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Before Second World War experts start complaining that these two never met, Patton Vs. Rommel is set around the hypothetical question, what if the two had been at Normandy at the same time? Written by Chris Crawford, the man behind Balance Of Power, Patton Vs. Rommel has to be one of the best war games I've seen this year.

Firstly, all aspects of difficulty are catered for, from the beginner's level where basic orders can be given through to advanced, where ten different types of tactical orders are available, and thirty orders can be given to any unit at once. The tactics the computer opponent uses are based on the actual strategies of Patton and Rommel and it puts up an incredibly spirited fight. But surprisingly, the game is not that big, it is easy to keep track of the more significant points of the battle and the units involved. A small scale representation of the map is shown in the bottom corner of the screen and by moving an independent box inside you can control the main map quite easily.

The game uses a pointer system with a cursor, controlled by joystick used to select the options. And there are some quite useful features.

Depending on which side you're playing in between turns the faces of Rommel or Patton will appear and give you advice on how to run the battle, for the most this can be rather sketchy, but can prove handy. By selecting either the Available or Total strength is displayed, a large dot inside a unit icon will indicate a strong unit while a small dot shows a weak unit. You can also see the pressure the unit is under, the larger the crack that appears in the icon, the more pressure the unit is under.

There are only two types of unit, tank and infantry, though the allies can have air support from two divisions (by 1944 the Luftwaffe was out of action on the Western Front). The map is not substantially large, so there is no danger of losing units. At the start all units are deadlocked in an almost parallel line showing the final push of the allies before the takeover.

The orders are nothing revolutionary, wait, road mode, rotate and the forms of attack, defence, advance and static are standard. There is a design kit on the expert level which lets you tweak all the existing units and raise dead units. If you happen to be playing Rommel you could equip him with nearly two dozen panzer units and totally wipe the floor with Patton.

I found Patton Vs. Rommel very absorbing, and tricky. At the start it does come over as a bit slow moving but it soon becomes an all out drive to Berlin for the Allies or to the Normandy beaches with Germany. A very nice strategy game which can prove extremely taxing.