Like many other massively multiplayer online role-playing games, EVE Online: The Second Genesis has a lot of ambitious intentions. It offers you the chance to create a unique persona in its vast science-fiction universe and then seek out power, riches, allies, fame, or notoriety as you become increasingly proficient as a starship captain, a bounty hunter, a miner of rare minerals, an interstellar trader, or an officer in an influential corporation, among other things. EVE features some of the best graphics to date in an online RPG, and it is the best-looking outer space game in years. The game also offers some interesting variations on the conventions of the genre, most notably in how it's not at all focused on your character having to constantly kill things in order to level up. Unfortunately, many of EVE's ambitions remain unfulfilled weeks after the game's release. The lack of clear-cut incentives, risks, and rewards leaves the world of EVE seeming empty. The game can have its moments, since like many online games, it can be entertaining if you happen to find a good group of people to play and chat with. But at this point, EVE is suitable only for very patient science-fiction fans with lots of time to spare.