Shogun, published by Electronic Arts for PC

SPECS: Pentium 233, 32MB RAM, 500MB hard disk space, 4xCD-ROM, 4MB video card

THIS has been a good year for the real-time strategy game. After the somewhat average Tiberian Sun, things have perked up with the thoughtful Battlezone 2, the familiar-but-professional Dark Realm 2 and here we have the finest RTS ever created.

Too often, such games can come down to a frenzy of clicking on the mouse button or do serious damage to your eyesight as you squint to see exactly what is happening in the middle of a melee.

Not with Shogun, which uses simple and elegant controls to ensure a game in which the strategy is never overwhelmed by the action.

The game is divided up into two main sections. First of all, you have the strategic map of Japan, in which you allocate your soldiers to the various regions, decide on the spending priorities of each area and formulate your plans.

You can play out the whole game like this, leaving the computer to resolve the outcome of battles if you prefer, but it would be an awful shame when lurking just a heartbeat away is such a superb and beautiful battle section.

Whereas with many RTS games, you find yourself controlling a plethora of units, whose fitness to continue the good fight is only revealed by a small health bar above the appropriate graphic.

In Shogun, your units are represented by blocks of soldiers, and you can see how they fare by the number that is left. A typical unit will contain up to 60 troops, and you can watch them fight and die for your cause, leaving a battlefield littered with bodies. To thrive in this environment, you will have to master the art of using terrain and different unit types to their best advantage. For example, if you can position your troops at the crest of a hill or the opposite side of a bridge, your opponent will have a great deal more difficulty in taking you on.

Years of effort have gone into this game and you can see where every minute of it has gone. Control of your units is simple and elegant and can come down to just using your mouse, or combining it with keyboard shortcuts to speed things along. Plus, the biggest bugbear of the RTS genre - how fast can you click - is avoided thanks to the simple use of a pause function in which you can issue orders to your units.

Add to that the fact that the whole game is steeped in Japanese history and littered with quotes from the legendary Sun Tzu, the master warrior, and you have a game that has been lovingly crafted to become head and shoulders above its rivals. Not just a game, a masterpiece.

Graphics 4/5

Sound 4/5

Gameplay 5/5

Gamespan 5/5

Overall 5/5

Destruction Derby Raw, published by Sony for PlayStation

ARRIVING with little fanfare for the PlayStation, Destruction Derby Raw is deserving of a lot more attention.

Combining the best of racing titles with the smash-em-up action of demolition derbies has never been an easy task to pull off, but in every way, Destruction Derby hits the mark.

Some races need a little more ability with your racing skills, and some need you to perfect the art of causing a pile-up in order for you to progress, and it's only the racer that can do both who will thrive.

There's a plentiful selection of tracks, which can be raced under a variety of conditions and in reverse, providing quite a range of play. More importantly, this is the kind of game to raise a manic giggle as you send two of your rivals spinning away into walls as you thunder up the field, and there's not a whole host of games that provide that kind of fun.

If Colin McRae, Gran Turismo and the like aren't quite violent enough for you, have a look. You won't be disappointed.

Overall 4/5

Colin McRae Rally 2.0, published by Codemasters for PlayStation

OF course, there's also the very fine Colin McRae as an option, and the current version is out for the PlayStation and winging its way to other platforms in the near future, particularly the Dreamcast and the PC.

This sequel doesn't radically alter the award-winning, best-selling original, but merely refines it to the point of perfection. You can now race side-by-side with computer or player-controlled cars, to add a bit more hustle and bustle, but the campaign action is back to the classic style, with Nicky Grist's instructions talking you through every straight and every corner. This is a true classic, and the programming is reaching the point where the limitations of the PlayStation are beginning to show. For now, though, you'll find no better racing game on the little grey box.

Overall 5/5

Wacky Races, published by Infogrames for Dreamcast

YES, the Wacky Races. You know the old cartoon show, with the likes of Penelope Pitstop, Dastardly and Muttley, Professor Pat Pending, the Anthill Mob.... all of these and more are transplanted from my childhood years into a fine karting title.

If you remember the original show, you'll remember each of the cars had their own special tricks, and even that is faithfully transferred. The Creepy Coop's dragon can flap its wings to take to the air, Penelope can use her hair dryer to provide a speed boost... all sorts of options are available. Better yet, the game can be played by up to four people. It's not perfect. Camera views are sometimes niggly and control is occasionally ponderous.

Overall 4/5

STEPHEN HUNT