Review by: Chris Harding
Published: May 10, 2000

Like many of you, there are but only a handful of experiences that serve as the foundation of my gaming addiction. As David Laprad pointed out so well in his recent editorial, being a gamer means a lot more than having a hobby, it’s a persona, a lifestyle. And it is those rare experiences, the ones that transcend reality, that bring us back to our computer screens time and time again, like an explorer searching for the end of a rainbow. One such experience of mine came back in 1993, when Origin released their Elite-inspired Privateer. Better than any product before it, Privateer brought together the elements of non-linear progression and strong story-driven gameplay. And yet, nearly ten years later in an industry five hundreds time larger, that feat remains unduplicated, at least it did until now.

Insert Novalogic’s mercenary for hire space opera Tachyon: The Fringe. This new entry into the genre possesses some serious firepower that I knew from the moment I watched the opening cinematic, had Privateer-like potential. Tachyon: The Fringe revolves around the life of Jake Logan, who at the game’s beginning is gainfully employed by one of the many large corporations conducting business in the SOL galaxy during what’s known as the golden age of space travel. It’s the 26th century and the miracles of science have opened the lanes of space exploration through the use of Tachyon gates. These gates allow passage across galaxies with minimal costs in time or fuel. Corporations act like countries and control vast regions of space, and some have even expanded their empires into an area known as The Fringe. The Fringe consists of the outer areas of known space, much of it unexplored. For the large corporate empires The Fringe represents a wealth of untapped resources, for the explorer The Fringe means discovery. But for those that live there, those that call the Fringe their home, well they see things a little differently.

Tachyon offers two different styles of play, solo and multiplayer. The single player game starts out with Jake taking on missions assigned to him by his employer. Pretty standard stuff, mainly routine escorts and cargo runs. There are a number of training missions, intermixed nicely into the story, that do a fantastic job of familiarizing the player with all of the controls and strategies involved in navigating space in the 26th century. A few missions into the game however, Jake gets framed for the mass murder of a space colony and sentenced to life in The Fringe. The manner in which this event takes place happens pretty quickly and took me by surprise initially, which in hindsight was the intent. The real meat and potatoes of the single player experience begins with Jake trying to make his life living as a gun-for-hire out on the outskirts of known space.

There are a number of vehicles Tachyon uses to advance the story. Most of the plot is played out in-game, which considering all the alternatives, is the most effective way to tell a story. Starting out in a place called the Hub, Jake buys a run-of-the-mill light weight fighter ship and from here you’re given the option of choosing from three to four missions of different varieties. Each mission has unique objectives, employers and payouts. Depending on the risks involved, Tachyon offers a wide range of real personable wingmen for hire as well. There’s a cost to hire the wingman initially and then depending on their skills and requirements, they’ll take a percentage of the earnings upon successful completion of the scenario. The missions themselves are one of Tachyon: The Fringe’s greatest assets. Somehow Novalogic has managed to include all of the standard type scenarios you’d expect in an offering of this genre — escorts, cargo runs, patrols, and strikes. Yet intermixed in all of these are a number of unique twists and turns, such as one mission which has you rendevous with a crazy scientist to exchange top-secret data. And while there are a lot of standard jobs available, none of them seem standard.