This is Novalogic's first venture into the space-combat adventure world of games and it looks real good. In Tachyon: The Fringe you play a mercenary pilot known as Jake Logan (voiced by Evil Dead 2 star Bruce Campbell) as you set out to conquer the universe.

In the 25th century, civilized people avoid The Fringe of the galaxy. This resource-rich edge of colonized space is host to a violent struggle between a megacorp intent on capitalization and a faction of renegade settlers determined to keep their independence. The situation is serious -- tensions are high -- and you are right in the middle of it all. The story is familiar, but not too much: five hundred years in the future the world has been all but taken over by giant corporations that control every aspect of human life. United under the Seven-Planet accord, all colonies within the Earth's solar system live in a relative peace as their corporate member wage economic war among themselves for the system's dwindling resources.

Tired of living under the laws of such a heartless society, a rogue group calling themselves the Bora head off into the Fringe, a lawless area that was for the most part ignored by the government and the companies within it. Shortly after the Bora set up their new home, they discovered that it was rich with mineral resources. Unfortunately, as the excited community began to extract their newfound wealth, a mega-corp called GalSpan noticed that no legal claim had been made to the patch of space the miners were occupying. GalSpan quickly filled out the appropriate forms and hurried to take over the rich colony that had been set-up in the years since the Bora's exodus. The Bora were ordered to vacate. As you might imagine, this didn't go down too well with the frontier personalities of the Bora, who had spent the last few years of their life putting the final touches to their safe haven.

As the game begins, the system is being torn apart by the war between the government-backed GalSpan and the fierce Bora. Not sure which side you'd want to be on in this conflict? Don't worry, you won't be asked to make the choice; Your character is an independent contractor, an adventurer, who has come to this tension filled sector because of the profit it promises. You'll spend your time flying from starbase to starbase picking up missions (or refusing them), exploring space and making friends and enemies as well. As you might imagine though, you won't be able to stay neutral forever. The missions you choose to accept will have a profound impact on the outcome of the war that's waging around you and sooner or later you'll have to choose between the economic power of GalSpan or the righteous anger of the Bora. While the game will have a limited number of campaign missions in order to keep the story moving along (each side has 10 missions with a total of 20). The game also features 70-80 mini-missions that you can uncover during the course of the game.

'The Fringe is not a friendly place...'

Features

· Fly co-operatively with other mercenaries or go head-to-head against up to 120 other pilots via NovaWorld to achieve your goal

· Space fighter combat with intelligent non-scripted AI enemies

· Communicate with other players during multi-play on NovaWorld, via NovaLogic's innovative Voice-Over-Net technology

· Gigantic space cities, asteroid belts, and star destroyers

· 80 freeform missions to complete

· Open ended mission structure allowing for greater exploration and involvement

· Advanced pyrotechnics and lighting FX for the complete Sci-Fi experience

· Fully integrated in-game cinematic engine for added atmosphere

· Hire wingmen to help defend your ship and broker deals with the Mega-Corps and rebels

· Chose to fly up to 10 variable spacecraft, each with its' own unique and upgradeable features

· Loads of armament types from standard mining lasers to full-on military grade missile systems and "limpet missiles"

· Customise weapons through resource collecting and exploration

Tachyon looks really Good, I cant Wait!