Accessibility is the key
The initial set-up screen gives you a choice of three races/political factions: Solrain, Quantar and Octavius, each offering subtle differences, for example, we know that Octavious' ships will have slightly slower speeds and low power consumption, whereas Quantar vessels will be much speedier. I could only choose from one of the races, I believe it was the Solrain, and then I had the option to customize (I used the term very loosely) the look of the pilot by changing his/her head from a limited number of choices.The action in Jumpgate Evolution takes place from the third person perspective, though NetDevil say that they will be incorporating a cock-pit view into the final version.
In my interview with NetDevil, which I’ll be publishing shortly, the company is keen to push just how accessible it plans to make Jumpgate; indeed the President named ‘accessibility’ as being the feature he's most proud of the game. He wants it to appeal to all and be easy to pick up and play, with simple controls and a clean, easy-to-navigate interface.
NetDevil has achieved its aim thus far, because if there’s one thing that Jumpgate is, it’s accessible. You could even say that it’s a little too simple and lacking in real depth. Nevertheless, if you’re into arcade-style combat then you’ll love the fact that you simply need to use the mouse to point at your target and then use the WASD keys to head in that direction, whilst keeping your finger firmly pressed on the left mouse button to shoot down your enemy. It is flight combat at its most basic and in these early stages it certainly doesn't provide much of challenge to any seasoned gamer. Being accessible can obviously be a positive thing, but while the simplistic nature of manoeuvring and commanding the craft will appeal to some, it may also alienate those seeking a bit more depth to their combat. Of course, when the game eventually arrives and the sky is full of expert pilots and the challenge really begins, I’ll probably be thanking the designers for creating such responsive and easy-to-pilot craft.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageThe first objective I was tasked with in this play-test was heading over to a pirate outpost to destroy 6 vessels. The enemies criss-crossed and looped in the sky upon my approach and sure enough, as soon as they spotted my ship, they began to fire at me whilst intelligently splitting up in the hope they would outwit me. Just underneath the enemy vessel is a target point that you need to aim at to shoot to destroy. It was easy enough to lock-on, switch between targets, chase them and blast them to pieces. It merely requires keeping an eye on the directional arrow, which points you in the direction of your nearest target, and following it, whilst keeping your finger down on the fire button. It’s pretty simple stuff, but nevertheless visually entertaining with some nice explosions. It was also good fun chasing them around, using the boost function to catch them up when they seemed to be getting away, whilst twisting and turning amongst the stars.
The ships handle extremely well and despite complaints from some people that the ships were too slow, I found mine to be just the right speed. It’s not so fast that I lose control and it’s not too slow that is makes the game feel boring; the action in the game feels really well-paced.
Read on…
