A FORMER parcel office was transformed into a battlefield as four artists unleashed their version of the Gulf War on to the North-East.

Desert Rain, a game, art installation and performance piece, is at Middlesbrough railway station's old Red Cross office until Monday.

The virtual reality experience involves six players being zipped into separate cubicles and exploring motels, deserts and underground bunkers - all of which are projected on to a huge screen of falling water.

Jamie Iddon, one of the artists, said the game took two years to create.

"We've had a really good response to it and it has toured all over the UK and Europe, but it has come to the end of its natural life. This is the last time it will be staged.

"It's one of those things that you really have to experience in order to understand it."

Desert Rain is open to the public from today until Monday, between noon and 10pm each day. Tickets, at £5 per person per 30-minute game, must be booked in advance from (01642) 358086.