Jumpgate Evolution (JGE) is a space science fiction MMO being developed by Netdevil and published by Codemasters. At the recent Leipzig Game Convention I got a chance to see the game with Producer Michael Rowland and Marketing Manager Grace Wong, and it was truly amazing!

My first confusion was cleared up when they mentioned that this is not an expansion of the original Jumpgate MMO and while it's set in the same world but further down the timeline, it really is its own game. The story has taken more of a streamlined interest to players who'll be populating the world as pilots, and for those familiar with games such as Elite and Privateer, you won't be sorry you checked this title out.

With action/twitch based real time combat, the universe is yours for the exploring, killing, scouting, and many other path options that are available via the license program. You see, every character will be a pilot, but in order to differentiate yourself from your fellow players you'll be able to specialize in certain areas.

Basic item use is granted with little to no experience in the licensed area but using more powerful items and equipment is given only to those who've progressed through their area of expertise and proven themselves worthy of handling the responsibility. To further these pursuits players will be given licenses in their specialized area(s), though how many areas one can specialize in has not been talked about yet.

Mission running, or questing, is a core mechanic of the game, and the game makes interesting use of groups to help solo or small group players accomplish more, faster. As long as you're in the area and working on the mission you'll automatically be given credit for encounters that you're working towards as will others. This public questing idea seems to be a highly popular one in MMO development these days. I do wonder how well this will work, with slackers getting credit for work that others do, but without seeing the system itself and understanding exactly how it will work I can't really make a good judgment.

The action/twitch based combat system in the game combines with a deep crafting, faction, and economy system giving players a wide variety of in game play styles and options. And while combat is always a main focus crafters will be excited, if somewhat hesitant, to once again hear that the best items in game will come from their hard work - but it would appear that the team really is designing for this!

The team is focusing on very low system specs, to allow a greater number of users, and a low barrier to entry. The goal is to make machines that are three to four years old easily run the world, and they're very aware of what a key market laptop owners are. While this may be true, the graphics do not seem to suffer because of it. From the docking areas to outer space the graphics convey a sense of vibrant space that is exciting to explore

They feel that by lowering the required specifications needed to play the game will be available to a larger market and, as many new MMOs coming out have found, may indeed be one of the larger selling points for the game versus others available.

Of course, in addition to low required specs is the vast number of peripherals you can use to play this game! Thrusters, joysticks, and for some odd reason, game controllers. While I'm not a big thruster fan personally, I loved the feel and immersion of joystick control and it definitely ads a layer of immersion to the game.

Players can choose one of 3 nations, Solrain, Quantar, and Octavius. While you can play as any of these, you are never forced into only dealing with one faction. You can gain standing with any of them as you see fit, creating many different role playing and game play possibilities for yourself.

Finally we come down to actual travel using the Jumpgate system. Using these portals one will be able to instantly transfer to other areas of the universe for exploration and adventure. As you begin the game your options are quite linear so that players aren't overwhelmed with options but as you level your possibilities become almost endless.

Flight uses Newtonian model physics. Blink with me now, as well all silently mouth "What does that mean?" It means that once you start your ship moving in one direction, you will not only continue to move in that direction unless something causes you not to (running into things comes to mind), you will also experience drag! Meaning that you will have to continually apply thrusters to maintain high velocities and you won't be able to stop applying thrust to instantly stop.

So waiting until your 15 feet from that space station before letting up on the gas will make for a pretty explosion rather then a graceful landing. Docking ships in space stations in Elite Plus anyone? While this all sounds incredibly difficult it's really not, and just a few moments at the controls will give you an idea of how easy it can be to avoid space stations, portals, other ships, and even your own clumsiness.

I was given a chance to see an area called "The Inferno", a planet that has been decimated with chunks of planet material dotting the surrounding space. The Inferno gives players a chance to check out soft grouping, which encourages cooperative play without forcing players to manually group. As the pilot heads in NPC pilots start the fight and you're off to destroy those who'd rather make you space dust. This isn't the type of place one would want to enter and then head off to grab a drink!

The game will feature integrated voice chat by Dolby, with their Axon system. The chat will be "directional". That is to say you'll hear the voice coming from the actual direction where they're located. While Dolby's information says that the voices will also sound weaker the farther off the speaker is, JGE Community Manager Nicole "Awen" Hamlett recently said in the official forums that this was not the case in game currently.

While the graphics are not what could be called "top of the line" neither is it an inferior product. Graphically the world fits well together, and the combat animations I witnessed brought a sense of immersion and life to the world. That's really all we need in an MMO isn't it? Especially one that won't require us to spend hundreds of dollars in upgrades!!

Players can currently sign up for beta at the official site though no announcement dates have been set. The game is scheduled fora Spring 2009 release, and though I hope they're able to stick to it, we should all be familiar with how flexible release dates are!

Becky "Tovin" Simpson
Senior Editor, ZAM Network