Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars

SK2 is an RTS which plunges the player into a fictitious world where humans battle it out with a race called the Fryhtans, whose main goal in life is to subjugate the whole of humanity.

You have the chance to take control of one of 12 human tribes (Romans, Egyptians and so on) or, if you're feeling evil, the Fryhtans themselves, and you can play in campaign, single game, scenario or multiplayer mode. After making these choices, it's off to the battlefield. The game itself is incredibly detailed and, if you're patient enough to handle it, SK2 can be a relatively rewarding experience, often reminiscent of Civilization. Your empire's economy, happiness, army, diplomacy and trade are all in your hands - a task that's made all the more difficult when you're surrounded by enemies who want to wipe you out. New weapons and technologies must be researched before they can be built, and there's far more emphasis on espionage and counter espionage this time around.

But the complexity of SK2can be intimidating and there's a danger that even the easiest of the five difficulty settings could make newcomers feel disillusioned and quickly give up the ghost.

Graphically, the game is a major improvement over its predecessor, using high resolutions and well-drawn sprites, but the sound effects are a bit lame -especially during combat. The AI is generally well implemented, but sometimes erratic.

One of the greatest disappointments is the lack of any real storyline. There's no excitement about seeing what happens next, and no desire to complete a tedious mission to see where it will lead. Seven Kingdoms 2 will certainly appeal to fanatics of strategy and resource management, but it's neither enticing nor entertaining enough to recommend to anyone else.