US Tanks advance through the desert in Combat Mission: Afrika Corps. Players can fight their way through more than 70 battles. Superior strategy is the conclusive factor in the historically-based missions, where the outcome of the war could be decided all over again

Combat Mission: Afrika Corps
Battlefront
http://www.battlefront.com

Battlefront studios continue to dominate the niche wargame market with the third iteration of the amazingly successful Combat Mission franchise. Combat Mission Afrika Korps (CMAK) is a rebuild of 2002's "Wargame of the Year" Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin.

A new terrain and equipment set coupled with some minor tweaks to what was already a great program have given Battlefront's patented simultaneous-turn-based game a new lease of life.

Importantly, CMAK is the first game in the series to have a fair bit of Anzac action out of the box.

Several of the major engagements between 9th Division and their Italian/German foes feature within the more than 70 battles and operations on offer in the game.

Kiwis also feature heavily, particularly in the several scenarios based on Crete.

Players will fight their way through the Mediterranean from July 1940 through to the capitulation of Italy in 1943.

Along the way they can use more than 700 vehicle/equipment types, soldiers from more than 10 countries and specialist units rarely wargamed before.

A highlight here is the British "Jock Columns" that ranged well forward of allied lines using the great manoeuvre opportunities of the desert to deliver lightening strikes against enemy convoys and installations.

Although strategically insignificant, the tactical effect of a column of light tanks tearing over the dunes onto an unsuspecting Italian checkpoint was significant.

Unfortunately, out of the box there is no option to range around as one of David Stirling's SAS patrols or the upgunned Chevy LRDG trucks.

Thankfully however, the vehicle set is available and it will not be long before some of Stirling's more famous raids appear on the Internet.

While 70 battles seem a hell of a lot to get through, Battlefront have also included a brilliant, if somewhat technical, battle maker to allow users of the game to build everything from a quick battle on a prepared terrain set through to a full operation making everything from scratch.

Since installing CMAK I have played through several single-player scenarios, but to be honest, the real joy in this game is the PBEM facility.

I find myself longing for an e-mail from my opponent each day to see what the next 60-seconds of combat will bring.

At the time of writing I am doggedly attacking Trig 29 outside El Alamein with a mixed force of Australian armour and infantry.

My opponent is well dug in and applying far too much of a manoeuvrist approach to defence of a lump in the desert than should be expected from a RAEME officer, but it is early days yet.

Historically the Aussies won and survived the following counterattack so if Marty ends up beating me I'll just claim he cheated.

CMAK is only available from the Battlefront website for US$45 including postage to Australia. It can be bought as a PC or MAC OS 8.3-9.XX version.

Everything you'd expect to see in a comic book you'll find in XIII, even the "arghhh", "bang", and "biff" In XIII, you have to be prepared to use anything you can get your hands on as a weapon or to shield you from bullets

XIII
Ubi Soft Entertainment
http://www.XIII-THEGAME.com
Available on Xbox, PS2, GameCube and PC

Transition from the hallowed pages of cult comics to other media has always been fraught with danger.

For every Spiderman movie there are 10 Daredevils and in gaming it is even worse.

Recent comic adaptations from Hulk to Superman, Robotech and even good ol' Spidey himself have, in a word ... sucked.

Given this track record, XIII is a ground-breaking product in more ways than one.

First, and most importantly, the game is immensely playable and sits at a level of excellence unrivalled by most first-person shooters.

Second, the game has managed to stay true to its comic roots through several important factors, not the least of which is having the comic's creator on the development team for the game.

But even if you are unfamiliar with XIII's printed form (like me), the use of cell-shading technology, windowed story boxes and great cutscenes instantly transport the player into a world of hired assassins, government conspiracies and dead presidents.

XIII looks like a comic, has a twisting comic storyline, but takes it one step further in that you are completely drawn into its crazy world.

From the very first scene when a Pammy Anderson Baywatch stuntdouble was riddled with 7.62mm rounds in front of me and I was fighting my way out using knives, chairs, ash trays and eventually, an increasingly lethal array of personal weaponry, I was completely hooked on XIII.

In true cult-comic fashion, a player has no idea who they are, why everyone seems to want them dead and what this stupid tattoo is on their shoulder and must uncover events throughout the game, culminating in working out who assassinated the president.

It's a mix of X-Files and Max Payne that has come together exceedingly well and, on any platform, is very playable.

The XBox version includes the option to play the standard array of FPS deathmatch and co-operative games on XBox Live.

Fight through the skies in the apocalyptic alternate history of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge This is no simulation; action is what it's all about

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Microsoft Games
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/crimsonskies/

Back in 2000, Microsoft unveiled a PC game that took the basic principles of flight, some big guns and a distinctly dodgy Western-influences storyline and created the instant classic, Crimson Skies.

At the time most reviewers commented that it would make a great console game.

It took more than three years but Microsoft have been able to incorporate the XBox's processing grunt and an updated storyline into one of the great console games of the year.

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge lets players reprise the role of Nathan Zachary; sky pirate, flying ace and ladies man.

Nathan and a fellow band of pirates fly and fight their way across a frontier America, dominated not by railroads and wagon trains, but planes and Zeppelins.

It is an alternate history that allows a fair bit of creativity among aircraft design and performance parameters, but the game's environment and storyline is so well done that suspending disbelief is easily achieved.

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge puts players in the cockpit of some fantastic looking aircraft, armed with a mixture of guns and rockets and taking on hordes of rival pirates to achieve set missions.

Some missions have players jumping from the cockpit of their aircraft to ground-based anti-aircraft guns to Zeppelin-based guns and back into their planes again and can last for a very long time.

Along the way there is the opportunity to earn money and bonuses that allow the upgrade of aircraft performance and weapon systems.

It is compatible with XBox Live and Microsoft has already offered new planes and terrain for download via the service.

I loved the original and this console version is no different. It is unique enough that those who played through the PC game will still find value and of such quality that XBox owners should add it to their "want" list.

Competition
We have a copy of Combat Mission: Afrika Korps (PC), XIII (XBox) and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) up for grabs this edition.

Entries should be e-mailed to ADFgamesmen@telstra.com with the name of the game you would like to win in the subject line.

Only one entry per person, subsequent entries will be discarded.

Please include your full name and mailing address in the e-mail or your entry won't be accepted.

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