Oh, sure, there’s a nominal backstory. An alien artifact gives scientists the power to teleport small, inanimate objects, but when they try something much larger — a live lab rat — the resulting explosion teleports a chunk of Earth across the galaxy. Humanity picks up the pieces, as always, and splinters into warring factions who must also contend with hostile aliens.

Wasn’t that the plot of Half-Life? Huh. But seriously, all players need to know is that they can create a character and assign experience points to four skill groups (which influence that character’s fighting forces). Then pick a planet and faction and it’s off to the front.

Seriously, that’s how easy it is to get started. Factions battle endlessly over territories, but no faction can ever wipe out another, and the territories only serve to pay players based on their factions’ holdings. Money is used toward buying or repairing units, but is never in short supply.

Dedicated players will find a lot to dive into here. Each faction is made up of regiments, and faction members vote for overlord, who has some administrative powers. Plus, Nexon keeps the action lively with scripted events every few weeks. Veteran players often take an active role in teaching tactics and coordinating battle, but none are so powerful that a novice can’t take them out.

Speaking of which, players never really die. Their forces can enter a battle, but once they’re destroyed — which can take a while, because only six units can fight at once, and each player can own dozens — the character is simply returned to the nearest friendly territory. It’s a nice touch that lets newbies rush into battle, which is the only way to really learn.

For practice purposes, each territory is riddled with caves, in turn crawling with aliens. Players can pop in, gather natural resources (also used to repair or upgrade units) and gain a little experience, though spelunking takes off "honor points." Those serve to move each player up in power for that faction, but can just as easily be ignored.

Units are split between infantry (‘mechs), aviation, mobile and organic (trained aliens), and can be customized with weapons and upgrades to suit each player’s style. Units don’t get too powerful too quickly — if anything, it takes a little longer than comfortable to get to the really good stuff — and often players buy several units of each type for versatility in combat.

Graphics and sound are a little outdated, but necessarily slow. That cuts down on lag, which was a rare and minor annoyance. I’ll trade graphics for speed any day, and Nexon apparently agrees.

Bottom line? At $20 for the software and then $10 per month (or $5 per month if you pre-pay a year’s worth), plus the first month free, Shattered Galaxy is a great entry into the online wargame genre. If Nexon can keep it fresh with scripted events and new units or weapons, this one will be around a long while.