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Ever fancied yourself as a grasping landlord? Well, Country Cottages is just the program for giving vent to your venal impulses. You will need a partner and at least half an hour to play this game.

You and your opponent start off without hard cash - just a loan from a friendly bank manager. The first thing to do is to choose the length of the game which is done by entering a target amount of money; the first one to reach it wins.

Next the two players take it in turns to buy, sell and rent out cottages. A property is described and shown in hi-res graphics on the screen, and the players bid against each other until the price goes too high for one of them. Supposedly, the program holds thousands of different cottages, but in fact they are all variations of the same cottage and background.

After purchasing a cottage you can rent it out by advertising the cottage and your chosen monthly rental. Humorously-named people then come to rent the cottages. Other game options include selling cottages, adjusting rent and viewing the state of your bank balances. Hazards include cottages being burgled or catching fire - they may even suffer damage from thunderstorms!

When a player reaches the target figure which was set at the start of the game, he/she has won. The instructions say that the winner will be, 'justly rewarded for their victory'. What you get is a corny message in red lettering.

Country Cottages is a fairly standard property management game. It is simple to play and neatly presented, although not the most sophisticated game of its kind. If you are looking for a fun game to play with family, this will keep you occupied for a while.

I have to admit to a sneaking enjoyment of strategy games. The trouble is that bad strategy games are easy to program and good ones are hard to find. Country Cottages isn't exactly at the top of the league, but it's very nicely presented and I found playing it quite a laugh.

I have serious doubts about its long-term interest, but I suppose it's the sort of game you can always bring out when you've got friends round who haven't seen it before. After all, it's pretty simple stuff and doesn't need a degree in joystick control to play.

I'm not sure who's likely to buy this particular game. The only strategy type game that has sold really well is Football Manager from Addictive Games.

Country Cottages may have graphics (quite good ones at that!) but the options are extremely limited and I can't see many people playing for a long time.

Strategy games need a certain degree of complexity to hold one's attention, and Country Cottages is really a bit too simplistic.