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New from Rainbow Arts comes another animated strategy game, similar to previous offerings Joan Of Arc and Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Set in the 7th century, in what's now Iraq, the game takes place in the fictitious empire of Khalaan.

The rule of this great land was divided between four powerful caliphs known as Abu Bahr, Utman, Umar and Ali. None are content with partial rule and these is conflict between their armies.

A wise sage then tells of the coming of an alien intruder and maintains that only the caliph who destroys it can rightfully be called the Grand Caliph of Khalaan.

You take the role of a caliph and build armies to extend your rule and outdo the others. When you have enough strength, you can attack the alien intruder and its army. Defeat him and the other caliphs bow down before you.

To do this, you move your armies toward enemies or independent fortresses and attack them. Destroying another army causes great financial problems for an opposing caliph, and provides you with extra income and resources. Raising the army is a simple matter of clicking on the caliphate (a kind of castle) icon and selecting "military" from the menu. You can build or disband armies, group them together, supply them, or make them attack of defend nearby objects.

If you choose "raise" you're presented with a screen enabling you to designate the number of archers and infantry in your army and allocate resources to them. If you don't give them enough grub or cash, they disband after a few miles of trudging, so it's wise to note how much they need.

All armies use a lot of resources until you get them to a fortress where they can trade cash for caravans. Then they move faster and consume less.

If your army meets an enemy-controlled army, a battle usually results. The screen switches to an arcade-action scene with a digitised picture of an attacking figure armed with a scimitar. He attempts to slash you to bits and you respond, if you have any sense, by blocking his shots and returning your own. Defeat him and your army is victorious: lose and your army is dog food.

You also enter an arcade sequence when attacking a fortress. Fire at the figures rushing out and dodge their fatal arrows. If you make it inside, you're confronted with another digitised screen showing the inside of the fortress. Move left to right, hacking at the defending guards. If you can defeat them the fortress is yours for the taking.

You can also send spies to opposing caliphs to corrupt their armies, steal valuables and find out the strength of their fortresses. Unfortunately, spies cost a lot of money and can't be trusted to stay on your side.

The most important item in the game is a magic lamp - well worth sending a spy to steal. The lamp can bring prosperity, plague, immobility or invincibility, to the caliph of your choice, providing you have it in your possession. Without it you're at the mercy of another caliph who can use it against you. Its effects last for a month of game time and this could mean that your army is rooted to the spot for that period, effectively preventing you from doing anything to improve your position.

Khalaan features a large number of neatly retouched digitised pictures, but the main control screen is not well-drawn and the digitised cameos don't sit comfortably on the background colours. Animation of army movement is slow and occasionally interrupted by reports of enemy activity, which can be confusing because the screen jumps to that area of the map.

Music is tedious, featuring the most depressing Turkish Delight tune you've ever heard. It's like The Cure meets Rolf Harris's Stylophone, but much worse. Luckily you can switch it off and listen to the clear sampled in-game effects.

Khalaan has the same problems as its earlier (and better) stablemates, namely slow graphic animation and very poor mouse/joystick-reading. The digitised action sequences lift what would have been a bland strategy game into something that's sporadically fun to play and good to look at.

Unfortunately the poor translation of (presumably) German into something vaguely resembling English leaves you scratching your head at the mis-spellings and odd sentence constructions. It takes a while to figure out that extradition really means surrender (as far as the game's concerned).

If you enjoy Eastern exoticism, were brought up on Arabian Nights, and want to play Islamic versions of Defender Of The Crown, then Khalaan will satisfy your every desire. But if you enjoy aborbing action and a visual feast you're much better off watching matinee re-runs of Lawrence Of Arabia.