EVOLVE

The video game industry seems to be filled to the brim with games following "safe" ideas – borrowing elements from successful games or entirely following in their footsteps. Rarely do we ever see a developer venturing into the unknown, crafting new gameplay mechanics and ultimately creating a new standard for the whole industry to follow. Evolve sets out to do just that with an innovative concept of putting players in control of four hunters against another player in control of a huge monster. The game is, as claimed by the developers, fated to be the next big competitive e-sports title. While this does sound exceedingly ambitious, Evolve does have the tools to make it big but how it uses them is what holds it back from truly unleashing its potential.

The game's concept pretty much built up a tremendous amount of hype as it had never been done before. Playing as a hunter or as a monster are equally gratifying experiences. You play from the first person perspective playing as a hunter and from the third person perspective when playing as the monster. The shooting mechanics are very well designed and satisfying. Hunters are equipped with jetpacks to zip across the battlefield.  Monsters are incredibly fun to play given how devastating their abilities are. But no side is overpowered in any way.

However, as a hunter you are more reliant on your teammates than your own skills. There are four classes: Assault - the damage dealing and soaking behemoth who will act as the frontliner for your team, Medic – The healer of the team, Support – the shielder who can also call in devastating fire support from orbit and finally Trapper – The most important class in the game since he/she is in charge of tracking the monster and trapping it in mobile arenas to force an all-out battle with the monster. Each of the four classes has three individual hunters who fit the role but have different abilities. For example, in the medic class: there is a medic grenadier who fires healing grenades that heal in an area of effect spread and there is a medic reviver who can use his Lazarus device to revive dead teammates. The variety of hunters results in a plethora of potential combinations that can work well in taking out monsters.

Speaking of monsters, there are three of them shipped with the game along with a fourth monster to be released sometime in the near future. BUT, you must buy the DLC to get it.

While Evolve's developers wanted to break the conventional standards of gaming and inject a brand new formula of their own, they could not break away from the vicious DLC culture. I do not think I have seen any game with so extensive DLC and this, in my opinion, is what will break the game and hold it back from reaching true competitiveness. Take LoL or DOTA 2 , for example, all of their heroes/champions can be played free of cost (a handful at a time for LoL, though),  and that is why they are so successful. If future hunters/monsters need to be paid for then I do not see this game lasting for more than 3 or 4 months.

Regardless, Evolve is a great game on its own and is a ton of fun to play. It's a shame that the developers went for so many DLC offerings, effectively wasting the opportunity they had to make it big in the e-sports scene.