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Did you know there are more makes of tanks than there are cheeses? No? Well, that's because we made it up. Still, there are quite a few. But not here. Well, here's a review, written by Ed Ricketts, with no help at all.

Aha, you're saying. Here's a good chance for me to skip a couple of pages, because (a) I don't like tanks and (b) tank simulators are dull. To which the reply must be: (a) stop talking to magazines and (b) stay a while, because you might find you like this particular tank simulator.

Pacific Islands is the belated sequel to Team Yankee, a fairly innovative sim from a while ago. It was innovative sim from a while ago. It was innovative because it used bitmapped graphics rather than 3D vectors, gave you four separate simultaneous views and made controlling a six-man tank quite straight-forward.

It seems the Yama Yama atoll (yep, Pacific Islands) has been taken over by a group of goddamn pinkos under the very collective nose of the US Army. The latter draws a sharp intake of collective breath and sets out to rid the once peaceful islands of the disgusting Communist hordes.

There are five islands in the archipelago, each of which is split into five or so areas. Although the islands have to be tackled in a set order of increasing difficulty, you have a limited choice as to which area to conquer next within each island.

Before each section, you're shown a map of the battle area and given a brief as to what you should be doing in it, which is more than a little useful. Missions range from blowing up strategic comms centres to defending villages to putting runways out of action, and it's not unusual for there to be three different objectives that need to be fulfilled in a single area. You lose missions when your objectives can no longer be achieved (for instance, when a group of enemy tanks reach a village) or when all units are destroyed. Tanks are controlled in groups of four each, imaginatively known as a unit. A unit of four tanks acts like one big tank - all tanks in a unit follow your orders and all their ammunition is available to you. If you're to stand any chance at all of completing your mission within the 40 minute time limit, you need to get used to controlling all four units simultaneously. The real problem is that you can only change the direction of the tanks from the map screen. You mark your destination with a cross, set the speed at which to travel (right the way up to a scorching 50mph) and off they go. 'Course, crossing rivers and forests means the tanks slow down considerably.

Enemy units generally show up on the map screen when you're close enough, but sometimes they remain hidden until they're on top of you, so you have to be vigilant all the time.

Tanks. Strategy. Map screens. Sound thrilling, doesn't it? Well, by some strange alchemy, it is. There are a number of reasons why.

First, the tanks are easy to control. Once you know what all the icons actually do, you may find it's second nature switching between the views - not that experience makes using the simultaneous view any easier. Secondly, you don't have to be a master tactician to plan your attacks. Common sense should see you through most scenarios if you keep your wits about you.

Lastly, the graphics really are quite tasty. Although vectors might have been faster, bitmap graphics suit the job perfectly. You soon forget to notice their loss of resolution when you zoom in, and eventually even get to like it. The buildings look different enough to be recognised for what they are, and the tricky effects like smoke and infrared look just real enough to be convincing. Sound is, sadly, chip noise, but as that abominable rubbish goes, it's not bad. Even the game's smallest details, like the intro and the manual, haven't been neglected.

Perhaps the only problem is how hard the game is. After completing a few scenarios, you tend to find you've completely run out of money and tackling the others is impossible with the few tanks you've got. So you need to start again with a clean record, returning to the first island and working through the scenarios again with your new-found knowledge. Bit of a pain, that. Pacific Islands is a fine game with great long-term playability. Rivetting stuff. (Rivets? Tanks? Sometimes even I despair...!)

1. Hard drive installable
2. Quite similar to Team Yankee - after all, what do you expect? It's a sequel. Much better though with more to do and harder missions.
3. Not as complex or as realistic as the forthcoming Conqueror, but much more fun, probably.
4. Graphics don't rival 3D spectaculars like Starglider 2 but they have a certain idiosyncratic charm.