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We first looked at Evolve late last year when the game was still in its alpha phase, finding a new take on the team-based multiplayer shooter that felt fresh and fun to play, built upon the first multi-platform outing we'd seen for the powerful CryEngine middleware. However, while graphics and gameplay shaped up rather nicely, the experience was hit heavily by server issues and inconsistent matchmaking, leading to extremely long waiting times between matches, not to mention irksome disconnections during play.Three months on, the Evolve beta test is intended to allow for last-minute balance and gameplay tweaks before launch, in addition to large-scale testing of netcode optimisations made since the alpha. The new sampler also gives us more content, showcasing two new maps and a brief training session. In addition to the single-round skirmish mode seen in the alpha, the beta also introduces multiplayer and single-player campaigns in the form of Evacuation - though selecting them simply plays a video trailer, as opposed to offering up any playable content. The final game is set to offer these two primary modes and four different game types (Hunt, Nests, Rescue, and Defend), but only Skirmish and Hunt are available in the beta.
Getting stuck into the multiplayer portion available, the good news is that online stability has clearly improved over the code showcased late last year, although not to the extent that we'd hoped so close to the game's launch. Of the two console versions, it's the PS4 game that currently feels as though it needs a little more work, particularly in terms of general matchmaking. Right now, quickly getting into a game on Sony's system is often an inconsistent process: sometimes we were matched up with other players in under a minute, sometimes we were left waiting up to 20 minutes. In comparison, matchmaking generally took between a few seconds and maximum of five minutes on Xbox One and PC.
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