...and Erin and Chris Roberts are looking to take it to the next level with Starlancer, from digitalANViL and Microsoft. The Robertses are old hands at the space combat genre, but will their experience in creating the Wing Commander and Privateer series help them go above and beyond the successes of recent hits like FreeSpace II? If the Preview Beta version of Starlancer we received is any indication, the answer will be a resounding "yes."

In a refreshing break from the standard alien-invasion premise, the storyline of Starlancer pits two opposing factions of humans, the Alliance and the Coalition, against each other for control of the solar system. Although humankind has colonized the solar system, Cold War-like lines have been drawn between the traditionally Eastern and Western "countries."

The player begins as a volunteer in the appropriately named 45th Volunteers, a rag-tag band of patriotic hopefuls who are doing their part to keep the system safe from the Red Menace. As the war effort pushes onward, you learn more about the conflict, the enemy's motives, and rise through the ranks and start giving the orders rather than taking them.