AN advanced computer game which recreates a dangerous war zone has been going down a storm with players in Middlesbrough.

Yesterday, games fans of all ages flocked to a former parcel warehouse at the town's railway station to pit their skills against five other players during 30-minute sessions of Desert Rain.

The virtual reality game, created by artists Blast Theory, is set during the Gulf War.

Players are zipped into a cubicle before using a foot- pad to explore motels, deserts and underground bunkers projected on to a huge screen of falling water. Organiser Bob Fischer said it would not be staged in this country again.

"It has toured all over the world and this has been its final outing," he said.

"We have had a really positive reaction to it."

He said people had been bowled over after seeing it.