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The United States Marine Corps go back a long way. Right back to 1664. Since then they have had, naturally, some very interesting battles. Iwo Jima, for one, the Tet Offensive, for another. What Halls Of Montezuma aims to do, and indeed does quite well, is to recreate some of the more important battles of the USMC, using SSG's now standard Battlefront wargaming system.

For the uninitiated, Battlefront is a system designed for use in one of SSG's earlier attempts (also named Battlefront), probably to take over the over-complicated and extremely user-unfriendly systems adopted in titles such as Carriers At War and Europe Ablaze. It consisted of a series of interlinked branch, decision and single-function menus, with which you could quite easily set up a complicated battle plan whilst still knowing what the hell was going on. It was, in effect, very simple to use and a great success, and was used in further titles such as Russia, Rommel and Battles In Normandy, getting slightly better each time. Another system has been carried through all which the recent SSG release is the Warplan and Warpaint games and graphic designers. These are, in fact, total wargame construction sets, and are, unfortunately for SSI, far superior to the official Wargame Construction Set both in ease of use and flexibility.

As usual you have a choice of one or two players and whether you want to control the Allied (USMC) forces, or the Axis (any enemy) forces. After the usual changing of names and insertion of rude words it's into the main selection menu where you can choose between the basic scenarios that the game has to offer, or any you may have created yourself and would like to try out. The basic scenarios are as follows:

1. Mexico City
   Set in 1844, the allied forces have to fight out a little part of the war between USA and Mexico, the aim being to storm the city and take the Halls of Montezuma.
2. Belleau Wood
   Set in WW1, defend the wood with the cowardly French troops and hold out against the Germans until the US troops arrive, and then batter hell out of the Jerries.
3. Iwo Jima
   Set in 1945, get a large enough beach head, land your troops and take the island by force.
4. Okinowa
   Continuing from Iwo Jima, attack the shuri lane and open the attack on Okinowa.
5. Okinowa 2
   Breach the final assault line and take the country.
6. Pusan
   Set in 1950, you have to first remove the NKPA tropps attacking you, and then take the villages of Sachon and Chinju.
7. Inchon
   Set, once again, in 1950, you've to take the village of Yongdungp'o, clear the main airfield for the marine to land, and get the marines to the North Korean Government House.
8. Hue
   The US troops are now defensive and can do nothing but try and hold the city as the NVA pours in with superior mobility and some very unfair advantages.

As far as graphics and sound go, the game is identical to all the other SSG releases, with large maps made up of joined hexagons, a large, colourful icon depicting terrain, troops or mobilised forces and objectives in each. Sound is made up of basic beeps to signify selection on menus and to let you know that commands are being carried out.

I found Halls Of Montezuma very easy to get into and a dream to play. The scenarios provide some welcome and unexpected challenges, and I can see the basic game lasting me quite a while. Check it out.