Graphically I was pretty impressed too – all of the ships are animated to an almost grotesque extent (owing only to their biological makeup) with a superb level of detail, and battles are carried out with the expected degree of flashiness. I actually tested the beta on a number of setups (ranging all the way down to an older system based on a Radeon 9800 Pro) and found it ran with pretty much no problems, so gamers of all caliber should have little trouble getting into the game. I have to hand a note out to the exotic station designs too, as each of the three factions gets a central headquarters that looks just wacky. The Military faction just gets a more general design (that honestly looks slightly phallic in nature), but the Inquisition’s station is actually made up in the form of a hulking figure clutching what looks like a half-rounded weapon over it’s head (officially marked as being “synonymous to aliens across the galaxy with the oppressive and violent nature of Humankind”), while finally the Defiance faction gets a station with a strange alien face carved in to one side, which is apparently supposed to instill fear in their opponents. There’s certainly no doubt that the development team for Genesis Rising is taking great strides in trying to create a completely unique feel and look to the game.

I learned quite a bit about how the game plays through this limited beta, but I think I'm going to hold off until the final game is released before forming any kind of major opinion on it – partly because of the promises of a co-op gameplay mode where both players can control the same fleet (I really want to see how this ties into the main campaign) and also because I just really want to learn more about this strange and crazy gameplay universe where gigantic living ships duke it out, and find out more behind the backstory. Genesis Rising is due out March 20th, so hopefully we'll hear more on this game soon!