Infinite Space: Battle pirates far, far away

As a young man named Yuri, players will gather a crew and several ships in a journey through Infinite Space, battling pirates, bandits and other hostile vessels along the way.

In battle, the player has a command gauge that fills up to three levels over time - the lowest level allows for evasive tactics, the second for normal attacks and the third for powerful barrages.

Evasion neutralizes barrage attacks, however, so it's necessary to time attacks for when enemies are less likely to dodge - after a barrage of their own, for instance.

Some ships offer additional options, such as up-close attacks, launching or attacking fighter craft, or performing special attacks.

The options available to a player depend on ship type and armament, crew abilities and other factors.

Outside of battle, players fly from planet to planet with their fleet, picking up threads of the main plot in certain areas, and information or odd jobs in others. Many planets have upgrade shops, shipyards and other merchants, and the player's ships can be customized substantially, though it can be tricky to figure out just what a given upgrade will do for a ship's effectiveness.

INFINITE SPACE

RATING T for Teen

PLOT Spend hours upon hours in

deep space exploration

DETAILS Nintendo DS, $35

BOTTOM LINE Anime fans might stick around for this long-winded (mostly) role-player; others, not so much