Based on an early demo version Dark Colony is not quite just another Command and Conquer clone. This is 1997 after all, so as you might expect the state of the art here has advanced a bit. You can set waypoints for your units, and terrain actually has an effect now instead of just making the maps pretty. You don't automagically see whatever is on the parts of the map you have explored either any more – you have to have a unit in the neighborhood. The biggest novelty is that you are fighting on Mars (though not the planet NASA would be familiar with) against aliens with "bio-weapons" instead of your tanks. Unfortunately, the differences are only skin-deep. You're mining Petra-7 instead of Tiberium, and instead of firing heavy artillery at you the alien "Atril" has a regenerating explosive mucus sac. But while it looks a lot better in SVGA and the aliens bleed and die in gruesomely explicit ways it doesn't really feel any different. Not a bad try, but not really innovative enough to stay ahead of the competition.

Rating: 70/100

It gives me a stabbing pain like a legionnaire's sword in my kidneys to say it, but Microsoft has come up with a pretty impressive Civilization/ Command and Conquer hybrid here. As its name suggests, Age of Empires limits itself to the classical "ages of man" – Stone, tool, bronze and iron – so you can't use F-14s to sink your opponents' triremes. That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of units to choose from, from axemen to war elephants. And instead of looking like units, your warriors look like people - when your cavalry moves it really gallops instead of just sliding about. If you love setting up elaborate lines of communication this isn't the game for you (which is just as well as it's a pretty sad way to spend your time). You don't have to move your food, gold, stone or wood around, it just magically appears where it is needed by the workmen - there are priests in the game who perform limited magic, so perhaps that explains it. There's the usual wide variety of multi-player options (though internet play with more than two people can be jerky) and since everything is loosely based on real ancient civilizations you might even learn something. Go ahead – make Bill Gates a few quid richer. You know you want to.

Rating: 90/100