BLITZKRIEG 2

Publisher: CDV

Format: PC

Price: £35

Family friendly? A bit too complex for gamers under 12.

YOU can't say that Blitzkrieg 2 takes a narrow view of history. Despite the title, you don't just play as the Germans in this World War Two simulator. Depending on the options you choose, the game puts you in charge of the Germans, the Brits, the Americans or the Russians.

It's a real-time strategy game - albeit one without the constant need for resource management to replenish your battered forces - where you start a mission with a set number of men and machines and have to finish it... or fail. Reinforcements are usually available but there's only a finite supply, so budding armchair generals have to think first before committing precious forces to the frontline.

Before the fighting starts, you get to choose what sort of forces you take into battle. Do you opt for tanks and their peerless performance over land or opt for fighter-bombs and hope to destroy enemy ground forces before they even reach your lightly defended boys? The choice is yours.

It's a bit dispiriting, however, when the enemy seems to have an inexhaustible supply of men and deadly accurate anti-aircraft batteries.

On a more tactical level, you can call up an overhead map of the battlefield and deploy your forces to strike at the enemy's weak spots - if he has any: cutting off lines of supply and interrupting reinforcements is supposed to make your opponent weaker as the fight goes on.

At least the game doesn't overstay its welcome. There are 70 missions but many of them are very short and a seasoned RTS veteran will waltz through some in less than an hour.

Gamers who last played an RTS in the Command and Conquer era will be knocked out by the detailed graphics, and the excellent sound effects really add to the wartime atmosphere.

War-gamers who enjoy flight sims will probably find this a bit too lightweight for their tastes. The rest of us, who just want a short sharp fire-fight without the relentless slog of a massive campaign, will enjoy this instead.