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Becoming the 'master of the world/universe/multiverse/bridge club' has always been a popular topic of strategy games. The title of Virgin Mastertronic's latest, Supremacy, just about says it all really.

You play the leader of Epsilon. Your system is linked to four star systems, an alien planet lies at the end of each. This is a convenient way of saying that the game has four levels of difficulty via four different opponents. Wotok, Smine, Krart and Rorn all have increasing amounts of intelligence, aggression, etc. Not surprisingly, you must defeat each alien race in turn to become supreme ruler.

However, there is the little matter of survival before wild thoughts of empire building come into focus. You must raise the population, juggle taxes, monitor morale, initiate food, mineral, fuel and energy production and begin building and training your armed forces.

A variety of spaceships will aid the cause initially. They are divided up into Cargo Cruisers (to ferry supplies from planet to planet), Solar Satelliet Generators (providing energy during planetary orbit to the planet below), Battle Cruisers (the offensive hardware that also makes a handy people-carrier due to its large hold capability), Atmosphere Processors (this god-like mechanism formats a lifeless planet for human habitation), Mining Stations (situated on the planet surface producing minerals and fuel) and Horticultural Stations (situated on the planet surface producting food).

Building armed forces, for example, asks you to select the amount of men allocated in one platoon (200 men max per platoon, 24 platoon max in your army) to be taken from the planet's civilian population. Then you select the quality of your men's body armour and weapons. Obviously, the better the equipment, the more expensive it is. There are many linked factors in Supremacy. For example, drafting men to the army decreases the civilian population and, thus, lowers your tax revenues. However, it also lowers the planet's food intake (soldiers do not eat the planetary food reserves). A case of swings and roundabouts, therefore.

A deficiency of any essential resources (food, energy, etc) results in the lowering of the population due to hardship. Also, disasters can occur. For example, the testing of a new formatting process went wrong on one planet, resulting in a mass slaughter of the planetary population due to nuclear fallout. Other events included the imminent collision of a rampaging comet etc.

Thus, you will find yourself juggling an increasing amount of planets, a larger amount of varying factors and, therefore, more and more problems. The more successful you become, the more difficult the game becomes - and I haven't even mentioned the enemy yet!

Combat is largely an automatic affair; you just sit and watch the events roll in front of you. Attacks on any of your planets had better be met by a resident garrison, otherwise you will have lost a planet in a very short time. Even resident garrisons should be monitored and periodically topped-up as they will be whittled away by attrition. The enemy is a devious and cunning opponent, sometimes hitting your home base, venturing behind enemy lines, and concentrating on your weaker forces.

Graphics are excellent with lots of spot animation and sound effects that add to the atmosphere. The manual is also a credit and the interface is easy to use, utilising icons, and contains a useful tutorial.

Supremacy is as good a game as Electronic Arts' Imperium - for exactly the opposite reasons! It is very easy to get into and play and recommended to beginner and experienced strategists alike. The presentation is glossy and entertaining, the challenge is high and tactical thought is necessary. In fact, any game that can keep me up till five o'clock in the morning has to have something going for it!

Electronic Arts have restructured the prices of many of their well-known adventures and RPGs. Some of them seem to have been reduced pretty quickly, or am I getting old? Relatively recent titles such as Hound Of Shadow, Keef The Thief and Swords Of Twilight have all been reduced to £6.99 on the Amiga. As has the older title - Bard's Tale II which is also available for the C64 for the princely sum of £2.99. They represent a good way for beginners to quickly build a mini-collection of software. Watch out for the 'Star Performer' badge stuck on the corner of the box.