Best to look after number one

If you were, then give yourself a slap on the back. Despite a recent low cost re-release, Giants remains something of an undiscovered gem in the gaming back catalogue.

Armed and Dangerous is by the same team and it seems as though they have tried to learn a painful lesson from their previous failure.

Something of an old school shoot 'em up, Armed and Dangerous mixes elements of real-time strategy with sequences of intense action. It's also rather funny. Planet Moon Studios, the outfit behind this game, have peppered the action with one-liners and visual gags.

You have teammates but they can't really be relied upon in the heat of battle. The best way forward is to look after number one and hope your pals make it out under their own steam.

Look out for the rocket pack that allows you to boost into the air and glide above the battlefield. It makes you a far more difficult target and adds an unusual aspect to the game play that may be fun, but can't avoid repetition.

NFL STREET; Publisher Electronic Arts; Format PS2; Price: £39.99. Out now.

THIS is what American football needs - a game that rips up the mystifying play book and gets back to basics. It reminded me of NFL Blitz on the PSOne, a game that was rather more successful in the UK than the usual gridiron title packed with stats.

The great thing about NFL Street is that it doesn't matter if you know anything about the sport. If you haven't heard of John Madden and think a quarterback is a well stuffed burger, you'll still have a good time playing NFL Street.

Instead, it plays rather like a faster, more violent, version of English rugby - helped no end by the turbo-boost system that sees your players really streaking across the pitch.

I didn't expect to like this game. I was pleasantly surprised. Set aside your traditional suspicion of the American game upon which it is based and you will be too.

BATTLE MAGES; Format PC; Price: £29.99. On sale now.

FOR the past year or so it has seemed as though the only type of game you could buy for the PC was a shoot 'em up. In fact, the proliferation of the first person blaster was so overwhelming that some pundits began to seriously question the future of interactive entertainment on the PC platform.

So it's with some relief that I can report a new game you can enjoy on your computer that isn't a shoot 'em up.

Battle Mages is a first time game from a Russian company called Targem that takes its inspiration from some of the greatest PC titles of all time - Warcraft, Dark Omen and Heroes of Might and Magic.

It's described as a mixture of tactical action, strategy and role playing - something that makes it pretty well unique in the current marketplace.

You control a small squad made up of archers, knights, infantry and alchemists (mages) through an absorbing single player campaign.

The most important character is the battle mage who researches spells, interacts with other characters and uses magic to further your crusade. Your infantry can be upgraded with better armour and improved weaponry.

There's a pleasing variety to the game. You can play as humans, the elves, the orcs and even the living dead. Each group has different abilities.

The crafty tactics, small-scale involvement and fantasy settings reminded me a lot of a Warcraft game - still the benchmark for real-time strategy games.

It does suffer some of the perennial RTS problems: a camera that sometimes conspires against you and troops that go AWOL when you aren't watching, but most of the time this is an absorbing treatment strategy lovers have been waiting for.

WIN A COPY

We have two copies of Battle Mages to give away. To be in with a chance just answer this simple question: What is a mage? Answers to: Burton's Byte Mages Comp, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF. The closing date is Wednesday, March 31.

Published: 26/03/2004