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Decision In The Desert allows the player to fight desert battles of World War II in "accelerated real time".

Like so many of the recent wargames, Decision In The Desert suffers from a couple of basic faults. Despite the extensive background information made available to the player in the rules booklet, unless you're a tactical historian, you won't be able to make head nor tail of the situation presented on the screen. The 'overview' option, available in all games of this type, does little to improve the player's perception of where his forces are and what he should be doing with them.

Graphics-wise, the game offers two different types of screen display - icons and symbols. The icon option shows fairly well-designed pictures of tanks, trucks, infantrymen and so on. The symbols are the basic tactical signs used in 'real' wargames of this type - which means that you must be either very familiar with the system, or you must refer to the rulebook every other move.

The method of controlling the player's forces is simple. A cursor placed over the designated unit (There is a joystick option) displays firstly name and type of the unit (4th Armoured Division for example), the unit's strength and troop experience level (Green, veteran, etc) and its level of effectiveness as a percentage. The next level down lists a table of options for that unit - Move, Attack, Defend, Reserve, and the prompts are simple and easy to understand.

But what makes this game different to many of those currently on the market is that it is not played in game turns. All the time the players are giving instructions, the units are carrying out their orders, engaging in combat and taking losses. This means that if you're playing against the computer, you are continually in action, rather than waiting for the opponent to move. The speed of the "accelerated real time" can be altered, but even at the Slow setting, there is a lot happening on the screen at any one time.

In the two-player version, the division of time at the keyboard is left to the players' discretion - which could lead to some interesting arguments, to say the least! However, this is obviated by a delay between giving orders to a unit and that unit actually carrying them out, which should dispose of arguments like "but I was going to move the 7th Tanks Corps out of there! Honest!"

The screen scrolls in a standard manner, but in at least one of the scenarios (Gazala - The Cauldron), it hardly seemed worthwhile. The entire battle takes place on just over a screen and a half of playing area.

If you're a fanatical wargamer looking for a wealth of historical accuracy and detail, this is the game for you. If you want an enjoyable, short wargame which gives you the feeling that you are on top of the simulation, knowing what's happening and able to direct your units with a minimum of fuss then you may not be entirely satisfied.