Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

I used to consider myself quite the carebear, but WAR changed a lot of those feelings. We did get to view the vastness of the galaxy maps with multiple zones within each, so the amount of content appears to be quite large. Some of my lingering questions include the balance of PvE and PvP content and if both sections will be compelling ways to level up. For that, we'll just have to wait and see.

So What Exactly Did You Do In There?

New players will be launched directly into the missions.

The Gamer's Day event allowed the gathered press to access six PCs running the JE client. We had our choice of "cool dudes" or "hot chicks" for avatars, so I went with a lifelike representation of myself. I am definitely a cool dude. After the character selection screen, the game pushes you right into the middle of the action.

Your ship is in midflight and on a mission. The mission provides ample information for training the new recruits how to fly, target and of course destroy other ships. Knowing what to do was easy, but keeping the aiming reticule on the bad guys took some time. My FPS skills are a little out of date (last shooter played was probably Half Life…the original). Ten Ton Hammer's executive editor, Cody Bye, made fun of me as I chased the bad guys and shot harmlessly around them. [Editor's Note: You were supposed to shoot the bad guys not the asteroids around them. Duh.]

No bad guys were injured in the testing of my skills, but I did eventually get the hang of it and got through the first mission to earn my initial medal. The second mission was to investigate a space vessel and then fend off bad guys. The increase in AI skills was noticeable between mission one and two, but the NetDevil developers took out the fangs on those enemies and thankfully they didn't do much damage. I got shot a lot, but made it on to the next mission just fine..

Right Down the Middle of the Fairway

To be frank Jumpgate Evolution isn’t revolutionizing the way MMO gamers play and I don't think the NetDevil developers wanted to go down that path. It feels like a culmination of experiments from Auto Assault, WoW, WAR and LOTRO. The team took the features they enjoyed from each of these games and incorporated them into a very pretty, sexy, insert-shiny-term-here game. The team is very passionate about Jumpgate Evolution and it showed from the people greeting us at the door to each of the devs showing off the game.

And they have a reason to be proud. The starting zone that we had access to was very polished and a blast to play.

Since my time at the press event was limited, I saw only one tiny portion of the starting area for one of the three factions, so it is impossible to make any kind of "final judgement" on Jumpgate Evolution. But from that starting area of that one faction, I can say, with a degree of certainty, that I will be purchasing this game. The fun factor definitely grabbed me within the first few minutes, and  I want to see how I can improve my ship, what other ships I can fly, and what the universe of Jumpgate Evolution holds for me. The teaser of a starting zone left me wanting more, and I can't wait to have it.