Evolve Alpha.

[Roxas65]

So I got into the alpha for Evolve. Did anybody else get in?

[MstrCorvus]

I didn't sadly. I really wanted to because Evolved looks really good.

[Roxas65]

I by accident found a webpage that gave you priority access.

[Roxas65]

Meh, the alpha was almost unplayable. It was so unoptimized that it just kept lagging, even for my friend with a gaming PC.

[KomodoTheCashew]

I got in on the Xbox One Alpha. The first day was absolutely unplayable, my 3 friends and I were in the que looking for a game for around an hour after another hour of trying to get into the same game. We played one game which was crazy laggy.

We tried again the next day and the connection was much better. I really dig the game when it worked and when you play with competent team mates using good, constant communication. Each class does feel very important and no class is more important than the others. On top of that, you can unlock variations of each class. They feel very different but not better or worse than any other variations of the same class. It's good that it's all very balanced because I feel like that's one of the big problems with modern multiplayer FPS, balance but Evolve is doing a very good job with it.

So, my favorite part of the game. The monster. I've played the majority of 27 games as the monster and it's really fun once you get the hang of it. It really does feel like your playing as the perfect predator. You need to use stealth when you know the hunters are nearby and you need to know when it's safe to prey on the local wildlife so you can get closer to leveling up. You do have the action moments when you're directly fighting the hunters but a good monster picks their battles. Lots of multi-tasking, lots of thinking and lots of fun.

Lastly, the maps feel awesome and vibrant. Weather, wildlife and fauna all change from game to game on each map and it all effects the gameplay. With rain, it's harder to hear the monster stomping around. Snow cuts down everyone's vision by a lot. Sometimes a pack of feral animals will spawn in a section of the map that you wouldn't expect, attacking both the monster and the hunters. It's very cool to me how both the hunters and the monster can use the map to their different advantages.

Every game really feels like a new battle.

I'm not planning on buying it when it comes out because I'm not a fan of buying games that are multiplayer only on release, if the game ends up not selling well, you don't have anyone to play with. If the full game has the same amount of fun with more content, I'll probably pick it when it hits the $30-$40 range.

My little review

[Roxas65]

I tried to play it a couple of times, but the lack of optimization killed it and I really wish I could've played it for console like Komodo did.

Despite the lag, I could definitely see some really strong core gameplay beneath it and I could really see myself playing it frequently.

There was one part of the gameplay which the lag didn't hurt much and that was the hunt. I could hunt the monster no problem, but when we encountered the monster I was easy prey due to lag, but man I ****ing loved the hunt.

At first I did what my teammates did--which was following the tracks and just running after the monster-- but eventually it dawned on me that the monster could simply move faster and I started trying to anticipate where he was going from all the tracks he left and I actually ended up finding him almost every time and quickly tagging him with my tranq gun. Unfortunately the rest of the team was always far behind and an arena battle would rarely start because the trapper was so far behind. The hunt was so fun, though.