Earth & Beyond takes the standard high-fantasy formula of online role-playing games and replaces the castles and swords with space stations and beam weapons. It isn't the first online role-playing game to relocate to outer space (it was preceded by NetDevil's Jumpgate), but it is the first to do so without employing elements of space combat simulations. Earth & Beyond takes the primary mechanics of games like EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot and transports them--with some minor but welcome changes--to space. And while the setting is the game's most unique feature, it's also the source of its problems. Some elements of the traditional online RPG just don't translate well to the environment, and the most notable sacrifice is the sense of community among players. In space, it seems, no one can hear you /yell.

You'll spend the majority of your time warping from location to location.

The first few hours of Earth & Beyond are the most enjoyable. The opening tutorial introduces you to the interface and gives you a few simple missions to carry out so you can learn the primary skills of your chosen class. There are six classes available, each of which puts varying emphases on the combat, exploration, and trading specialties. Three of the classes are primarily fighters. There's the terran enforcer, the jenquai defender, and the progen warrior. Terran tradesmen are primarily traders and craftsmen, though at this stage in the game, they can be powerful fighters as well. Jenquai explorers are the weakest fighters but have access to faster ship components. The final class, the progen sentinel, is a hybrid of a warrior and explorer.

One of the most interesting mechanical differences between Earth & Beyond and your typical online RPG is the fact that experience can be gained in three different areas. You gain trade, exploration, and combat experience independently, and you can access some of your class skills only when you reach a certain level in a particular area. These three areas combined give you your overall level, which also determines what sort of skills and components you can access.

It's a good system, and one that encourages you to experience everything the game has to offer. With each new level, you gain skill points, and these can be distributed to improve your skills. You will rise in level very quickly, but saving your skill points is a good idea. Later skills require more points to access, so if you spend your points haphazardly early on in your character's career, you'll find that your character may be well rounded, but not very strong in a needed area.

Earth & Beyond is all about your character's talents. This game is not Wing Commander, and its combat doesn't involve any simulation elements. Instead, fights are entirely dependent on your character's abilities. You target an enemy, activate your guns, and hope you win. It's no more a space combat simulation than Dark Age of Camelot is a sword-fighting simulation. Each class has several unique skills that are useful during or directly following combat. For example, warriors can use their shields as offensive beam weapons, explorers can fold space for a quick getaway, and sentinels can jump-start ships that are dead in the vacuum.

Character death is handled in an interesting way in Earth & Beyond. There is no traditional experience penalty. That is, you don't lose acquired experience after being defeated. Instead, you lose future experience. The "experience debt system," as it's called, takes 50 percent of any experience you earn after dying and puts it toward paying back the debt. Once the debt is repaid, you earn experience normally.

Gates are the primary means of travel between sectors.

Earth & Beyond's combat is both safer and more interesting in groups, and joining with others gives you significant bonuses. These bonuses depend on which classes the members of your group belong to. For instance, tradesmen will increase the amount of money you receive when selling items, defenders make it more likely that you'll land a critical hit, and warriors reduce the amount of hull damage you'll sustain from enemy attacks. The bonuses don't make much sense, but they are great incentives to seek out companions.

Unfortunately, getting an edge on your enemies in a fight is one of the only incentives to seek out other players. Earth & Beyond may be the first online RPG in which you can play solo for as long as you care to. Unless you join a guild (of which there are many, and they seem to be constantly recruiting), you won't encounter many other people while playing Earth & Beyond. There are several reasons for this. For one, the space stations--which allow you to leave your ship and walk around--are either completely deserted or so crowded that the lag is unbearable. The chat window is unreadable at most reasonable resolutions. Most everyone just hangs out in the chat room for new players, arguing about how the last update patch has ruined their character class, or discussing various topics that don't really relate to the game. You can find help and answers to your questions, but only if you're doggedly persistent.