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Everyone's heard about the Vietnam War, but few people know what it was really like. Neil Jackson enlists in the Lost Patrol and finds out - the hard way

Picture this: you've been in the jungles of Vietnam for the last six months, you haven't heard from your girl the whole time and you've probably got footrot from the constant tramping. You're lucky to be alive, but you feel more like the Undead. Your only reprieve comes when you finally get R-'n-R in Saigon, capital of South Vietnam and home to the myriad vices that Grunts and Fly-boys need for morale-boosting purposes.

However, fate deals you a nasty blow when the chopper returning you to the warzone gets shot down. You and six other Grunts are lost somewhere in the inhospitable highlands, with limited rations and several thousand Viet Cong looking to nail your ass. The nearest US base is at Du Hoc, roughly 60 miles away across booby-trapped, enemy-infested terrain. And to top it all, some of your platoon are badly wounded, all thanks to the crash.

For the most part, Lost Patrol centres on a large, two screens wide map of the surrounding countryside. On the far left is the crash site, while on the right you find Du Hoc, your eventual target. Below the map is an information window where events are relayed to you as text, before animation sequences or sub-games are loaded.

There's a compass indicator which you use to direct your team across the map, simply by clicking on the required direction. Clicking on the centre of the compass changes the patrol's walking speed, from Cautious to Double March. Each speed has a different effect on the patrol's morale, stamina and level of fatigue.

When you issue orders to march, a small market on the map moves in the appropriate direction. Occasionally, a picture or short, cameo-style animation sequence loads, showing your team wading across a river or yomping down a hillside. These sequences can be switched off if you prefer to keep the action constant.

After a few moves, you're bound to stumble on the enemy in one form or another. The relevant sub-game loads and you must then choose the most appropriate member of your team to deal with the problem. Some are better at certain skills than others and you need to use your best resource at all times - provided he's not dead already!

You may also come across minefields which require painstaking care and alertness to cross. Crawling on your hands and knees searching for detonators looks easy, but you can soon find yourself trapped, mid-field, with no obvious way of escape. It's a bit like a maze with explosive walls!

You may also meet indigenous peasants and have an opportunity to "interview" them. This can take the form of pleasant questioning, or the much-feared "bullet-through-the-head-loosens-the-jaw" method, depending on your lack of control at the time. Using a system of menus, it's possible to get villagers to warn you of patrols ahead, but more often than not they keep shtum and land you in deep - er, trouble.

You are well advised to search for food and ammo at every location, since your supplies are unlikely to see you through to the end. There's a system of sub-menus in the information window which you use to carry out this operation, as well as issuing orders to rest, sleep or lay traps for following VC patrols. If you're lucky and cautious, you might just make it to Du Hoc in one piece, but you are far more likely to get wasted before the half-way mark.

Lost Patrol features a wealth of interesting and atmospheric graphics which enhance your journey without making the conflict seem cheap or twee. Some are hand-drawn pictures which show the patrol moving around, others are digitised sequences, with smooth animation, showing real Vietnam action taken from authentic newsreels.

The music has a definite oriental flavour. It's surprisingly good and doesn't detract at all from the game. It can be switched off, but the game is actually less atmospheric without it. During the sub-games, there are appropriate gunshots, explosions and fist-slaps which won't win any prizes for realism, but are reasonable nonetheless.

Unlike Platoon (which made war seem jolly good fun), Lost Patrol approaches the subject with a certain amount of tact and provides an insight into the fear that must have been felt during the Vietnam War. It's not a shoot-'em-up by any stretch of the imagination, even though there can be a lot of shooting involved in any encounter with the Viet Cong. You actually become worried about engaging the enemy, especially when the team is tired or wounded, and strategy is far more important than fighting if you are to succeed.

If your drive to survive is greater than your will to kill, this game is for you. If you kill for thrill, you'll still love Lost Patrol, but you'll be dead or doo-lally before Day Three!