The third episode of Alec Stamos’ action-action Flash series, Tales of the Renegade Sector, has been released on Stamos’ official site and on Newgrounds, where it’s quickly made its way to the front page of the ‘Games’ section.

The latest development in the Renegade Sector storyline is entitled Castle of the Insect King, and it follows Space Captain McAllery’s escapades in an alien swamp. This time round, he’s searching for a piece of the antagonistic Laserbeard’s treasure in the dungeon of a dilapidated castle, which used to be helmed by the ancient Insect King. And thus begins a journey involving insect battles, shooting and a leap of faith or two.

It’s evident that a considerable amount of hard work has gone into polishing up the Renegade Sector experience in recent months, and Castle of the Insect King is a testament to just how far this series has come since its inception. The controls in this most recent incarnation of the story are the smoothest, most fluidly executed yet, while the shooting mechanics remain as simplistic and satisfying as ever before. Of course, the graphics have clearly come on a treat since the earliest episodes, as you might well gather from comparing the screenshot above with the following image from its formative days.

Castle of the Insect King can be played for free on the official Renegade Sector website. If you’d like to try out the preceding episodes, check out the site’s Archive section.

Browser games can be a lot of fun, but I find that, more often than not, browser games are lacking in the story department. Perhaps it’s because most people looking for a browser game are really just looking for a quick in-out type game, but I’d like to believe that there are those of us who want more out of our web-based gaming. If you fall into that category, perhaps you should check out Renegade Sector.

Before I begin allow me to explain Renegade Sector unique distribution method. What you’re getting isn’t really a full game. Instead the developer has opted to release a new episode of the game each week. There are currently six episodes available to play through, but each of them are in small, bite-sized morsels. It’s actually kind of cool to be able to follow a story’s progression week in, week out.

The game itself is a top-down action adventure game. Almost “twin stick” like but with WASD and mouse controls instead. You play as the Captain of a starship exploring a mysterious Turquois Temple with a portal to another realm. It’s kind of cool and the gameplay is fairly open for exploration.

The game’s graphics are a little rough. Things are fairly sparse and the sprites/colors could be done better, but I hope that won’t drive you away from a unique story telling perspective. It’s not very often that we get solid action-adventure games releasing in regular, frequent episodes for our continued amusement. Renegade Sector is just such a game.

[Renegade Sector]