And so without further ado, I shall now go through each of the monsters in the order they were released and deconstruct them as best as I can.
Goliath
Goliath is the first monster; a mix of saurian and primate features lend to it's brutish muscular appearance. Upon first glance, it is clear that Goliath is a 'hands-on' sort of monster and prefers close combat as opposed to ranged. This is key in making it's design successful because it must be obvious to players what they are dealing with so they know what to expect. Saying that, however, Goliath does possess a somewhat secret ability in that it can breath fire. This idea of a hidden ability is great for putting players on their toes and allows the creature designers to add some really wild-card elements perhaps shown better in the other monsters, but still very relevant in Goliath's case. Here is one of the first trailers released for the game that shows of Goliath as the first monster (also I just absolutely love the trailer, the song and pacing is perfect):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsLR808dVAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsLR808dVAw
Each monster has 3 stages of evolution and can upgrade their unique abilities at every stage to both empower the monster and perhaps focus down a certain route, or go for a rounded offencive output. Here is an image of Goliath's 3 stages (strangely the only monster I can actually find images of the different stages):
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| Even in it's early stages, Goliath exemplifies an athletic brute creature. |
So to the abilities, Goliath, as with all monsters, has 4 of them, represented here by this image:
3 out of 4 of Goliath's abilities focus on his brute strength: Leap Attack; Charge Attack; and Rock Throw. The 4th is of course the Flame Breath, that whilst not directly relating to the brute strength, does in fact compliment it's close-quarters battle stratagem due to it's shortish range.
Design-wise, I would say that Goliath is indeed successful; it exemplifies everything it should and adds a bit of flavour through an extra ability without making it unbelievable because of it. Perhaps it could be perceived as the 'boring' or 'straight forward' class of monster because it's entire strategy revolves around charging in and hitting things, but in saying that, it fulfills the role and gives players the option if they want to take that up, as opposed to solely focusing on 'stealthy' or 'intelliget=nt' classes.
Kraken
The second monster, Kraken, is a saurian and cephalopod hybrid, making for a rather disturbing appearance. Kraken's sinister visage makes it somewhat unclear to the initial viewer as to what such a monster is capable of; unlike Goliath, it is not necessarily apparent where it's skills lie. This monster actually plays the role of ranged combat, seeking to generally keep a distance from the hunters and strike them from afar with less fear of retaliation. Here is the trailer that announced Kraken's release:
As with Goliath, Kraken too has 4 abilities:
Lightning Strike: calls down a trio of lightning bolts that can converge to strike the hunters to deal massive damage.
Banshee Mine: homing orbs that explode on contact with hostile lifeforms and scream loudly in the process, best used as a distraction.
Aftershock: an area of effect attack that expels from the monster itself, damaging enemies that are too close.
Vortex: energy projectile that knocks back foes and damages them in the process.
For me, Kraken just has far too much going on in the way of abilities; it can use lightning as both projectiles and as a defencive manoeuvre, it can create homing mines and it can shoot a knock back projectile too. Oh, and did I mention it can glide/fly too? Yeah, it can do that as well. Where Goliath worked was that it had a theme (brute strength) and stuck to it, adding only one extra ability that worked in concert with the rest of it. Kraken on the other hand has the main theme of lightning based attacks, but then has 2 other attacks that don't seem to relate in any way. Flight works well to complement the lightning ranged attacks and fits with the theme, but the Vortex and Banshee Mine perform the same sort of ability as the Aftershock whilst seeming somewhat random in design: they keep the hunters at bay and allow the monster to escape. Perhaps this is due to the lightning theme being somewhat obscure in the first place, any extra ability could be deemed 'too much'. If the Banshee Mines were to be replaced by something else, probably lightning related, it would work better I think.
I think that aesthetically, the Kraken looks very creepy and cool, but doesn't necessarily relate particularly well with it's role as a ranged monster and even less so with it's abilities. It could be argued however that the otherworldly look helps marry the design and the variety of attacks. All in all, I would not say that Kraken was a successful design because of these factors.
Wraith
Wraith is the third monster to join the party and she (yes, they actually classified it as a she for whatever reason) is probably my favourite out of all the monsters. Her humanoid-esque body gives her a familiar look whilst the tentacled lower half and clawed limbs make her all the more sinister and otherworldly. For me, this just works so much better as a design than Kraken (poor Kraken); she looks fast, stealthy and deadly. A combat monster for sure, but one that performs hit and run style attacks over full on frontal assaults that would otherwise leave her in a sorry state. Wraith's physiology and abilities make it very difficult for the hunters to track, rendering the Trapper class somewhat useless against her; which is of course a shame for the player put in that position. Here is the trailer that unveiled the Wraith:
Wraith's 4 abilities all revolve around doing quick damage, isolating hunters and misdirection:
Abduction: the Wraith teleports to a hunter, grabs them and teleports back to her original position, thus isolating that hunter from the rest of their team.
Warp Blast: the Wraith teleports to a target position and creates a concussive blast that knocks back and damages enemies caught in it's radius.
Decoy: the Wraith creates a second version of herself that will last for a short period of time, whilst she herself turns invisible. The decoy will attack enemies nearby and thus can be used by Wraith to either deal extra damage by attacking alongside it or evade the hunters and slink off to heal or plan a new attack.
Supernova: the Wraith creates a smallish energy field in which hunters can be trapped. The field also empowers the Wraith with extra speed and damage output, meaning any hunters caught inside will be at the full mercy of her talons.
Wraith's abilities truly make it a terror creature, sowing fear and discord where and when she chooses. All her special attacks complement each other and this, combined with the fact that she plays like a glass-hammer (hits really hard but can't take hits in return), makes for a successful design. Aesthetically, she looks like her abilities; you can easily imagine those claws grasping a hunter into the darkness and the silent slithering of her tendrils as she stalks her prey only to attack them without warning.
Behemoth
I can't say a great deal about Behemoth as it has not officially been released yet, but I shall discuss what I know. The images I've used are concept art that shows the design near completion. Like Goliath, this monster appears to be another brute-type, favouring close range damage over long range. To contrast with Goliath, however, Behemoth is very slow, exemplifying a tank-class (high health and defence), opting to deal out significant damage whilst taking little in return. Here is the teaser trailer for Behemoth, which is another fun way of showing off the monster to the audience:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bduzyz9_fX8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bduzyz9_fX8
Behemoth is probably my second favourite monster after Wraith, mainly due to it's interesting abilities that fit in with it's powerful-framed design. Covered in rocky armour, 3 out of 4 of Behemoth's abilities follow this earthy theme:
Lava Bomb: Like Goliath's Rock Throw, Behemoth can rip huge chunks of earth from the ground and throw it at the hunters. The difference is that the range of the Lava Bomb is exponentially further and as suggested by the name, the rocks thrown are molten and leave patches of burning lava on the ground that are dangerous to any enemies of the monster.
Rock Wall: Behemoth raises a massive semi-circular wall in front of itself, trapping hunters behind it or in front of it, allowing the monster to focus it's attacks on one isolated hunter, or take the time it has to escape.
Fissure: Behemoth smashes it's fists into the ground and creates a concussive shock wave that ripples out before it, damaging anything caught in it's way.
The fourth ability is Tongue Grab, which the Behemoth uses to impale hunters over a great distance and being them flying back into it's waiting arms.
So to conclude Behemoth, it really is a 'you see what you get' sort of monster. I would akin it mostly to Goliath in that it's attacks majoritaly revolve around one theme, but it has one special attack (it's Tongue Grab) with which it can surprise the hunters. From this conclusion, I can say that Behemoth is another successful design and I really wish the game-play wasn't so lacking, because I would love to play as this monster!
Taken from my most recent progress presentation, I have given each of the monsters a score rating based on how well I think they fulfill the criteria I believe they should be aiming to succeed in.
I have also created a decontructed image looking at the physical appearances of the 3 currently playable monsters, looking in particular for running themes and anatomical similarities that would better aid me in the practical response part of this research.
An update to the deconstruction!
I now own Evolve and have had a good chance to play it so i can get a better feel for how the monsters inhabit their environments. First off, however, it should be noted that it took a considerable amount of time to actually be allowed to play as all 3 currently available monsters. This is due to the player needing to upgrade each monsters' 4 abilities by causing damage with each of them to fill up a score bar that is tallied at the end of each match. This means to unlock Kraken, you need to first complete Goliath, and then Wraith is of course unlocked via Kraken. This wouldn't have been too bad, had all the moves been easy to upgrade, but certain ones (Kraken's Banshee Mines) were an absolute menace; yielding low damage output and being generally tricky to use.
After finally unlocking all 3 monsters however, I could properly test them out to see how they play, trying to ignore the rather poor framerate I was having to deal with. Interestingly, it turned out that my favourite monster to play as was my least favourite from the initial deconstruction stage, Kraken, whilst my least favourite monster to play as was my favourite from the initial deconstruction stage, Wraith. Goliath still sits happily in the middle. Reading back over my original musings, I feel that, on the whole, my decisions were fair, even if gameplay would dictate otherwise. One thing I would rectify is Kraken's score; I think I was a little harsh on it and gameplay has shown me that some of it's abilities do work well in unison. I would say though, that the Banshee Mines and Vortex abilities still stick out for me as not fitting quite as well as I would like to see. Even Kraken's visual design makes more sense when seen in motion though, as what could be seen as bony appendages as upper limbs are actually whip-like tendrils that arc lightning and are very pleasing aesthetically when they trail behind the monster as it flies through the air, silently gliding.
