Dom Robinson reviews

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Price: £29.99 Players: 1 It's time to build a little 'army of me' in Conflict Zone as the Command and Conquer-style game reaches the Dreamcast, albeit rather belatedly. Set in 2010, the government probably still haven't turned off the UK's analogue TV signal, but in more pressing matters the world's countries have been split into those ruled either by the ICP (International Corps for Peace), or the renegade outlets known as GHOST, a secret organisation who want it all and they want it now, except for their morals. Choose to be an ICP member and you'll have the better technology, but be restricted by what the media thinks of you, whereas being part of the GHOST movement will play down your weaponry allocations but you could convert a larger percentage of the population over to your cause. That's obviously because being bad can feel pretty good :)

Like a violent version of Little Computer People, the idea is to build up your arsenal of tanks, infantry as well as building bases for your men. As soon as you do this, so do the enemies move in. The graphics are actually quite sparsely done, in one sense, since they're quite simple and don't have a great deal of definition to them unless you zoom in closely (which also increases the sound FX volume), but it's a game of two halves. There's a huge expanse of terrain upon which to lay your outposts and begin the melee, while at the same time if there's too much on screen at once then it can slow down considerably and when tanks are defeated, they don't appear to be blasted into smithereens, but spin around and shrink into the ground like Fenella, the wicked witch from Spout Hall in Chorlton and the Wheelies. Those who know me will know that I'm not the world's greatest C&C-style game fan and Conflict Zone won't change my opinion on that, but for the strategy-obsessed amongst you the 32 missions may take your mind off the fact that it's summer outdoors and that girls exist.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.