Void War is a 3D space arcade "shoot-em-up" that pits you against the vile scum in the universe that are between you and your runaway girlfriend. You battle through level, after level, after level of one-on-one (or more) fighter combat, pitting strategy, not just a quick trigger finger, against your foes. All the while twisting and turning to keep control of your ship amongst space stations, asteroids or gravitational wells that can suck your ship up and after a quick swirlie, leave you helpless against your foes. To aid you in battle, there are "power-ups" scattered around space, giving you better missiles, more energy or stealth to keep those pesky missile locks off of you while you high tail for cover.

You start the single player game by selecting the type of ship you want, out of the 6 available. 3 of the ships are locked at the start, forcing you to work through the campaign to open up them up. When you enter the game, you get to watch a "cut-scene" to give a simple but plausible reason for being in the middle of space killing other people. Remember that indie games can't afford Blizzard style cut-scenes, but they do give YOU the chance of providing the voice acting as you read the characters' text out loud to yourself. Think of it as video game karaoke.

Once the "plot" is out of the way, you start slogging through the levels, fighting wave after wave of random bad guys, punctuated by a boss every so often. Combat tends to be a combination keeping your power levels balanced between your shields, thrusters and laser, while trying to fight your ship into position against the game's physics. In addition, you spend a lot of time searching for and maneuvering to get the power-ups. There seems to be little strategy in which missiles to use, but I always had more luck with the "knock out" versions like EMP pulse and Leech, both of which can stop the enemy in their tracks and make them a much easier kill. But sometimes just getting these upgrades can be frustrating as you helplessly fight inertia to fly straight enough to pick them up.

Unlike space combat games that let you turn on a dime, Void War uses inertia to make the game interesting. Your ship, once thrust is applied, will keep moving forward with inertia - just like it would in the real world - eventually slowing back down if you don't apply more thrust. This makes for both slick and frustrating maneuvers as you can hit full thrust, then flip around and fire at your opponent on your six while you keep moving away. Or, you can sit and revolve around that Leech Missile power up that's oh so close, yet never get to it. Usually this happens at the worst possible time, and the enemy takes advantage of you. It's admirable that Rampant added inertia, as most space-based games seem to ignore real physics, but it can prove frustrating to a new player. I'll admit I was skeptical (and cursing) for the first few levels until I started to get used to it.

Though the components of the game are simple, you must still rely on strategy to win. While you can occasionally get lucky and keep a ship in your cross hairs long enough to blast it with lasers, your best bet is to use some of the special missiles to slow them down first. For example, the EMP blast missile is one of my favorites, which shorts out the enemy's ability to maneuver, allowing you to settle in behind him for a nice little heart-to-heart. Some maps also have features to use to your advantage - such as luring the enemy into a gravitational well (which spins him around like a cat in a Maytag) and spits him out the end, conveniently without any shields or power. A quick fly by, a couple of blasts, and he's toast. But remember it can go both ways, and there is nothing more frustrating than being "flushed" through a well in the middle of a tight combat.

What I noticed is that once I got down to a one on one battle, if it wasn't over immediately, it could take a while. The enemy has to slow down and maneuver to get power ups just like you do, and some games turn into a cat and mouse as you try to find the right weapon and get into the correct position. Once the set up is done, and you finally get the right weapon and into the right vector, the battle is usually over fairly quickly. That is unless you forget about that whole inertia thing and do your best "cartoon character on a frozen pond" impression, firing madly while you slide right by your target.

Aside from the single player campaign, there is a free-for-all mode that throws you into the mix with ten other AI ships. This is your basic death match, playing to a point score. I have to tell you though that I found this to be an extremely frustrating and disheartening experience, as this game is just plain hard against multiple enemy ships. If you can manage to get an enemy away from the crowd, you can pick them off easily, but getting in the middle of the fray is a good way to find four or five missiles up your pipe. I didn't find an option to turn down the number of enemy ships in the battles, so this part of the game wasn't really "fun."

Void War also has a multi-player game that I did not try, but is designed to be a frag-fest in space. The game does not have a server browser of any kind, and relies on the user to know the IP address of the hosting server. In the age of GameSpy and Steam, this seems so 1997, but you have to remember that it is still an Indie game, and resources are limited. Your best bet would be to watch and post to Rampant's forums to find games to join.

Unfortunately, Void War never lets you forget that it's a homespun title. While the game plays well, loads EXTREMELY quickly, and has its moments, it's definitely a low budget labor of love. Plot and writing is lacking in the campaign, graphics have a home made feel, and menus and options are very minimal. More importantly, the game is strictly an arcade beat-the-level-to-get-to-the-next-level type game, so after a few levels the experience gets stale. Think of this as Galaga, not Wing Commander.

If you like independent games and don't mind low-budget graphics and repetitive play, go for it. If you are one of those that can't live without trilinear filtering, 5.1 surround sound and expansive game play and maps, you'll be disappointed. That said, to come back to what I opened this review with, the game, while low budget, a bit campy and lacking in polish, DOES seem to fill that visceral urge to "blow crap up." While it can be extremely frustrating trying to maneuver with inertia and gravity, and playing against multiple opponents can make you curse like a drunken sailor, it is also very satisfying to sneak over an asteroid after 10 minutes of "ring around the rosie" and blast the sucker. Plus, it loads extremely quickly, so if you ever need one of those games to fill 10 minutes between your foot rub and mud bath, this sure as hell beats FreeCell.

System Requirements: Windows 98 or later, 600 mhz CPU or faster, DirectX 8.1+, 16MB+ 3D Card (TNT2 or comparable or better), sound card.