192: Dam Fine Show; Microsoft bounce back from terrorist accusations with Guy Gibson's buster brigade.

Byline: Bob Low

THE DAM BUSTERS

PC

MICROSOFT'S excellent flight sim took a severe knock this time last year in the wake of 9/11, when it was accused of being used as a teaching aid for the terrorists.

On another occasion, an accusation of being accurate enough to be a training aid would have been good publicity. In this case, the game came off the shelves, fast.

Now it is back, with what hopefully is an expansion pack no-one can claim is being used by terrorists - unless they plan to steal a WW2 Lancaster bomber.

This add-on celebrates the exploits of 617 Squadron - now based at Lossiemouth, incidentally - during WW2.

Strangely, this isn't released to commemorate the actual dam- busting raids, which took place in May, 1943, but the game is brilliant and a change from stooging a Cessna round San Francisco, or trying to land a 747 at Tokyo. Much like Barnes Wallis' bouncing bomb itself, a lot of technical work went in to achieve the level of realistic bomb bounce.

A first in flight simulation, getting that technology right makes the game - and that particular raid becomes a spooky experience, although you also get the Grand Slam bombs for blowing up concrete U-boat pens.

You can really get the feel of flying a heavy Lancaster bomber, 60 feet above the water in the dark of night, flak all around, focusing on those twin spotlights that let you know where the ground is.

You also get the 617 Squadron raids after May 1943 - the sinking of the Tirpitz, raids on V1 & V2 rocket sites, Bergen U- boat pens and one on Hitler's Eagle's Nest. There are 19 missions and half the time you will simply want to sit and stare out of the cockpit at the sheer spectacle of Lancasters flying in formation with you, take in the amazing scenery and listen to the roar of the Merlin engines.

The graphics are amazing, as you'd expect from this - the cockpit details and the flight engine are as accurate a representaion of flying a bomb- laden Lancaster as you will get these days.

The scenery is, as always spot-on for accuracy and the level of detail is excellent - you could fly over the fjords of Norway today and use the flight sim map to navigate.

If you ever wanted to be Guy Gibson, hero of the Dam Buster raids, this is your chance.

I am just glad they didn't got for the full level of realism and include his dog, otherwise they'd be back in all sorts of trouble.

MACE GRIFFIN: BOUNTY HUNTER 

PC

THIS is Bullitt meets Star Wars, an action game combining space combat with hunting down the bad guys and bringing them to justice.

You play Mr Griffin, a man whose first name hardly foments trust and comradeship. Framed and sent to prison, Mace gets out and starts tracking dowen the bad guys, funding it by bounty-hunting.

That's a little more involved than bringing in bail jumpers. Destroying massive space stations, stopping rustlers from stealing alien supercattle,

sabotage organisations, salvaging smuggled technology and protecting crime lords are just some of the tasks.

It's a blockbuster movie of a game, but only in a Waterworld sense. The graphics are fair and the interface lets you pilot six different ships, from alien fighters to massive carriers.

Best of all, the AI lets all the people you meet act naturally - insult or attack them and you'll get nothing but a sore face and no information.

It can be as fast and furious as you want, but in the end you don't care enough about Mace or his endless quest to keep on going to the end.

GLADIATOR: THE GALACTIC CIRCUS

IT'S tempting to bodyswerve this from the title, thinking it's a Russell Crowe rip-off, but that isn't the case.

There are good reasons for giving this a thumbs-down, but they have nothing to do with Mr Crowe.

This has nothing to do with swords, sandals or Romans. Instead, it's on an alien planet, where the premier form of entertainment is a gladiatorial arena called the Deathbowl.

For some unknown reason a US Marine major called Callahan, through an unlikely series of events involving a secret space shuttle, a black hole and an evil robotic space commander, finds himself fighting in the Deathbowl to save the future of the Galactic Empire.

Yes, I know - rubbish plot. Happily, the game turns out to be an RTS without all the annoying build functions. Missions take place across palm- spotted deserts, steamy jungles, mountains and islands.

Colourful and clever, it breathes life into a truly stagnant genre.

REVIEW: CONFLICT: DESERT STORM - PCHHHII REVIEW: CONFLICT: DESERT STORM - PC

NOW we know where the SAS retire to - the games industry. Conflict: Desert Wars (see right) has Cameron Spence and now Codemasters has snapped up SAS hero Chris Ryan for their stealth-based first-person shooter IGI 2: Covert Strike, due out next month.

Chris, part of the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero and now the author of nine best selling books, will help on the accuracy of the game's arsenal of weaponry and how covert tactics can be applied to gameplay.

Can't wait? Kill Saddam here

ACCORDING to ex-SAS commando Cameron Spence, this is "as good as it gets". Leaving aside the fact that the highly- trained military elite are fiddling with games like this in the slack time between topping terrorists, you have to ask: "as good as WHAT gets?" The real thing? The virtually real thing?

Of all the sudden explosion of first- person kill-the-terrorist games that hit the market post 9/11, this retelling of the original Gulf War is the one most blatantly a promotional video on behalf of the US and British forces about to re- run the event for real. And I thought The Sum Of All Fears was as bad as propoganda could get. As you might expect, though, the technology is top. Utilising a next generation 3D engine, you get a team of four special forces soldiers, each with their own skills and abilities.

Switch quickly between each soldier or move them as a group as you engage in fast and deadly combat during the Gulf War. In that, it is very Ghost Recon, as is the increased experience as the missions progress.

Good, high quality stuff, which sits well with all the other games in this genre currently lining up on parade.

TOP TEN on all formats

1 TOCA Race Driver (PS2)

2 GTA 3 (PS2)

3 Medieval: Total War (PC)

4 Vampire Night & Gun (PS2)

5 Gran Turismo Concept(PS2)

6 MOH (PS2)

7 Max Payne (PC)

8 Pro-Evolution Soccer (PS2)

9 LMA Manager 2002 (PS2)

10 PoW (PS2)