Preview: Team Based Co-Op To One Man Destruction In Evolve

Like to team up with your friends to take down a Goliath that can sneak around, become really strong and essentially take your whole team out before you even get close to it? Well that’s exactly what I did as recently I was given the opportunity to preview 2K’s upcoming title, Evolve and experience both the Co-Op play and taking on the role of the monster.

So let’s take a look at the courageous A-team that will be taking on this task. There are four classes you can choose from, each with their own unique weapons and roles that should be considered when coming up with a strategy. These classes are:

The Trapper – As the name pretty much gives it away, when you’re in this role, you’re job is to track down the Goliath and when found, make sure it doesn’t get away. You have several options to do this such as using sound spikes to alert the team to its movements, the Harpoon gun which restricts its movements, the Mobile Arena which traps the monster in one area and lastly, a sub-machine gun to do some damage… everyone loves a sub-machine gun right?

Your badass team!!

The Medic – From my experience you should treat the person in this role as your king, queen, emperor, and wife; essentially protect them at all costs because they make a huge difference in the war against the monster. So the Medic keeps the team alive and has a few tools at its disposal to do just that. The Medgun directly heals teammates, the Healing Burst heals team mates who are within a certain radius, the Anti-Material Rifle can expose a weakspot on the Goliath which your posse can take advantage of and finally, the Tranquilizer Rifle slows and weakens the beast.

The Assault – This person is at the front of the attack and can deal quite a significant amount of damage. There are several weapons at your disposal such as the Lightning Gun which deals damage at close range, the Assault Rifle which does the same but from a distance, electrically charged Arc Mines which can be planted around the map and has proved to be very useful from a strategic standpoint and lastly a shield that makes you invulnerable to attacks for a short while.

The Support – So this role is for someone who can do it all as it mixes in the ability to be both offensive and defensive. The tools you have available to you are the Laser Cutter, the Shield Gun which protects allies for a short while, a Cloaking Device that makes yourself and allies within a certain radius invisible and the Orbital Barrage which lets you deal down a ridiculously powerful air strike.

You better stay the heck out of this thing's way!

So that’s the team, but what about the Goliath you’ll be taking on? Well it can evolve two times by consuming the wildlife in the area, and in doing so it allows it to gain new abilities, strength and even an upgrade to its health. It can leap great distances and climb up pretty much anything. When the Goliath is doing the hunting, it can also sense what’s happening on about 80% of the map from where it’s standing, including being able to pin point the location of the human team of hunters. The game only ends when one side goes down, so will it be the hunters or the Goliath?

Luckily enough I was able to sample what it was like to play on either side and quite frankly, it’s just as much fun either way. If done properly, the co-op side can become really enjoyable as you strategize with your team mates, watch each other’s back and complete the mission together, however saying this, it’s also super fun to play as the Goliath and just wreak havoc. The Goliath itself is really weak at the beginning of the game, but once you get up one level, that’s when the fun really begins and I believe having such strength at your hand and the ability to just cause destruction to the opposing side makes this really role really attractive… although you can still lose if you’re not careful yourself.

I can easily admit that I myself am not too fond of games that depend on you playing nice with other people, however it seems Evolve may soon change that mindset and in a hurry too. Playing with others was an absolute joy and tearing it up with the Goliath was a complete adrenaline rush, but I’m sure there is a lot more to it something that I find 2K talking about more in the coming months. So far Evolve has won me over, and if you get the chance to check out the game, I highly recommend you do.

Like what you see so far from Evolve? Think it can be a game you can really get your teeth into? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or on:
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