A curiously unsatisfying book, this. It seems to be aimed at the gap between arcade gamers and that weird species on the fringes of civilisation, the wargamer/Dungeons & Dragons freak.

Although it pays lip service to games design by telling you about the financial side of games production, it doesn't actually set out to give programming tips. It therefore seems to fall somewhere between being a work of reference and an introduction to the more thoughtful breed of computer game.

Unfortunately, this turns out as a disorganised series of potted reviews. The author doesn't review everything that's available, and there's no index, so as a work of reference, it falls down drastically. This is a great pity, as Mr. Palmer writes quite well, but the book as it stands is only likely to be of use to people who feel they might be interested in strategy games, and need something to fire their imagination.

John Lettice