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The sun is rising, the exotic foilage waves slightly in the breeze and you can just hear the faint screaming of a servant being whipped because breakfast is late again. Champion Of The Raj conjures up that colonial Victorian atmosphere and gives you the chance to become an oppressive dictator for a couple of hours.

You aim to become the ultimate ruler of India by taking over all of its various states. Up to six players may take part and the character you choose determines how difficult the game is going to be - the Viceroy of the British East India Company is the easiest character to start with for example.

The main map shows you the areas you must cover - how you conquer them is up to you. You could try the diplomatic approach for example - simply talk to the leader and hope he invites you to a sporting event in which you can show how wonderful you are. But for this to succeed you must have a high enough status. If it's running very low you can try and hold a Durbah, or parade, to impress the other eaders. This can boost your status no end.

If diplomacy doesn't appeal, try brute force. Your troops should outnumber the enemy by at least two to one, but if you haven't got enough manpower then hire some more. They're very expensive, but it's worth it in the long run. And remember, you must have enough gold at the end of the turn to pay your army. Otherwise you could have a rebellion.

Most of the game is icon-controlled but occasionally you're plunged into an arcade subgame, so you also need arcade skills to win.

The graphics in Champion Of The Raj are colourful and reflect the "exotic" image of India. Most of them are well drawn and detailed but some of the sprites in the arcade sections are a bit unrealistic. The little animation there is tends to be on the slow side - in fact the whole game is marred by this sluggish feel. The cursor isn't very fast either.

The manual recommends that you try and play Raj on a 1MByte machine for a faster game, but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Sound consists of a warbling (allegedly) Indian tune and some sparse spot effects - nothing to really gasp over.

Although, at first, Champion Of The Raj seems complicated to play, you soon come to realise it's a doddle to get to grips with - even to the point of being too simple. In the end it comes down to attacking a state, visiting a sporting event to bump up your status and building up your dosh. On the easiest level, it's possible to win the game by just using your forces.

For all its simplicity, though, it's a very enjoyable game to play. The arcade elements aren't incongruous and provide a welcome break - they aren't too taxing either. The downside is the disk accessing time. Fine if you have a hard drive, but from floppy it's a nightmare. As a result, long term interest is in doubt unless you are willing to play the same game through all the difficulty levels available. Overall then, Raj is good fun while it lasts - assuming you're not worried about shooting tigers, whipping servants and killing even more Nepalese...