TAKING a real-time strategy game to a new dimension is never easy.

Most games companies bid for bigger and bolder, but Battle Realms succeeds because it goes the other way.

Here, you will control just a handful of units as you try to steer your Japanese clan to victory over its ancient rivals.

There's not a huge number of buildings in the game, but your units can be trained at different ones to create different units.

A dojo can train a spearman, and a target range can train an archer, but train a unit at both and you wind up with a fierce Dragon Warrior.

You progress by gaining Yin and Yang through either conquest or construction, and these unlock new abilities for your troops.

Add in a neat little multiplayer game and you have a real surprise package which could only benefit from a little more control over your units in combat, perhaps allowing you to pre-define set groups that you could select at any time.

Graphics: 3/5

Sound: 4/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Gamespan: 3/5

Overall: 4/5

SPECS: Pentium 400, 64MB RAM, 16MB graphics card, 4xCD-ROM, 500MB hard drive space