The Asian gaming territories are home to many MMOs, but most never reach the West because the nature of the game is so tailored for a specific audience, they'd just never work outside of Korean gaming cafés.

Occasionally though, such as with RF Online, a game is deemed deep enough to head West. So it is then that Codemasters is set to bring the war-torn planet of Novus, complete with its threeway war, to these shores very soon.

The premise is that three factions are fighting for control of a powerful mining centre, the occupier of which gets to carve the finest weapons and armour for use in its fight for survival.

Probably the most balanced of the three races you can fight as, certainly in terms of ease of play, is the Cora Holy Alliance. Sexy elves mostly, with a casual attitude towards clothing and a penchant for waving glowing rods of magic about, they may not have much raw force on the battlefields, but give them a chance to power-up a spell and you're in for all manner of animated spiritual attacks.

The Accretians, meanwhile, have the upper hand in terms of ruthless weaponry. If you're the sort of gamer who likes to smash things good, this homicidal race of alien robots will be right up your street. Then there's the Bellato, who may look like midget traders that wouldn't say boo to a ghost, but once they reach level 30 they can strap themselves into all manner of customisable battle mechs.