Many consider World of Warcraft to be the holy grail of MMOs because of its player base, but that doesn’t deter rival companies from attempting to improve the MMO formula to draw in players. While the fantasy genre has been nearly beaten to death with MMO titles that have come and gone, EVE Online has remained the one true space sim MMO for the past several years.

A new competitor in the space sim MMO realm is Jumpgate: Evolution. Some of you may be familiar with the first iteration of the series that had what some may call “boring at best” gameplay, but Jumpgate: Evolution’s developer NetDevil promises fast-paced Wing Commander style fighting amidst an array of PVE and PVP objectives.

Combat is very much akin to classic games like Wing Commander, as opposed to what a traditional MMO might have in store. Meaning it’s all about your ability to lead your target and track your enemy with the reticule. This isn’t a highlight and forget it experience…(source).

Event Sectors

While also supporting thousands of players in a single universe on a single server, much like EVE, Jumpgate: Evolution takes a unique approach to what many would recognize as “instancing”, except they are called “Event Sectors.” Event Sectors are not instanced and are instead daily, weekly, or even monthly areas that temporarily open up for players so they can race to achieve objectives before the sectors close. In the recent demonstration of Event Sectors at E3, a sector opened up where players had to defend a friendly space station that was under attack by enemy controlled spacecraft. In another, two opposing factions were forced to fight over and secure an area of space.

Players are by no means required to involve themselves in these Event Sectors, but the rewards, lore, and immersive experience that they offer is what NetDevil says will draw players out of their normal playing routine.

The 2010 E3 demonstration of JGE showed some massive changes to the game after its last public playtest back in 2009; fortunately, it has received a significant amount of buzz and some commentary that has piqued the interest of the MMO community.

It’s sort like what would happen if Wing Commander and Dark Age of Camelot had a baby, to be perfectly honest. (source)

Stay tuned, we may have a new contender in the MMO market yet!

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