At this year’s GC Germany in Leipzig, Siam had the opportunity to take a closer look at NetDevil’s upcoming space-MMO Jumpgate Evolution, a reboot of their original game, Jumpgate.
I didn’t think I liked space-based MMOs, until I played Jumpgate Evolution at GC08. This impression is based partly on a demo of the game, as well as actual hands-on time as it was being showcased at the Saitek booth along with the company’s joysticks.
The presentation was given by Michael Rowland, producer for Jumpgate Evolution at Codemasters, while the gameplay was shown by Grace Wong from NetDevil using an alpha build of the game.
Michael talked about the basics of the game, mentioning the focus on fast-paced twitch combat, controlled mainly through keyboard and mouse, though joysticks may be used instead. The game’s class system is based around licenses, where different licenses give the player access to different equipment.
Examples of these licenses were space truckers or miners, which use different types of ships and other equipment to fulfil their roles.
Although the game is focused around combat, Jumpgate Evolution is making room for a player economy with mining and manufacturing being in the center. Different manufacturing plants found throughout the game world specialize in creating different items and players will need to find these to make use of them.
They also talked about the background story of the game, a lot of it written by Keith Baker of Dungeons & Dragons fame. He is most known for his work on the Eberron setting in which Dungeons & Dragons Online from Turbine takes place.
Factions are also said to be an important part of the game with different factions available within each of the three nations with a reputation system being based around these factions and the missions players do for them.
An interesting note on the mission system is that if several people enter an area where they have the same objective, they do not need to be grouped together to be able to share the experience points. Michael said this would cut down on spawn camping though one might wonder how exactly this will work so that only those who do the actual work gets the rewards from the encounters.
Later during my visit at GC Germany, I ran into the game being displayed at the Saitek booth. The game was playable and the system was hooked into using a joystick and thruster.
I’m not a huge fan of using them and I’ve avoided them in the past, but since the game rig was provided by Saitek, who of course wanted mainly to show off their products, I had to bite the apple and give it a go.
And I wasn’t disappointed.
I started off in the starting area with a goal to destroy several pirate ships circling debris. After stumbling around with the thruster and the joystick for a few minutes due to my inexperience I finally got the hang of the basics of moving and attacking. And the fun started immediately.
The combat in Jumpgate Evolution is fast-paced and from what I experienced in the early stage of the game, it is twitch based, meaning you shoot the moment you hold down the trigger/mouse button. Using the thruster and the joystick also created a more immersive environment during movement and combat as I flew around asteroids and passed space stations in my dogfights against the pirates.
The atmosphere and immersion the game provided was refreshing and I can say that I haven’t had either feeling recently when playing an MMOG.
What Jumpgate Evolution could use some more work on would be the UI, which seemed a bit cluttery to me, with unnecessary parts such as the large square area in the top left corner showing an animated rendering of whatever you have currently targeted. It might have some use later in the game or it may not but at a first glance, it simply added to the clutter.
In the graphics department, Jumpgate Evolution doesn’t fall in the high-end category and the producer explains that they don’t want to have high system requirements for the game. The graphics aren’t bad and the style fits the game well from what little I saw during my flights and short combat sessions.
Overall, I had fun playing the game even if it was only for a short time and I am looking forward to giving the game another go, making it one of the few games at GC Germany that piqued my interest.
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