Although some games use the term beta or alpha to refer to a glorified (read: unfinished) demo, others truly need the testing afforded by these types of releases. Case in point: the recent Evolve Big Alpha, which has seen its fair share of problems since going live over the weekend.
While Evolve developers Turtle Rock Studios obviously hoped the Big Alpha would help increase awareness and anticipation for the game, it has also opened their eyes to the pratfalls of online gaming. More specifically, PS4 owners have had considerable trouble trying to test out Evolve, with many reporting dozens of server connection issues.
It is for that very reason that Turtle Rock announced they would extend the Big Alpha through November 4th, not just for PS4 players but also for Xbox One and PC owners as well. Unfortunately, it seems that although Turtle Rock had hoped the worst of PS4 players' troubles were behind them, there are still problems with the Big Alpha.
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It appears that the recent 2.0 Update for PS4 is the culprit for these connection errors, and the devs are working hard to fix them. Those who do happen to get a connection, however, are recommended to enter games solo and without any preferences. Unfortunately, that means players who had hoped to try out the Goliath or a specific Hunter class in the game will have to wait until the randomizer of matchmaking leans in their favor.
The good news is that Evolve is still several months from release, meaning this Big Alpha has likely been more illuminating than Turtle Rock originally envisioned. After playing the game at both E3 2014 and Comic-Con it became very clear that Evolve is a game that needs to be played to be understood; it's hard to communicate what makes it fun in either text or video.
Unfortunately, for PS4 players there are still some boundaries to discovering what makes Evolve unique. Perhaps Turtle Rock and 2K Games might extend the Alpha even longer? We'll keep you posted.
Have you had a chance to check out the Evolve Big Alpha? What do you think?
Evolve releases February 10, 2015 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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Source: 2K Games