Battle Realms (UbiSoft, PC, MA15+)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * * * * )

Real-time strategy games are winners. No doubt those classics Age of Empires and Red Alert turned up in lots of Christmas stockings despite being a bit long in the tooth.

If you've some spare festive cash, Battle Realms is worth a look.

ItÕs a classic RTS where you gather resources, build units and try to destroy your opponents, but it manages to add a new dimension to this sort of game.

Battle Realms borrows heavily from Japanese mythology, and kung fu. Samurai warriors, even Geisha girls, have combat roles.

The game also has a strong focus on economic management, where the peasants' bond with the land is all-important. Peasants are the sole starting unit and can be trained in the military arts only when they have stored a surplus of rice.

From there, they can become swordsmen, cannoneers, bandits who rob corpses, Samurai warriors, all the way up to Zen masters who inspire heroic deeds from their followers.

Success earns yin and yang points, which allow your units to acquire destructive new weapons and magic powers.

There are four warring clans - the Wolf, Dragon, Serpent and Lotus, who all have different philosophies and strengths. The Wolf Clan, for example, hold shamanistic beliefs and seek only the return of their land, while the Lotus Clan is a corrupt grouping of necromancers.

peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz