Evolve - 4v1 Artwork

With less than two weeks to go until the release of Evolve, the game's marketing machine is beginning to kick into high gear. Its developers, Turtle Rock Studios, have released an infographic that delivers a range of facts and stats gathered from its recent beta — and the data gathered should give anyone who didn't get in on one of the game's pre-release testing sessions an idea of what it's all about.

The biggest selling point of Evolve is its asymmetrical multiplayer; four players team up and take on the role of Hunters, and a fifth player is selected to play as an enormous Monster — their target. It's a natural progression from the co-op action of Left 4 Dead, the game that made the studio's name back in 2008.

Asymmetrical multiplayer could be the next big thing in online FPS action — but it'll have to be fair for all involved to keep players interested. No one wants to play as the Hunter if they're just going to get torched by a fire-breathing Monster every single round. Happily, the figures released by Turtle Rock Studios seem to suggest that isn't the case.

Over the course of more than two million games, the game's open beta saw the Hunters come out on top 51.5% of the time. Given the size of the sample, that's a fairly strong demonstration that either side has a fair chance of winning a match of Evolve, particularly at this early stage of the game's life. This could well change as players become more familiar with the game's mechanics, but that's a matter for post-launch patches to solve.

Indeed, it seems that the Monsters available to players are also very well balanced. Kraken was found to deal the most damage throughout all three levels, whereas Goliath fared better in the early stages of a game, and Wraith was the most effective in stage three. It's good to see that each Monster has its own strengths — since players can select which one they want to use, it'll hopefully mean there's plenty of variety online.

However, that's not the only Evolve content that Turtle Rock have released today. Footage of the game's single-player mode has also been released, giving players a glimpse of what their AI team-mates will bring to the table when they're not playing online, as well as what sort of resistance they'll offer when you're playing as the Monster.

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Today also marks the launch of Evolve: Hunter's Quest for smartphones and tablets. The free download brings match-3 puzzle gameplay to the Evolve setting, as well as giving players the opportunity to earn rewards in the main game. Mastery points are earned by completing missions, and can then be transferred to the main game, regardless of what platform you're playing on.

Hunter's Quest also gives players a novel way of reviewing their performance in online competition. You'll be able to use the app to view your multiplayer matches from Evolve from a top-down perspective, allowing you extra insight into what went right and where your could improve. It's certainly an intriguing idea, but it remains to be seen how much of a tactical advantage it will offer.

Despite recent controversy over the game's pre-order incentives, there's still plenty of hype for Evolve. With games like Destiny and Halo: The Master Chief Collection failing to scratch the online FPS itch for many, it could well be that Turtle Rock's latest is one of the first big hits of 2015. Stay tuned to Game Rant for coverage of the game's launch as it happens.

Evolve is set to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on February 10, 2015.

Source: Evolve website