"Chron X may well be the game that never leaves your HD!"

The future is upon us. The year is 2091 and it is a dark and grim world in which humanity is struggling to survive. Over-population and natural-resource depletion have caused humanity to fight brutally for what is left; and though technology has advanced to almost unbelievable lengths, its' direction was towards war and death rather than being the salvation for Earth.

The world as we know it is gone. The United States of America has devolved into a feudalistic military nation, the corporations have become ruthless and power-hungry megapowers, the fiercely independent street dwellers are rioting, impenetrable bastions of high-science known as the Monasteries have arisen, and the only ones trying to restore peace and order are the venerable United Nations. On the fringes of this miserable world exists a mysterious society known only as The Body. For years they have been progressing towards an unknown goal, where all of a sudden all communications from The Body's inner circle have abruptly stopped. The commanders of the outer circle have turned on each other. You, the player, are one such commander and your goal is to survive by destroying your enemies. Rumors abound of a coming of something grand. A new era that could either be humanity's salvation or the annihilation of all life as we know it. This coming is known only as Chron X.

Chron X is an internet-based collectible card game (CCG) in the vein of Magic: The Gathering and others like it. In its core, Chron X is a turn-based, multi-player strategy game where you must destroy your opponent's Headquarters (HQ) before they do the same to you. You play on several maps consisting of Earth's continents and major cities. Each player's HQ is placed in a random city on the map and players must travel through each inter-connecting city to search for the opponent's HQ. Players place different bases on the map's cities that help generate resources used to deploy, search, travel and attack with your assets across the map. Assets represent the agents, armies, and operatives you employ in carrying out your scheme. Each of these assets has personalized statistics portraying how well they fight, how tough and survivable they are, and how well they can avoid detection while gathering as much information for you as possible. There are soldiers, spies, saboteurs, cyborgs, robots, tanks, gangsters and many others at your disposal. You may also customize your assets with such things as firearms, protective suits of armor, gadgets, and bionic implants, that all have various degrees of power and reach. There are also Interventions that are used to create a sudden game-impacting event such as damaging a base or temporarily disabling a group of your opponent's assets, among many others. Also available are Programs, which are similar yet quite different from interventions, but these may only be activated by assets specialized at high technology and cyber-arts. Although destroying your opponent's HQ is your goal, there are many directions towards achieving that. From a full frontal assault by gigantic mechanized War-machines to clock-and-dagger sabotage and assassination by specially trained secret-agents. Of course, you need to prepare a defense against your opponent's own plan of attack. There are currently over 1000 different cards (and growing) with unique strengths and weaknesses and the varied strategy towards which they lend themselves make each and every game unique. Last but not least, the card art is beautiful!

The first thing to understand is that playing is free! In order to start playing you need only download the front end, which is less than a megabyte in size (almost unheard of in this day and age). There is a built-in tutorial that explains the basics and teaches the player how Chron X is played though a series of evenly increasing challenges. Friendly tips and directions are given throughout each tutorial game. First-timers are also given 60 free cards consisting of assets, bases, enhancements, interventions, and programs, that can be used to make their own decks (sets of pre-organized cards) and use them to play against other players over the internet. Chron X is available on Sony's online game match-making service known as The Station. Players log on to a chat screen (known as The Core) that lets them interact with fellow gamers and play Chron X, buy more cards, trade cards, and just have fun. There are factions that players can join -- mini communities of like-minded players who band together to share strategy, extra cards, and specially organized events. To become acclimated to the game, there are usually experienced Chron X players present as guides in the core that can help newcomers get started in no time. There are tournaments and trivia events held in the core on a regular basis. These events draw the Chron X player community together and often offer generous card prizes as rewards.

As a long-time player I've been enjoying Chron X for well over a year. The game is constantly improving and evolving. New cards get designed and old cards get tweaked, through player suggestions, to achieve better in-game balance. Trading and buying cards is secure and reliable through Genetic Anomalies' remarkable Collectible Bits technology. Special events and promotions keep the game interesting and the community fresh. So what are you waiting for? To learn more and to download the game point your browser to http://www.station.sony.com/chronx/ Also, visit my page at http://igalv.8m.com/chapel.htm for a newbie guide, tips and strategies, links, and other fun stuff!

And finally, don't forget to look me up in the core! You'll see me as either Buff Biff or Guide - Igal.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99