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Having joined up to serve King and Country in the newly-formed Royal Air Force, you are one of many trying to strive for glory in the skies against the Hun in the Great War - and with such names as Richtoffen and Rickenbacker to contend with, yours is not an easy task.

You have the choice of whether or not to tackle any of these airborne warriors, utilising any aircraft at your disposal (including those of the enemy), but if you feel that you're not yet up to the strain of engaging such aces in solo combat, you have the option of choosing an aircraft from the twenty available, just to practise flight skills.

Once suitably prepared, you may begin your career as a pilot properly, with the goal of surviving the war, and having the best record of enemy kills of any pilot - on either side.

Daily mission assignments give you the chance to fly out into enemy territory, down a few enemy kites - after five, you receive the title of Ace, and in order to be the best, the Ace of Aces, you've got to beat the best - and continuous following of orders will mean an increase in rank, and the eventual command over your own squadron!

Dinner parties, newspaper articles and gossip at the local pub will reveal information as to where enemy Aces are based, and therefore where to engage them. The reverse is also true - jealous German pilots will do their best to locate you, and end your career double-quick.

Flying your crate is no easy thing, as certain aircraft only have a limited flight ceiling, and trying to gain altitude to quick can end up in a rather nasty lack of power to the propellers, resulting in the plane stalling and you taking a nosedive into the dirt! Firing the machine gun's not just a case of aim and shoot, either - it has a rather nasty tendency to get jammed, but a quick thump usually fixes it!

The better you are, the better plane you get - but just remember, the Bosche kites are just as good, if not better, so in the end, it boils down to just one thing - how good a pilot you really are...

I'm a bit fussy when it comes to flight sims, but MicroProse have this tendency to deliver the goods every time, and this is no exception. Knights Of The Sky is a sort of antique F-15 Strike Eagle II, and everything from the 3D graphics to the storyline itself gives the impression that more than the usual amount of care and attention given to MicroProse games has been put into this.

And, quite frankly, it's got to rank as one of the best flight sims yet - apart from one thing; you really need a fast PC (anything less than 12MHz just won't cut the cheese, as the plane suddenly becomes rather uncontrollable) with EGA or VGA graphics - all of which costs a lot of bread before you even consider the game's rather hefty price tag.

Knights has a lot of nice touches which all combine to create a great atmosphere which you can really get into. Overall, this is an excellent flight-sim with loads of options, and which is exciting to play.

It may be a bit expensive, but if you have a sufficiently powerful machine, this certainly merits your attention.