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What have the Romans ever given us, eh? OK, apart from roads, a sewerage system, law, order and Pavarotti. Well, they also gave us the legend of the Caesars and one of the most powerful armed forces the world has ever seen. Now it's your chance to relive the might of the Roman legions, thanks to Impressions' new war game simulation, Cohort 2.

Cohort 2 goes over the same familiar territory explored in its predecessor, Cohort. The game takes place during a 400 year period - 200BC to 200AD - when Rome's powers were at their peak. You play the Blue Army and can choose to be either a Roman or Barbarian force. You can also choose to make your opponents - the Red Army - Roman or Barbarian as well.

At the start of play you're presented with a series of menus which enables you to choose your battle group's attributes and the kind of terrain they're going to fight over. Your battle group is divided into a series of different units - light to heavy infantry, light to heavy cavalry and archers.

Each unit has very distinct characteristics associated with it. For example, the light cavalry is ideal for "hit and run" charges against enemy positions, but is less able to cope with sustained hand-to-hand combat with a heavily-armoured enemy. Similarly, the archers are good for arm's length attacks on your opponents, but are practically useless at close quarters. A heavy infantry unit, meanwhile, is great for sustained assaults, but is easily outpaced and over-run by enemy cavalry.

The effectiveness of any fighting force is directly correlated to the terrain it is placed on and Cohort 2 enables you to choose from eight different terrain types - open field, bridge, cliff, hill, marsh, downs, undergrowth and forest. Obviously an open field enables you to use your forces to their best advantage, but makes them vulnerable to attack from enemy cavalry charges and incoming arrows from archers. Other types of terrain like the forest means it's virtually impossible for certain unit formations to advance without splitting up into smaller groups which are easily picked off by your opponents. All in all, Cohort 2 contains up to nineteen different scenarios with a variety of troop units and terrain, or you can create your own using the simple point-and-click menu system.

Once you've chosen the scenario you want to play, things start to get a little more complicated. Your forces are placed in formation on an overview map which enables you to see both friendly and enemy positions. To view the opposing forces in more detail, simply click the left mouse button to zoom in on a particular unit - this has the advantage of enabling you to decide which of your units is going to attack a particular section of the enemy's forces, given the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

You can now select one of your units or groups to wade in and start separating heads from necks with all the aplomb of a footy hooligan on an away day to Milwall. The actual battle is viewed in 2D perspective with your troops charging the bad guys and generally waving their swords and arrows around a lot. You move to different battlefield locations via the keyboard, and select a different unit by either clicking on it in the battlefield or overview map or by clicking on the Unit Selection window contained in the menu bar at the bottom of the screen.

The big problem with Cohort 2 is the same problem suffered by its predecessor. Once you've picked your troops, done a spot of battle and strategy planning and unleached your forces on the barbarian hordes, there's actually very little for you to do. OK, so you have to keep your casualties under check and move your units around occasionally, but apart from that it's time to sit back and let your ST sort it all out for you.

Sadly, you can't even marvel at the glorious graphics because the backdrops are dark and uninspiring while the sprites move around in that jerky, slow-motion style usually associated with hiccuping tortoises.

The click-and-point controls are also quite unresponsive and it usually takes a couple of attempts at selecting something before your ST realises what you're trying to do. The sound effects are little better, mainly consisting of samples of galloping needles and clashing steel - there are no shrieks or blood-curdling screams, so the game comes across as evocative rather than atmospheric.

Despite these shortcomings, Cohort 2 is actually quite involving. You do really start to care how your forces are getting on and it can be pretty hard to swallow the bitter pill of defeat - remember history is written by the victorious, not the vanquished.

Cohort 2 is an involving, but complicated, war game which is unfortunately let down by its graphics and control mechanism.

The basic premise is sound, with plenty of battle planning and strategy if you're to have any chance to success, but the graphics are so manky it's difficult to see what's going once the melee is underway, and the tricky controls make getting around the battlefield a real pain.

1. Cohort 2 is an involving war game with a good combination of strategy and action.

1. The animation during the battle sequences is jerky and a little slow.