humans as you really just try anything to get the job done, there’s no real tactics when it comes to the final showdown honestly and it bums me out. 

Outside of the Hunt mode this problem is much less daunting as you can choose from a Defend, Rescue and Nest game types. Defense is a mode where you either attack/defend human colonist, Rescue is a mode where you defend/attack a power relay and then Nest you’re either protecting/destroying a group of monster eggs from being destroyed. The game modes are nothing too original but they do serve as some break up to the monotony of the cat and mouse game or the let down of a big close courters battle. It is a shame that more fun can be had in these modes too considering the Hunt was one of the games bigger selling points when you look into what Evolve planned to offer.

Overall, Evolve definitely has its charm. When you have a great team to work with who know how to use their skills or shoots the tranquilizer dart at the right moment or puts the airstrike right down on the monsters head, it feels great. Same goes for the monsters of the game, each with their own deadly charm and strengths, when you get that one out of the blue attack from a player monster it will get you going. However, this doesn’t always happen and while giving the power of a video game boss to a player sounded great it can sometimes not work out, ditto for the often lack luster partners you will sometimes get stuck with. With a wider range of game modes and more diverse maps, Evolve could have been much stronger but God do those monsters inspire and you can still have some solid fun with what you’ve got here.

Good:

- Getting that perfect team and great monster to fight is simply wonderful

- Different character and monster skills and abilities add to the fun

- Solid shooting and environments to move through

Bad:

- A bit more map and game diversity is needed

- Finding that perfect team doesn’t always happen and everything falls apart

- Victory can often be achieved by button mashing nonsense and who wants that?

Scully Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Evolve - Happy Hunting Trailer

Zach Goodier

You know how hunting games are usually a little bland, boring? Well, kiss those days goodbye with this trailer for the upcoming game Evolve. It is a competitive/cooperative multiplayer game that pits several hunters against one player controlled monster, and the game involves the monster trying to evolve, and become stronger, and avoiding the hunters until he is strong enough to overwhelm them.  As the hunters, your job is simply to kill the monster, but the longer you take, the tougher your job will likely be.  So far, we've only seen one type of monster, but it could be interesting to see the other types they come out with, and how those types may affect both the type of game, and the general strategy of both the monster and hunters.  Stealth types would be welcome, as it would incorporate some interesting Alien-style tension as the hunters must keep sharp or fall prey to the beast.  

One concern I have is the focus on hunters having to work together as a single unit.  While I would definitely prefer a squad to have my back, rather than risk going out into the dark, savage jungle alone, I feel like there should be a little more focus on risk vs rewards in the way of being able to cover more ground, find the monster early, and eliminate him.  While that doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility, it seems that each of the classes of hunter are rather single-minded, and can't operate at all outside their particular specialization.  Medics likely won't have any major offensive or defensive power, so they can provide a set of eyes, but can't fend for themselves.  While I understand that medics aren't supposed to be commandos, I hope they have enough defensive capability to be able to at least put up a fight, rather than needing their squad to babysit them.  Other classes seem less limited, but still require the entire squad to play their role.  

Despite my concerns over how the final game might turn out, I would enjoy to see more of what it has to offer, and I look forward to seeing the final product, and maybe even snagging a copy to play with my friends.  

Magic the Gathering: Gatecrash (Written by Tobi)

“Gatecrash” is a first for Magic: The Gathering – the second “big” set (at 249 cards, as opposed to ~120) released in a row. Coming off the heels of “Return to Ravnica,” “Gatecrash” covers the five guilds we didn’t see last time: Boros (R/W – the police force/military), Gruul (R/G – the hippies? I’m not really sure what the Gruul do other than break things and complain. But they’re quite good at breaking things), Orzhov (W/B – the lawyers and the priests), Simic (G/U – the environmental biologists), and Dimir (U/B – Whatever you want done, for a price, the information specialists).

Red/White Boros gives us a straightforward keyword, much like themselves – Battalion. When a creature with Battalion attacks along with at least two other creatures, it triggers a special effect. Battalion rewards you for playing lots of mans and turning lots of mans sideways. Easy to understand, but it seems like the weakest of the new keyword abilities, both for limited and constructed. That said, I do expect to see a lot of creatures with Battalion being used, just not necessarily as a dedicated “Battalion” deck.

  

Red/Green Gruul provides the versatile Bloodrush mechanic. Creature cards with Bloodrush may be discarded from your hand (and a cost paid, of course) for some kind of boost or pump effect. It seems a little boring at first blush, but it’s actually a very intriguing mechanic for limited. I think one or two Bloodrush cards will be constructed-playable, but not overly many.

White/Black Orzhov introduces Extort, and ability which will be pretty important in a lot of multiplayer matches in the future. Extort allows you to pay a black or white mana in addition to the cost of a spell you’re casting to perform a mini drain life – 1 damage from every opponent, and 1 healed to you for each life lost this way. It’s important to note that Extortion triggers stack, so for each instance of Extort you control, you’ll be able to suck more and more life away. I can see extort being a major player in some control decks, too.

  

The Blue/Green Simic guild has the most exciting (in my opinion) keyword mechanic, Evolve. Evolve allows a creature to get a +1/+1 counter every time a creature bigger than it comes into play under your control. This allows you to work on a perfect curve and end with a field full of massive guys. Some even have additional abilities that cost +1/+1 counters, so you can get some additional benefit and keep growing your guys, too!

Finally, Blue/Black Dimir gets Cipher, an intriguing mechanic that lets you “encode” spells onto creatures after you cast them, giving you the ability to trigger those spells again when that creature hits your opponent. Many Cipher cards appear overcosted right now, but that’s just because I think the repeatable effects are being underestimated. It is important to note that if the encode-carrying creature gets killed, you lose your Cipher spell, too. So I think we’ll see a resurgence of hexproof! (Hello, Invisible Stalker!) 

Some Notable Cards Include:

-          The other half of the Ravnica Dual land reprints! Fixes all the holes in mana bases we’ve had over the last few months

-          More charms and multicolor, multi-option spells

-          Some big, impressive mythics

Good:

-          The last 5 guilds (and their mana fixing)!

-          Some impressive mythic rares

-          Cipher and Evolve are very intriguing mechanics

Bad:

-          The rares are nowhere near as exciting as RtR’s

-          Bloodrush and Battalion are fairly ho-hum for constructed

-          Some seriously unimpressive mythic rares

Scully Rating: 9.2 out of 10