Genesis Rising: Bleed Space Dry Company: DreamCatcher Interactive I have a word to sum up the look of Dream Catcher's Genesis Rising and that is SEXY! This game is beautiful to look at, even if you are looking a mutant space ships that are grown instead of built. But, as soon as you get past that in your mind, the game looks great. Using a 360 degree space map, Genesis Rising gives you a spectacular view, even if the actual gameplay is truly played on a 2D plane like any other RTS in the genre. This frees up lots of open space to cover, and you are not restricted to many of the set path issues from other works in the genre. You can toggle this plane on if it helps you get around, but I leave mine off to enjoy the 360 degree visuals as you rotate around your ships. In Genesis Rising, you command huge ships that are grown from DNA. The greatest currency in the entire universe for a technology based on genetics is blood. That's right sports fans, you are piloting giant ships that are dependant on blood. It is their health and source of DNA. If you are low on health, just belly up to a dead ship and suck away. Or have a ship in your fleet bring you a belly full. In order to obtain new DNA, you guessed it, you suck it out of the bodies of your victims, i.e. other ships. In order to obtain new weapons, you have to suck them from the bodies or alter DNA to make new weapons. A ship fed a DNA strand for a new weapon will then grow it right before your eyes, mutating and evolving your ships. In a word, awesome. It is not a totally new concept to have ships or materials grown instead of built. I heave read books that have had the idea, like L.Ron Hubbard, and some recent space shows like Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, and Far Scape. But I can't recall playing anything like it before. The little demo or "work in progress," as they called it, was not enough to quench my thirst, and I am salivating to get my hands on a full version to bleed it dry. This game leaves a good taste in my mouth and I want the main course. I should only have to wait until March 20th, its expected ship date, but until then I will nibble on the demo. Though not yet available, there is a page set up to download the demo for Genesis Rising, so continue to check back in at the game's main site below. -WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd Related Links: Genesis Rising - The Universal Crusade DreamCatcher Games